Water Curtain Cave in Wuyi Mountains

Hiking up from the fork to the Site of Water 840 meters and back 840 meters
At the end of the easy 450 meter walking on the main road, we discovered a stone sign appointing to the right  up to Water Curtain Cave and the left down to Da Hong Pao. According to the road sign, we needed to climb over 800 meter stone steps leading to the Water Curtain Cave on our right side.

A stone sign appointing to the right  up to Water Curtain Cave and the left down to Da Hong Pao.

We clambered on the slab paved mountain road leading up to our first destination Water Curtain Cave. On the way up, we found lots of ancient tea bushes planted by different tea companies.

At the end of our 800 meter hike, we approached a flat high land with s big stele engraved with the three Chinese characters – 水帘洞 （Water Curtain Cave). We made it, close to the site Water Curtain Cave.

The Water Curtain Cave is said to be the biggest rock cave ( a shallow and open cave ) in Wuyi Mountains. It has a slanting top similar to upturned eaves. A few streams fall down from the rock cave top. The falling stream water is turned into numerous drops of water mainly due to the wind and the 100 meter hight in difference, forming a running water curtain. Summer is not the rainy  season in Wuyi Mountains. It was a little disappointed that we didn’t expect much water fall from the top.

It was a little disappointed that we didn’t expect much water fall from the top.

On the right side in the cave midway, there are a number of Chinese calligraphy engraving with “活源” ( Live Water Resource ) written by Mr. Yu Hongliang, one of the generals in Zhejiang in Qing Dynasty. The two characters “”活源” came from the well known scholar in Song Dynasty – Chucius.

Trekking from the fork to the site of Hui Yuan Temple 780 meters
We returned to the fork along the same road. Here you are reminded not to take a wrong way if you are going to hike further to Da Hong Pao. The road sign points to a small mountain road down to the ravine off the main asphalt road.

So we forked from the main road and started our adventure in the ravine. Actually later we found all the way we hiked different ravines, like walking in a landscape corridor where everything was green, pure and fresh.

We first hiked along Zhangtang Brooklet nestled in the valley. The ravine was rich with vegetation and tea trees.

On the south bank of Zhangtang Booklet stands the Danxia Peak. In the caves of various sizes in the cliff there are several ancient cave dwellings of wooden structures. They were made by the local landlords who had employed people to build the hanging cave houses to avoid the civil war waged by Taiping Army in Qing Dynasty.

The huge rock road sign reminded us that the famous Eagle’ Beak Rock was in sight.

The slab paved road paralleled the Zgangtang Booklet, shady, clean and quite.

Hui Yuan Temple was built in Song dynasty, and rebuilt in late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. The temple is a local style house structure and comprises three religions into one – Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

The temple has a Confucian style entrance hall and main Confucian atmosphere in the temple and Taoist style pavilion. Chucius stayed one night and wrote the words ” Be Quite My God” on the horizontal inscribed board which is well preserved now. On the pillars there are two lines of Chucian poem – Guests don’t hate to take tea for wine while regard bamboo as neighbourhood“.

Wandering from Hui Yuan Temple to Liuxiang Brooklet (Fragrance Brooklet) 570 meters
After having a short break at Hui Yuan Temple, we continued our walk to Da Hong Pao. We then turned south and walked along the Fragrance Booklet in a ravine flanked by large rock mountains.

Accompanied by the running creek, we moved on along the bushy mountain road.

Goodbye Da Hong Pao, and thanks for the wonderful scenery and rich Chinese culture.

Tip:  Hassle-free Wuyishan Guided Tours
If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,  here are some options for Wuyishan Guided Tours:

Wuyi Mountain 3 Days Tour from US$265 p/p
Mount Wuyi 4 day Tour from US$320 p/p
Wuyishan Car Rental with Driver from US$ 45