Gaolan Scenic Area

Introduction of Gaolan Scenic Area

Gaolan Scenic Area is located in Xingshan County, 30km south of Xiling Gorge. The scenic area is at the center of the confluence of Gaolan River and Xiayang River covering an area of 20 square kilometers. At present, due to the traffic conditions, there are not so many people visiting here. The mountains are covered with luxuriant forests. Among the precipitous cliffs, there are a lot of small plunging waterfalls. A heavy rain would turn to be hundreds of waterfalls rushing into the mountain creeks which is rarely been seen elsewhere.

As the construction of Three Gorge Dam finished, the stream of Gaolan Scenic Area became a river. The visitors can reach the scenic area along Xiangxi River by ship.

Scenic Spots of Gaolan Scenic Area

The most wonderful scenery of Gaolan Scenic Area is the towering fancy peaks. Many of these peaks looks like animals, thus some of them named after an animal, such as Camel Peak, Peacock Hill, Mandarin Duck Rock, Ape Hill etc. Besides, there are still many other fancy peaks. Chessboard Peak is one of them, it is a slightly round, tens of meters high steep peak. On the top of the peak there is a square chessboard even with squares and chessmen.

However, the representative of Gaolan Scenic Area is Sleeping Buddha Ridge. To gaze into the distance,the mountain resembles a sleeping Amitabha Buddha. The contour of "Buddha"'s forehead, nose and mouth are very clear. Comparing to the "Sleeping Beauty" Mountain in Kunming, the Sleeping Buddha Ridge is more realistic and cute.

While visiting Gaolan Scenic Area, the visitors can also visit Qu Yuan Temple and the Hometown of Wang Zhaojun in Zigui County.