Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline and Jinfoshan Karst
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
488 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 49
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
It goes by way of Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges, Wulong Karst - Furong Cave, Jinfoshan Karst and back through Wulong Karst - Furong Cave. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline
The ground drops away without warning. At Qingkou, in the hills of Wulong in the south of Chongqing, the forest opens onto a hole in the earth so large that you can hardly believe it: a giant doline, or sinkhole, hundreds of metres across and deep enough to swallow a skyscraper. Karst country is full of such things, because limestone dissolves in rainwater, and over millions of years, caves and tunnels have collapsed to create these enormous pits.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline is where the day begins. Next is Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges.
2. Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges
In Wulong, in the mountains of Chongqing, the rock is the architecture. The karst here, a limestone landscape of caves, gorges and sinkholes, has been carved by water over millions of years into huge forms, among them three natural bridges, giant stone arches that span a river gorge. Tianlong, Qinglong and Heilong bridges, each one rising well over a hundred metres, with spans of tens of metres, are among the biggest natural bridges in the world, and the river runs beneath them, in forest so deep that the light is green.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wulong Karst - Furong Cave.
3. Wulong Karst - Furong Cave
Wulong lies in the folded mountains of southeastern Chongqing, where the Wu river has carved its way through limestone for millions of years, and the result is among the most dramatic karst landscapes in China. It forms part of the South China Karst, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the area includes Furong Cave, the Three Natural Bridges and the Qingkou Giant Doline, a sinkhole so large that it holds a forest inside it. The scale of everything is hard to take in until you stand at the edge.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 127 km into the recorded legs you reach Wulong Karst - Furong Cave. Next is Jinfoshan Karst.
4. Jinfoshan Karst
Jinfo Mountain rises out of the humid hills of southern Chongqing like a lump of dark green stone, its summit around twenty-two hundred metres, ringed by sheer limestone cliffs that fall for hundreds of metres in places. The name means Golden Buddha, and the story is that at sunset the cliffs of the peak catch the last light and take on the colour and shape of a seated figure. The mountain is a tableland, a block of limestone lifted high and sliced by weather, and the top is covered in clouds for much of the year, in a world of mist, bamboo, moss and rhododendron.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline closes the day.
Leg by leg
Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline to Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges
Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline → Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges to Wulong Karst - Furong Cave
Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges → Wulong Karst - Furong Cave is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wulong Karst - Furong Cave to Jinfoshan Karst
Wulong Karst - Furong Cave → Jinfoshan Karst is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Jinfoshan Karst to back through Wulong Karst - Furong Cave
Jinfoshan Karst → back through Wulong Karst - Furong Cave is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Wulong Karst - Furong Cave to back through Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges
back through Wulong Karst - Furong Cave → back through Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges to Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline
back through Wulong Karst - Three Natural Bridges → Wulong Karst - Qingkou Giant Doline is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.