Dragon Gate

Wednesday, January 08, 2014


After enjoying the amazing view from the top of the cliff, I followed the trail on down.  There was a cable car on down a ways and I intended to take it down, but when I got there I found it closed. I was really aggravated at first, as I thought the only alternative was to hike talk the way down, which, as it was already four, I didn't know if I could do before dark.

With the help of a friend translating over the phone and a not-terribly-bright park employee, I found out that there was a bus about halfway down, so I went on. In the end, I'm glad my original plan didn't work out, because I thoroughly enjoyed the next section of the trail, which wound down the steep slope of the mountain facing the city, and across the cliffs.


Earlier on the bus I had looked up and saw a little balcony sticking out of the cliff, and now I realized that this was the Dragon Gate. The trail came out of the trees into a little tunnel which came out on this cliffside balcony overlooking the city.  A fancy Chinese archway was set against the cliff, the Dragon Gate; it led to a stairway built into the mountain that came out to a couple of other viewing platforms before depositing hikers back onto the trail through the woods.


It wasn't too much further unit I came to the main entrance of the park and caught the last bus back down the mountain, before taking another bus, a taxi, and quite a lot of walking to dinner and back to the hostel.

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