A Day Hiking in Huanghuagou Geological Park

Huanghuagou in Chinese means “Yellow Flower Valley.” This particular geological park is located in Inner Mongolia, China. It is 110 km away from Hohhot and 430 km away from Beijing, also the capital city of China. Since I’ve brought you on a virtual tour to a theme park and a sophisticated greenhouse previously, kindly follow me this time to observe peculiar stones. As it is located in a typical alpine grassland terrain, throughout summer to autumn, the valley will be filled with small yellow flowers also known as wild dandelions along with other floral plants such as lilies, Rhododendrons, Dianthus, Iris, and more. The most ideal months to visit are from May to September annually. Entrance fees to the park are approximately 180 yuan per person.

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Wild Dandelions

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The elevation of this park is around 2000 meters above sea level. The park covers a total area of about 600 square kilometers. As this park could be unpredictably windy, it’s best to dress comfortably and warmly with sun hats, gloves plus a good pair of hiking shoes. Again, because we were there during off peak season and it was colder than usual, we hardly sweat even after walking for more than 5 hours, that’s definitely nearing 30,000 steps. The hike was too pleasant for words. We were blessed with fine weather and clear blue skies.

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Ovoo or Mongolian Shamanistic Cairn

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In the first part of the hike before taking ski lifts cable car down the valley, we stopped by briefly at the Mongolian shamanistic sacred cairn. It was our first time seeing one up-closed. In Buddhism and other East Asian religious practices, stacking stones are a form of spiritual offering. Mongolians often tie blue color ceremonial silk scarfs as a representation of the sky spirit “Tengri.” As usual, circling around the cairn three times in clockwise motion while praying earnestly is a common practice in this part of the world.

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Dragon Head Hill

Eagle Beak Rock

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Towards the midst of the hike, we managed to observed peculiar gigantic stones with even weirder names. The gigantic stones bear little resemblance to their given names but they were nevertheless very interesting. This place existed thousands of years ago. Famous figures such as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Tuoba Gui of the Wei Dynasty, and Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty were documented to have spent their summers here.

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We managed to observe Mongolian horse riders performing acrobats on horseback. It was a spectacular performance. Mongolian people are impressive horsemen and horsewomen as they began horse riding sometimes as young as 3 years old toddlers. Horse riding is deeply embedded in their DNA. Mongolian horses even after domestication can behave rather unpredictably. It’s harder than usual to train with these horses.

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After the performance, we continued our hike up the valley. The dense forest during our hike is famed for white birch trees and ancient cypresses. At the top of the valley, we were greeted by train rides. Again, it was a bit strange to see train on grassland but the ride was nevertheless fun.

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Mongolian Afternoon Tea

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Lastly, after having lunch at a local restaurant, we continued our hike for a while longer before getting invited to an afternoon tea at a local Mongolian yurt. The yurt owner was very welcoming, patient and happy to teach us the Mongolian language. We learn a lot about the construction of the Mongolian yurt as well as the culture. It was plenty of fun to have a nice Mongolian teacher in the grassland. Surrounding the yurt, there were many cute prairie dogs popping up and about curious with the presence of visitors. Even the neighboring Mongolian greyhound was curious with our presence. It was a very fulfilling day indeed.

Thank you very much for reading! 💗

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