‘Big Cloud’ Valley and Shuiquan Canyon
Hike down 'Big Cloud' Valley, climb a short, steep stretch of the Longquanyu Great Wall, and then descend into Shuiquan Canyon for a fun walk up a boulder-filled river valley.
Booking info
Saturday, December 12
¥380 / ¥340 for members
Pay on the day of the hike. More about payments
We'll start the hike by walking down through a small village.
The village is popular with weekend day trippers because it is right by the Longquanyu Great Wall, which we also love to visit for a day hike.
Out the back of the village we'll find the trail that leads down into 'Big Cloud' Valley. To start with, it's fairly easy going on a dirt road. As we get further down into the valley, we cross the stream a few times and then descend on to the narrow floor of the valley, picking a path around the trees and rocks by the stream.
Near the end of the valley is the Little West Lake park area. Instead of hiking out through the park, we'll climb a steep section of Great Wall and head for Shuiquan Canyon.
We'll go up and over the wall, and then down to a dip where we’ll find the steep track that leads down into the canyon.
Once we’re down into the canyon we’ll follow a short section of the Little West Lake park trail up to the Black Dragon Pool. We’ll use stepping stones to cross the first part of the pool, and then cross over large boulders and a rushing stream as we exit the park area.
It’s not far until the next big pool. Back in the day we used to have to use boats to cross this pool – it was either that or swim – but the boat team got kicked out for operating without permits and a little bridge was built instead. The little bridge isn’t in great shape, with some of the footboards missing. The frame of the bridge is solid, and you don’t need to worry about falling in the water, which should be frozen solid anyway.
Beyond that pool, the path continues over and around boulders as we hike up to the head of the canyon and out to the village where we aim* to finish the hike.
* Aim to finish the hike?!
In the middle of the upper valley, there are several deep pools of water. There used to be more bridges up here, but they are often washed away by summer floods, and sometimes not repaired. If it’s not possible to get by the pools, we’ll hike back to the big bridge by the first big pool, and ask the bus driver to pick us up there.
