Yellow River Stone Forest 黄河石林正规开放区

About Yellow River Stone Forest

The Jingtai county government's scenic-spots page places the area at Longwan village in Zhongquan town, 65 km from the county seat and 60 km from Baiyin city, covering 86.6 sq km and made up, among other features, of the ancient stone forest group, the Yellow River meanders, the Longwan oasis, the Batan gobi and the 22 bends. The page records that the landform has been called by experts 中国独有、世界罕见 and 华夏文脉天然雕塑图景大观园, that it was rated a national geological park in 2004 and a national 4A-rated scenic area in 2007, and that later listings include 中国十大最美乡村 and 中国黄河50景.

On the geology, the county page says the stone forest is yellow conglomerate formed 4 million years ago in the Neogene, and that neotectonic movement, rain-flood erosion, gravitational collapse and wind erosion together produced stone peaks and columns with a height difference of 80 to 200 m — a landscape the page calls both the vastness of the north and the elegance of the south.

The Gansu Daily feature describes the approach. The Yellow River flows east until it reaches Jingtai, where it turns west around a bend that holds the Longwan oasis. The floor of Yinma Gou gorge lies more than 100 m below the surface, with Longwan village at its entrance, and reaching it from the surface entrance means a vehicle ride down the steep, sharply turning 22 bends. There are then two routes into the gorge: along the riverbank path on foot or by a villager's donkey cart, about twenty minutes, or by sheepskin raft down the Yellow River, about ten minutes. The feature calls the sheepskin raft — a dozen whole sheepskins inflated and lashed to a small bamboo frame — a traditional ferry kept along the river, now a main visitor experience and an important source of income for Longwan villagers.

Yinma Gou gorge itself runs 4.5 km, and the feature calls it the core of the whole stone forest, its walls of peaks and cliffs like a fossil corridor. The county page describes entering the main area from Yinma Gou among stone stalagmites, columns and rock paintings, with named formations including 三皇五帝, 孔子问道, 千帆竞发, 苍鹰回首 and 十二生肖 set against the golden rock, the river and the oasis. The Gansu Daily feature adds its own names — among them 观音打坐, 屈原问天, 木兰远征, 月下情侣, 十里屏风, 天桥古道 and 一线天 — and puts the ancient stone forest group at 10 sq km. It says the gorge takes its name from a tradition that Mongols once grazed horses there and could water them at the river by its mouth.

After about two hours on foot the valley widens, and from the gorge exit a path leads up the slope at its mouth to a viewing platform on the summit, from which the feature describes the gorge below, the Yellow River winding among the ridges and the village in the bend. The county page adds that more than eighty films and variety programmes have shot here, including 天下粮仓, 神话, 花木兰, 轩辕剑, 爸爸去哪儿 and 追星星的人, and that the area is now a national film and television shooting base.

What to look for

• The stone peaks and columns of yellow conglomerate, 80 to 200 m of height difference between them, formed 4 million years ago in the Neogene
• Yinma Gou gorge, 4.5 km long and more than 100 m below the surface at its floor, with named rock formations along its walls
• The 22 bends down to the valley floor at Longwan village
• The donkey carts and the sheepskin rafts that carry visitors into the gorge, by the riverbank path or down the Yellow River
• The summit viewing platform above the gorge, looking down on the stone forest and the Yellow River winding among the ridges
• The Longwan oasis in the bend of the river, where the Yellow River turns from east to west
• The rock formations the county page lists by name — 三皇五帝, 孔子问道, 千帆竞发, 苍鹰回首 and 十二生肖 among them

Location & getting there

Getting to Yellow River Stone Forest

Use an authorised visitor route. Cave sections, geological sites and access roads can close independently, so confirm the area that your ticket covers.

• Search for 黄河石林正规开放区 with 白银市 and 景泰县.