Moshi Park 墨石公园

About Moshi Park

The county gives the scenic area a core of 4.7 square kilometres and puts it 120 km from Kangding city, 60 km from Kangding airport and 83 km from the Daofu county town; a separate county item on the Bamei earth-and-stone forest as a whole places the formation south-east of Bamei town beside National Highway 317 and spreads it over about 5 square kilometres. Its shapes include stone columns, stone shoots, stone mushrooms and stone lotus flowers, and level grassland, steep snow mountains and Tibetan villages lie around it.

The rock itself is mylonite. The Kangding, Daofu and Luhuo area belongs to the Xianshui river fault zone, and rock within that zone was compressed, sheared, broken and mylonitised into the mylonite that makes up the stone forest; the county records that it is widely distributed along the fault zone and that in the Bamei area where the scenic area now stands it appears in very typical and concentrated form. Specialists cited by the county attribute the formation to the rapid uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau together with that compression and shearing, and note that because the rock is relatively soft and calcareous it weathers and erodes easily, which is how the forms of the stone forest were carved. The crystal water the rock holds takes on different colours with the humidity of the air, changing with the season and even within a single day.

Stands of sea buckthorn and huanglian grow in the scenic area, and marmots, which Tibetans call snow pigs, live on the grassland among the stone forest; the county says these together make up the distinctive ecology of the area. The prefecture's register of A-grade tourist areas, current to 11 April 2022, lists the Bamei Moshi Park Scenic Area at grade 4A, gives its address as 8 Qianning Road in Bamei town, and notes that it was raised from 3A.

What to look for

• The mylonite forms themselves: stone columns, stone shoots, stone mushrooms and stone lotus flowers.
• The colour of the rock, which the county says shifts with the humidity of the air from season to season and even within a day.
• The marmots, called snow pigs by Tibetans, on the grassland between the stone pillars.
• The stands of sea buckthorn and huanglian growing within the scenic area.
• The setting of grassland, snow mountains and Tibetan villages around the stone forest, with Zhonggu and Kama villages on either side of the scenic area boundary.

Location & getting there

Getting to Moshi Park

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 墨石公园 with 甘孜藏族自治州 and 道孚县.