Dahaidao Yardang Official Route 大海道正规开放线路

About Dahaidao Yardang Official Route

The regional natural resources department registers the geological relic as the Dahaidao yardang landform of Yizhou District, Hami, at Wubao Township, 92°34′48″E, 42°44′25″N, classified as a landform-landscape, rock-and-soil-body, clastic-rock sub-type yardang landform. It records that the yardang runs from Luotuofeng beyond Yandun through the Yamansu iron mine and the Dananhu coal mine to Wubao Shahu and Shisanjianfang, about 400 km long and 5–10 km wide, with forms including castles, pagodas, halls, rock pillars and tiered palaces, platforms and variously shaped caves and pits. Castles, pagodas, halls and platforms generally stand 10–30 m high and in places 50–60 m; caves are generally 25–60 cm in diameter and 1–2 m deep, and pits generally 15–25 cm across and about 15 cm deep. The landform was formed by differential weathering of rock strata, and the department records that a Hami Dahaidao tourism scenic area has been established.

On 6 June 2014 a new Cretaceous pterosaur fossil group was found in the area; the register says the pterosaur fossil distribution area is the largest and richest known in the world and the only place where three-dimensionally preserved pterosaur eggs and male and female individuals occur together. The municipal government page adds that the site is the discovery site of the new pterosaur species Tianshan pterosaur, the largest in the world, together with the Chinese Silk Road giant and the Xinjiang Hami giant, that the scenic area contains geological relics graded as 5 world-class, 22 national, 22 autonomous-region-level and 24 below autonomous-region level, and that it is listed among Xinjiang's nine representative landscapes. Its comparisons — the most concentrated yardang area in China, the largest and most maturely developed and most worth seeing in the world — are the municipal page's own wording and are reported as such.

The catalogue label 正规开放线路 is an editorial one. Neither source describes a designated open route, any visitor facility or any opening arrangement, and neither gives ticket information. The municipal page names features inside the area, including the 76号 highway, the horse-head yardang forest, the small yardang group, the core zone, Hongliutan and its yardang group, the Lop Nur Eye, the Immortal Cave, the Two-Headed Horse, the water source and the Starship.

What to look for

• The yardang forms the register describes, among them castles, pagodas, halls, rock pillars, tiered palaces and platforms, generally 10–30 m high and in places 50–60 m.
• The caves and pits, which the register measures at generally 25–60 cm in diameter and 1–2 m deep, and 15–25 cm across and about 15 cm deep.
• The pterosaur fossil site, where the register records a new Cretaceous pterosaur fossil group found on 6 June 2014.
• The named features the municipal page lists, including the horse-head yardang forest, the small yardang group, Hongliutan and its yardang group, the Lop Nur Eye, the Immortal Cave, the Two-Headed Horse, the water source and the Starship.

Location & getting there

Getting to Dahaidao Yardang Official Route

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 大海道正规开放线路 with 哈密市 and 伊州区.