Chengdu Dayi Hiking - Mountain of Thousand Deities - 1 Day

• Hiking Distance: 6km
• Ascent & Descent: +400m & -400m
• Elevation Between: 1250m and 1650m
• Hiking Route: In and Out + Circuit
• Trails: Stairs, Countryside trail
• Pace: Strenuous
• Supply:Taoist restaurant available
• Facilities: Phone service available, no toilet

This is a 1-day hike from Chengdu exploring the hidden Taoist Shrine near Chengdu through walking. Medium pace walk with flexible length of walking. Walking to explore not only Taoist Tempel but also Mountain Cave.

Hiding behind the usually busy Huashuiwan Hot Spring Resort, Qianfoshan (Mountain of Thousand Deities) is a quiet and remote place that is seperated from the crowds. It is a Taoist Shrine located by the deep mountain in western Chengdu in Dayi. By car it takes about 2 hours to get to from Chengdu downtown.

Qianfoshan Taoist Shrine was built in the first year of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 58), and has a history of more than 1900 years. It was destroyed by war and rebuilt in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty and rebuilt after that. There are around 100 stone carvings by the cliff.

The walk starts by road head at car park and it is only 0.5km to the first stop at the main temple of Qianfo. On the way by the rock wall there are small statues of deities that are usually coloful. There are also interesting animal carvings. By the main temple there is a Taoist restaurant that you can have a Taoist meal. The main walk is from the temple to Wanfo Summit. The first 0.5km is just a warm-up walk when you start to go up Wanfo Summit.

The trail to Wanfo Summit is smaller and very steep. The stairs are usually slippery too. One the way there is a newly-painted Bagua Carving overlooking the valley from middle mountain. Continue up is the "Sky Stairs" which is even steeper. After the sky stairs we reach the summit. There are two things to see by Wanfo Summit. One is the big cave and the other is Wanfo Summit. Both places are by the summit and Wanfo Summit is nothing but an okay place to see open views of mountains and valleys below. The Cave is somehow more interesting as in summer it provides cool winds and going in to the cave is also interesting. The cave goes very far and deep and you will need professional gears to explore.

Total walk from entrance to the summit is around 2 km single way. But because it is so steep for most part, it usually takes up to 2 hours to get up there. Total you will need around 4 hours for this hike. From the summit you will walk back the same way to the car park and drive back to Chengdu.