2 days in Zhangjiajie- 10/31/2023-11/1/2023

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park-11/01/2023

Stairway to Heaven

To get to the stairway to heaven you must ascend the "999 “steps or the second option is to take the escalators.  We opted for the escalators and Kristie and Kevin decided to take the 999 steps down.

 The stairway to heaven with 999 steps is a well known tourist attraction in Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park.  9 is an important number in Chinese numerology, representing eternity and living forever. 

The climb up takes about 30 minutes total but going down is much faster and a lot easier.

Going down...

Kristie and Kevin starting their descent.

We have to walk around to get to the elevator.

An amazing view every where you look.

This is us looking back at the area with the stairs.

Kevin and Kristie going down....You can see them on the right hand side.

We are entering the tunnel escalators with are parallel to the 999 steps

 Escalator through the Mountain is pretty creative and it was officially open on April 25, 2015.

The escalator tunnel is brightly-lit with colorful billboards hanging on the wall.

We are now at the bottom of the stairway to heaven.

Here you can see the 999 stairs leading to the Heaven's gate cave and it refers to the stone step walkway for people to travel between Tianmen Cave and the Cave Square on the mountainside.

There are also nine slopes including five gentle slopes and four steep slopes along this gateway to heaven.

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The view of Heaven's gate from here is really impressive.

On the two sides of the 999-step stairway to heaven, there are five platforms for rest and blessing naming as "You Yu", "Qin Se", "Chang Sheng", "Qing Yun" and "Ru Yi", which respectively represent five blessings of wealth, happiness, long life, power and luck in Chinese traditional culture.

We really had a great time visiting this area. 

Closer view of large opening of the Gate of Heaven.

We are now leaving the area.  See how massive this area is.

We are now headed to the 99 bends.

Pathway along the way...

The construction of the Avenue toward Heaven with 99 Turns in Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park started in 1998.

It took 7 years to build with the cost of more than 100 million Chinese Yuan (around 14 Million dollars). It was completed and came into use in May 2005

The winding mountain road starts from the mountain base and ends at the Cave Square on the mountainside, spanning a total length of 6.7 miles with 99 sharp turns.

Vista point.

Perfect spot for picture.

Looking back at Heaven's gate one last time.

Nowadays a lot of people opt to take the cable car instead of getting on a bus for a trip on the 99 bends. 

  Before the construction of the cable car this was the route to go up to Heaven's gate.  It is now close and is use mostly for car racing.

Cable cars on the horizon.

Here you can really see how high we are with a splendid view of the area.

We have reached the middle Station of Cable Way.

Cable car station

We are now catching the cable car to go down to the base.

This is how they built concrete stairs by using temporary wooden scaffolds.

View from inside the cable car.

Inside the cable car.

We are now at another entrance of the park.

Walkway inside the park.

Entertainment area where a lot of Chinese Opera is held.

Panoramic view.

The park is huge.  It took us a good 20 minutes to walk from the cable station to the exit.

Amazing view of the area.

So picturesque.

View of Tianmen mountain from the base.

The main entrance to the park.

Next...Dinner and a walk around town