Aksu, Xinjiang, in this city famous for apples, there is a warm tomur Grand Canyon, quietly settled in a long time, hidden in the deep boudoir unknown, until 2002 was accidentally intruded by photography enthusiasts found, and gradually entered the field of vision of travelers. Because of the late development and remote location, although the Wensu Grand Canyon is high enough and the strength is strong, it is still rarely visited, so it retains the wild and primitive natural wonders.
This time, from northern Xinjiang to southern Xinjiang, after seeing the scenery along the Duku Highway, when I came to Aksu, I originally thought that I would not be surprised casually, but before I arrived in Aksu, I was punched in the face by the Wensu Tolmuda Grand Canyon. Although I have just seen the Kucha Grand Canyon, I can be placed between the Wensu Tolmuda Grand Canyon, but there is no sign of aesthetic fatigue, and I can only feel the magic of nature.
Wensu Tormudan Grand Canyon is located in the Kuduluk Mountain Area in Bozidun Township, Wensu County, Aksu Region, is a natural canyon under the Main Peak of the Tianshan Mountains, Tomur Peak, known locally as "Kuduruk Grand Canyon", Uyghur meaning "thrilling, mysterious". The canyon is composed of two winding giant canyons of Kuduluk and Achiksu and hundreds of branches of valleys of different shapes and lengths, which is the largest and most aesthetically valuable red-layer canyon in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and is known as the "King of the Canyon".
▼ Geological wonders
"The most beautiful Danxia geological wonders in western China", "China's largest rock salt karst geological scenery", "China's rare ancient rock salt geological scenery", "China's strange Yadan geological wonders", "China's unique giant rock dissolution geological secret"... As a landscape that has been developed as a world natural heritage site in Xinjiang's Tianshan Tomur, Wensu Tomur Grand Canyon carries many labels, each of which can be taken out individually to make this new face firmly established in the geological community. And when these obscure labels converge on the Grand Canyon, it becomes a rare spectacle in the geological world.
The Wensu Tomur Grand Canyon is a stratum deposited by an inland lake 26 million years ago, formed by the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era more than 100 million years ago, after hundreds of millions of years of flooding, rain erosion and strong wind erosion. The distribution of rock layers on the canyon wall is squeezed to form folds, overlapping and overlapping, and looking at it from a distance, like clear lines and clear layers. In the long period of wind and rain erosion and geological changes, the Grand Canyon has formed five kinds of landforms: Danxia, Yadan, Ciyadan, Rock Salt Karst and unique salt hill bottom splitting structure, which reflects the complexity and diversity of crustal structure changes in the local area of the Tianshan Mountains, and can be called Xinjiang's "living geological evolution history museum".
Danxia, Yadan, Karst... Every landscape is a gift of time, a wonder of nature, and when these landforms are gathered in the west, it is difficult to imagine what kind of sparks will collide. And I can only feel the magic of nature in the face of the majestic and wild landscapes of the source of life, the city of ten thousand mountains, the golden kiss, and the stone hat canyon.
▼ The vastness of heaven and earth
Although I have done enough homework on the road and have a preliminary understanding of the status of the Grand Canyon in the geological community, it is better to really walk into the Grand Canyon and find out. Or galloping at the bottom of the valley, or climbing to the top of the mountain, really walking into the Wensu Tomur Grand Canyon, but did not think of what the figurative significance of these strange peaks with different shapes, nor to delve into what the Grand Canyon, which gathers 5 kinds of landform wonders, can summon in the geological world, but simply sighed at the Tianshan Tomur Peak, the vastness of the Grand Canyon, wild nature.
The day before arriving, it happened to rain in Aksu, and after the rain was clear, the red cliffs of the Wensu Grand Canyon were even more brilliant, but this brilliant red could not stop the vast tragedy of the canyon. Riding in a car in the canyon, the way is deserted and wild, only the occasional off-road vehicle tells us that the Grand Canyon is now open, and we are not loners between heaven and earth.
The strangely shaped stone peaks and pillars stood in their original form under the carving of wind and rain, and the cold-eyed human beings named them with extra imagination, using one clichéd legend after another. However, standing in front of the stone pillars and looking up at them sleeping, you will know how short your stay is in their eyes. A mountain and a stone, I have already used time to write wordless stories, which tell the barren and primitive, wild and natural under the Tomur Peak.
In the desolate canyon, under the holy snowy mountains, in the vast heavens and the earth, we who are walking alone can feel the desolation of nature even more. Even if you stand on the top of the mountain and overlook the city of ten thousand mountains from God's perspective, you can't feel the heroism of the mountains, the visual shock is only a moment, and the more profound shock lies in the heart. Never before had I felt so clearly, even if standing on the top of the mountain, Tomur Peak seemed to be close at hand, I did not dare to shout loudly, it turned out that in front of nature, I was so small.
▼ The awe of life
In this vast world of heaven and earth, desolation is his annotation, and the lack of grass seems to be his natural destination. But when this wild land is sporadically opened with a few mountain flowers and grew a few wild grasses, people can't help but have a sense of awe for nature and life.
The Wensu Tomur Grand Canyon belongs to the warm temperate desert climate zone, with scarce precipitation, arid climate and poor soil. The climate of the Grand Canyon is harsh, but there are still more than 100 species of wild plants, including sparsely flowered roses, bell thorns, capers, poplars, black fruit goji berries, wood kings, purple bud irises and other plants of high ornamental value, as well as a small number of shrubs, poplar trees and drought-tolerant halophytes. These tenacious plants add a touch of different colors to the desolation of the Grand Canyon.
When I came to the Grand Canyon, it was early June, and I missed the spring flowers of the Grand Canyon, but I could still see sporadic blooming mountain flowers, dotted with dark red wasteland. Those mountain flowers, perhaps not beautiful, but in the desert of the west, tenacious growth, stubborn blooming, the vigorous vitality is the delicate flowers in the greenhouse has never had.
Author's Profile: Jue Fei Xingji, Freelance Photographer, Travel Self Media.
Sina Weibo: @Juefei Xingji