Baihua Mountain is the third highest peak in Beijing with an altitude of 2218 meters. It is located at the junction of Fangshan District and Mentougou District in the western suburbs of Beijing, and is 120 kilometers away from the urban area. Surrounded by mountains and endless peaks, Baihua Mountain boasts superior climate, with warm winter and cool summer. There are running creeks, cloudy mist, exotic flowers, fragrant plants, and many rare birds and animals. You can have a view of the sea of clouds and sunrise at the top of mountain, or enjoy the spectacular waterfalls in the canyon.
Baihua Mountain is best known for its flowers. There are numerous kinds of flowers blooming in spring, summer and autumn, making it the sea of flowers. According to botanists, there are over 600 species of plants in the mountain. In addition, Baihua Mountain is also a famous "hometown of fruits".
Moreover, Baihua Mountain is also a natural zoo. With lush herbage, it is an ideal alpine pasture. The wild animals mainly include roe deer, wild boars, wild goats, wolves, badgers, foxes, grouse, hedgehogs and the like. With over 300 species of birds, it has become a world of birds, especially when migratory birds migrate in the spring and autumn.
Famous for its original scenery, Baihua Mountain nature reserve is an ideal destination for people to escape from the summer heat and to explore the nature.
Highlights:
Steep and rugged roads
Most of the road sections in Baihua Mountain are friendly to tourists. The winding path with gentle-to-steep slopes and wide-to-narrow pavement making you kind of expecting a secluded retreat. Walking under the lush shades of trees on both sides of the mountain road, one can escape from the heating sunshine and enjoy the green alley. Flat or precipitous, wide or narrow, winding or straight, gentle or steep, these different sections are connected into one mountain road, providing you with different appeal.
Blooming flowers
Baihua Mountain is named after the abundance of flowers. Red, yellow, purple, or green, the flowers are so rich and colorful to name them all. There is morning glory, wild rose, mountain vitex, mountain peach blossom, rhododendron, globeflower, mountain apricot blossom, mountain cherry blossom, hydrangea macrophylla, China aster, wild peony and lilac. The variety of flowers are so rich that even the old farmers who have lived in the vicinity for most of their lives cannot name all the flowers here. Among the flowers with countless combinations of variety, color and posture, there is a kind of especially charming flower called "heavenly bloom" by the locals, for its extraordinary beauty.
Because of the high altitude, the vertical temperature difference is so large that the climate at the foot of the mountain is totally different than that on the top. As a result, the blooming of the flowers is special. Layer by layer, from bottom to top, Baihua Mountain has its flowery suit updated as the season changes. When the flowers at the mountainside are blooming, the ones at the foot have already withered, while those at the top just grow into buds.
The top of Baihua Mountain is the most attractive place, where the terrain is relatively flat, and belongs to alpine meadows. On the green grass, the colorful wild flowers make up a sea of flowers.
Peak of Baihua Mountain
The main peak of the Baihua Mountain is a navigation landmark, with numerous navigation and microwave antennas installed on it. Highway connecting Fangshan has been constructed to the peak. There is a newly-built temple called Huguo Xianguang Buddhist Temple. It is reconstructed on the ruins of the ancient temple of the Ming Dynasty. Behind the temple, there is a newly-drilled machine well. The village under the main peak of Baihua Mountain on the side of Mentougou is Huang'antuo Village, a 3-4 hour's drive away from the Baihua Meadow scenic spot.
Baihua Meadow
Located at the top of the Baihua Mountain Forest Farm at an altitude of about 1,700 meters, the Baihua Meadow is composed of two major meadows. One of them is the smaller meadow (temporarily referred to as the upper meadow) in the northeast of the ridge. Such meadow is of smaller size, higher terrain, and quite gentle slope. In the northeast of this meadow, there is a mountain with tripods. Most visitors from the forest farm to the meadow would mistake it as the main peak. In fact, the main peak is not visible on the meadow.
The larger meadow (temporarily referred to as the lower meadow) is located at the entrance of cable car for going up to the maintain from the forest farm. Although the terrain is not very flat, it is a good place to visit, with brick roads constructed for tourists to walk on. However, it is not an ideal place for camping with crowds of tourists. The mountain road to the observation deck is in the southwest of the meadow.
The scenic spot here is called Baihua Mountain Forest Farm. Since camping is not allowed in the meadow, please try to wait until 17:30 before leaving for the meadow. Because the cable car is closed at 17:30, and management personnel will go down the mountain together.
Charges: Tickets (35 yuan) are required to enter the Baihua Mountain scenic spot from Mentougou
Wuzhixian Peak (observation deck)
The Wuzhixian Peak is located to the southwest of the Baihua Meadow, with a measured altitude of about 2,040 meters. From the upper meadow, you can see the concrete buildings on the top of the mountain clearly. In the case of going up from the path in the southwest of the lower meadow, you can find it easy to walk with birch steps constructed at the beginning of the path.
The observation deck can be found at the turning of the path. On the deck, there is a large building, or an abandoned missile launching silo. Since it was originally a military exclusion zone, it is not marked on all the maps. The locals named it Wuzhixian Peak, and carved it on a stone deliberately.
Charges: 25 yuan/ticket.
