Duku Highway is a route that every friend who drives into Xinjiang wants to try, but it is only open from June to October every year. Even during the opening hours, a section of the road will be closed for many reasons. Therefore, whether it can be achieved or not depends on fate. Duku Highway is an important channel connecting northern and southern Xinjiang, which spans the northern and southern Tianshan Mountains. The scenery on the way is infinite. You can feel the magic of all seasons when crossing Duku Highway.

Kuqa is the end of Duku Highway (starting from Dushanzi), a famous historical and cultural city in China, and an ancient country of Kucha, one of the 36 countries in the western regions on the ancient Silk Road. Kuqa not only has splendid history and culture, but also many famous scenic spots, the most famous of which is the mysterious Grand Canyon of Tianshan Mountain, commonly known as Kuqa Grand Canyon.

There are two routes to the Grand Canyon. One is to start from Kuqa and drive 67 kilometers north along Duku Highway. The scenic spot is next to the highway. The other way is to start directly from Dushanzi, take Duku Highway all the time, see the four seasons along the way, reach the Grand Canyon after passing through many scenic spots, and go directly to Kuqa to rest after swimming.

friends who have been to Xinjiang know that the direct traffic to southern Xinjiang is extremely inconvenient. Under normal circumstances, most people will choose to go to northern Xinjiang first, and then take the Duku Highway to Kuqa. The Grand Canyon is the only place to pass. Therefore, if you want to go to the Grand Canyon, I suggest that you prepare the play time directly on the way to Kuqa, so as to avoid returning to Kuqa and wasting time.

We started from Bayinbuluke, crossed Tielimaitidaban, and after a short drive, we can see that the quiet lake surrounded by mountains is like a pearl, illuminating the road ahead.

this is the dragon pool. The Great Dragon Pool is more than 2,311 meters above sea level, which is formed by melting snow and water in Tianshan Mountain.

Dragon Pond and Xiaolongchi are 4 kilometers apart, and the lake is blue and green under the sun. Surrounded by mountains, cypresses and green grass, people can't help but want to stay here for a while and take some photos, but the photo effect is always unsatisfactory. Later, I found that no matter how many beautiful scenery I left in the lens, it was not as good as what I saw with my own eyes.

if you continue to drive in the direction of Kuqa, the scenery has changed greatly, and the terrain has become flat. The surrounding mountains are no longer snow tops and surrounded by greenery, but become "flaming mountains". It looks like a fire from a distance. Although it is not a flaming mountain, it is better than a flaming mountain. With the appearance of flaming mountains, the temperature has gradually increased, and people baked by the hot sunshine are upset, and they don't even want to go to Kuqa Grand Canyon.

The most peculiar and attractive place of the Grand Canyon lies in the canyon itself, which is composed of sedimentary rocks. After the Tianshan Mountains fracture, crustal movement and years of wind and rain erosion, the rock stratum has undergone a series of wavy bends. Now, different folds and fracture lines can be clearly seen on the side wall of the canyon.

Someone once said that going to the Kuqa Grand Canyon is like going to the American Antelope Valley. Antelope Valley is one of the top ten photography places in the world, and the number of tourists to Antelope Valley is a dime a dozen every year, so the United States has to start limiting the number of tourists to Antelope Valley. Antelope Valley is about 411 meters long. The light is refracted through the rock stratum, which makes the whole rock stratum appear different red. At different times, the angle of sunlight refraction is different, so the color of the whole canyon is different. Walking in it seems to be in a magical world.

The Kuqa Grand Canyon is indeed similar to the American Antelope Valley, although it is similar but different.

The Grand Canyon is next to Duku Highway, and the stone tablet at the entrance already feels like a canyon. The fare is 45 yuan per person. There are some precautions when buying tickets, so you must read it carefully.

After buying the ticket, you enter the scenic spot and walk around the reddish-brown mountains. You can feel the rising hot air around you even with an umbrella. I once doubted whether I went to the wrong scenic spot, which is different from the photo. Crush one's head and go all the way in, and sure enough there was a surprise.

when you walk through an open field, you need to climb some steps before you can gradually go deep into the valley. At the mouth of the valley, the first thing to appear is the god dog guarding the valley. As the name implies, here you can see a "dog" lying on the cliff facing the canyon, as if protecting the canyon.

that is, from here, I really entered the canyon. The sweat outside the valley was like fire, but when I got inside, it disappeared magically. The scorching sun was blocked by the mountains, and the cool breeze burst in the valley, and all the summer heat disappeared instantly. Even when I went to some places, I felt chilly.

The feeling of coolness spread all over your body, and your mood improved. Put away your sunshade and continue to walk into the valley. The peaks and turns, the canyon is sometimes open and sometimes narrow, and only one person can pass through the narrowest place, and it is inevitable that there will be a feeling of being squeezed when you shuttle through it.

There are many interesting scenic spots in the valley, among which the most famous one should be the Ai Grottoes, which is only two kilometers away from the mouth of the valley, hanging on the precipice. At first, it was necessary to climb the spiral staircase, but now the stone steps plank road has been completed, which can reach the mouth of the cave directly. The grottoes are basically murals, and the names of the Buddha patrons are written in detail, many of which are the names of Han people, which can feel the integration of Chinese culture and Qiuci culture at that time.

There are many high platforms in the valley, which are called safety islands. When I first saw this high platform, I thought it didn't work. After a careful look at the introduction, I realized that this place was called a safety island because the valley was deep and low-lying, and it was easy to cause mudslides and other disasters after heavy rains. If it rains during the tour, tourists can take shelter here temporarily.

The most interesting things in the canyon are some small peaks with different shapes and vivid shapes. What impressed me the most was the elephant peak and the lying hump. Looking up from a distance, you need to carefully identify its shape, but when you really see it, you will feel very surprised. The first thing that can be seen from the elephant peak is its elephant head. The whole mountain is divided into three pieces, the middle piece is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, which looks like a nose at first glance. The mountains on both sides are approximately circular surfaces, which are the ears of elephants. Standing under the elephant peak, it seems that I can hear the sound of an elephant, and I feel that it will come to me at any time. Lying on the hump seems to be the most obvious two humps, one high and one low hill, which is not the camel's hump for storing water.

when you get to the valley of the earth, you'll have almost turned around in the basic canyon. Because when we went there, for various reasons, the scenic spot behind the Valley of Earth was closed, so we didn't see it at all, which is also a little regret. The valley of the earth is quiet, the canyon is narrower, and the mysterious path winds deep, so I can't help but enter the valley, as if I can meet my hero of the earth in the next second.

Since we entered the canyon, we have always had a "friend" who is always with us, that is, the stream that appears and disappears at the bottom of the valley. We need to pay attention to our feet from time to time, otherwise we may step on our "friend" if we are not careful. Tired of walking, I stopped to fiddle with the stream for a while. In hot summer, the water is so cool.

It sometimes plays hide-and-seek with us. When we go to a place where the sun is shining, it will hide quietly. In a trance, we wonder if this stream never appeared, but the wet land does witness its coming. When you go deep into the canyon, where the sun can't find it, it will appear quietly, and even a shoal will appear in some places. This stream adds a touch of fun to the whole tour.

The overall tour time of the Grand Canyon is about two hours, and it is a must-see attraction when taking the single-library highway. There are not many people in the scenic spot, so you can take beautiful photos. July and August are the best time to visit, so plan it quickly.

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we continued to head for Kuqa. Although it was 8 o'clock when we arrived in Kuqa, it was still bright. Book a room, tidy up, eat a bowl of authentic Su's beef noodles and a bottle of Dawusu to relieve the fatigue of the day.