Mount Song, the Central Sacred Mountain｜The pursuit of freedom never stops

📍 Songshan Scenic Area, Dengfeng City, Zhengzhou, Henan
🗺️Route: South Gate of Mount Song → Junji Peak → Luya Waterfall → Main Gate of Luya Waterfall Scenic Area
🎫If only hiking, purchase the full-price ticket for Taishi Mountain at 50💰/person
⏰12:00−19:00 (7 hours)
👉🏻Photography takes about 2 hours. The difficulty is moderate, similar to Shenzhen's Wutong Mountain, with many steps. Both ascent and descent are mostly stair paths, so knee pads are essential❗️

🎒Since all four of us carried heavy backpacks (no small bags), we just brought one bottle of water and knee pads each. Our snacks were leftover buns from breakfast.
👟Regular sports shoes are sufficient for this route—no need for hiking boots, just comfortable ones.
🍞Plenty of supplies along the way: mineral water starts at 3💰/bottle at the beginning and 8💰/bottle at the summit. Sausages and instant noodles🍜 are also widely available.
🚾Restrooms🚻 are frequent on the way up but scarce during descent, so use them when you see them to avoid long waits later.
🦯Hiking poles are helpful—recommended if you have them.
⚠️If starting after 12:00 PM, bring a headlamp. The dense forest canopy makes it dark quickly.

🕑12:00 Depart from the South Gate of Mount Song.
12:15 Reach "Gao Shan Yang Zhi"—5.2km to the summit.
13:00 Arrive at the hiking entrance with a ticket office and a photo spot at the "Central Sacred Mountain Mount Song" stone📷.
13:30 Finish photos + ticket purchase, enter via ID scan.
13:40 Reach Taishi Xiandu (Laojun Cave).
14:10 Arrive at the 3.5km marker (see photo).
15:10 Reach Sanhuangkou.
15:40 Summit at Junji Peak (6km). The sign there had a long photo queue, so we skipped it and descended (for us, anywhere can be a photo spot—we improvise and crowds follow😂).

🕓15:45 Start descending via Luya Waterfall.
16:20 At 7.5km, a tree grows horizontally across the path—we climbed it for a 30-minute photoshoot.
17:25 First restroom🚻 on descent (10.5km).
17:40 Reach Yixiantian (near 12km), paused for another 30-minute photoshoot.
18:20 See Luya Waterfall. A short walk leads to a suspension bridge.
18:55 Descent complete✅