A 30km Hike
In the past, I would make a detailed guide for hiking. This time I didn’t want to prepare for the hike. It was similar to the game of eating chicken. I was airdropped to the landing site and then kept walking. The destination is Hangzhou Shuangpu Block. Shuangpu is located in the southwest of Hangzhou. There used to be many mountains, forests and lakes here. Later, due to limestone mining, many mountain tops were destroyed. In recent years, the mines have been closed and mine restoration has been carried out, and the ecology has recovered a little.
Starting from Yichuang Town, go around clockwise and return here. Yichuang Town used to be Shuangliu Cement Plant. It has been idle since it was closed in 1999. Around 2016, when the town was hot, it became the entrepreneurial incubation park of China Academy of Art. The idle factory buildings were transformed into office spaces. The industrial style integrated into modern art is very distinctive.
Walking about 500 meters to the left along Lingfeng Street from Yichuang Town, there is a cement road extending to the mountain body near the mountain body. Go straight to the cliff left by mining. To the right is a flat “paradise”. After the quarry was abandoned, some people planted vegetables here. The open space is surrounded by mountains, with fences and paths in the middle.
Continue clockwise to Shuangliu Art Park, where a group of art test tutoring classes are mainly gathered. After going out of the small road on the right hand side at the end of a main street, go along Linglong Road to Hubu Village. There are vehicles coming and going all the way, the sound is noisy, and the dust is flying.
Near Hubu Village, Tongjian Lake is being restored. Tongjian Lake is known to be as famous as West Lake. It has long been silted up into paddy fields and fish ponds. Now the water system ecology needs to be restored, and there is a lot of engineering work to be done.
Coming out of the Tongjian Lake construction site, enter Xiayang Village. Xiayang Village was developed earlier and has complete supporting facilities. Unfortunately, a single tree cannot make a forest, and there are not many tourists. Going around the village, the most distinctive one is the CIAO UNCLE cafe at the entrance of the village. There are many imported goods in the store that are unknown whether they are handicrafts or imitations. I spent 49 yuan to order the cheapest American coffee, which tasted worse than KFC. The homestay for 399 a night is similar to the small hotel at the train station.
Out of the village is the cycling path leading directly to Lingshan Scenic Area. Lingshan Scenic Area has Ruyi Jian, the highest peak in Hangzhou urban area, and Lingshan Illusion. I planned to go around the foot of the mountain to investigate the surrounding villages, and by the way, go to Huanggongwang Park, the real scene of the painting “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains”. When I arrived at Zhoufu Village along the foot of the mountain, it was already 3 pm. I estimated that it would be difficult to hike to Huanggongwang Park and return to Yichuang Town before dark. I temporarily planned to go up the mountain from Zhoufu Village and take the mountain road to Xishan Scenic Area. The back mountain of Zhoufu Village is a reservoir. There is a small road up the mountain by the reservoir. There is also a mark of a hiking club on the tree by the road. I thought I should be able to cross the mountain and go back. I walked up the mountain road for about 1 kilometer and encountered a large bamboo forest. The small road disappeared in the bamboo forest. Seeing that it was getting late, and thinking that there was still a leopard lost in Hangzhou Wildlife Park that had not been found, my heart tightened and I returned along the original road. When I returned to the reservoir, I met a forest fire prevention officer who was patrolling the mountain. I asked and found out that there was no road up the mountain here. The small road was used by tea farmers to go up the mountain. I had to return resentfully and returned to the sea of flowers in Tongjian Lake Park along Shuangfu Road.
Passing through the sea of flowers is Lihu. Lihu is between two mountains. Going upstream to the bottom, it is still under construction. Find a hole to climb over the fence, and it is another flat land left by the quarry. Unlike the “paradise” at the beginning, this is a meadow. On the far left is the south side of Shilong Mountain, which was recently restored and selected as a typical case of ecological restoration in China at the UN Biodiversity Conference. Return to the Hangzhou Research Institute of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences from the intersection on the right, and then return to Yichuang Town via Xiangshan Road. The whole hike ends.
The whole hike is 30 kilometers and takes about 8 hours. There are many supply points throughout the journey, so you can carry only a small amount of drinking water. Some sections of the road pass through construction areas, so try to wear a mask.
Published at: Dec 12, 2021 · Modified at: Dec 24, 2025
