Red Stone Forest National Geological Park (Chinese name: 红石林国家地质公园) is located in Guzhang County in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in the west of Hunan Province. It faces the beautiful Furong Ancient Town on the other bank of Youshui River, and is sited on the way between
Zhangjiajie and
Fenghuang Ancient Town. So you can add Furong Ancient Town and Red Stone Forest National Geological Park into your itinerary if you travel from Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang or vice versa. It is the only carbonate stone forest in red found so far in China. Other stone forests in China are usually in gray color.
According to the geological experts’ research, the formation of the red stone forest can traced back to about 450 million years ago. The red stone forest used to be a seabed during Ordovician period. Here deposited a large amount of shaly sand with carbonate material. With millions years of erosion and corrosion by rain and sea water later and crustal movement, it formed unique Karst landform that we can see today. For the rock contains rich iron element, it presents the color in red.
The stone forest covers an area of 20 square kilometers in a totally original ecological status. In the stone forest, there are valleys, stream and springs. There are thick grassland and wistaria flowers growing in the forest, making it like a garden of nature. The tall rocks in various shapes can be seen throughout scenic spot. The stone color is changeable in accordance with the weather, time and season. The stone is red in Sunny days, black in the rain, brown and red on cloudy days. It even presents different colors in the morning and evening in a day.
How to get to Red Stone Forest National Geological Park
If you come from Zhangjiajie, you may take a bus at Zhangjiajie Central Bus Station (near to Zhangjiajie Railway Station) to reach Red Stone Forest Tourist Center in
Furong Town first. The buses run every one hour from 7:00am to 5:00pm and take about 2 hours. Then rent a minibus or motorcycle to take you to the entrance of Red Stone Forest National Geological Park, which takes 20 minutes.
If you come from Jishou City, you may take bus at Jishou Xikou Bus Station to reach Wangcun Bus Station(王村汽车站 in Chinese) first. The buses departs every 30 minutes from 8:30am to 6:30pm and takes about 1 hours. Then walk to Red Stone Forest Tourist Center in Furong Town to rent a minibus or motorcycle to take you to the entrance of Red Stone Forest National Geological Park, which takes 20 minutes.