Tianshan Mysterious Grand Canyon

North of Kuqa the Duku Highway enters a belt of red sandstone, and a stream has cut a slot canyon into it running some five kilometres with walls rising to around eighty metres and narrowing in places to little more than shoulder width, so walkers pass between vertical faces with a strip of sky above. The rock is deeply weathered into flutes and hollows and glows orange when light reflects down into the gap. A small Buddhist cave with fragments of Tang-period painting was found in the canyon wall in the 1990s. The floor is dry most of the year but flash floods after rain close it.

What you actually see

• The slot - a narrow gorge with walls up to eighty metres.
• The narrows - sections tight enough to touch both walls.
• The reflected light - orange glow bouncing between the sandstone faces.
• The cave shrine - the Tang-period Buddhist niche found in the wall.

When to go

April to June and September to October; summer heat in the basin is extreme though the slot itself is shaded. The canyon closes after rain because of flash flood risk, which can happen at short notice.

Honest expectations

Flash flooding closes the canyon without warning. The walk is on loose sand and gravel. Entry is charged and the site is a stop on Duku Highway tours, busy in July and August.

Nearby

Kizil caves lie southwest; Kuqa is south.