What must I not miss when I go to Crescent Spring in Mingsha Mountain?

I yearn for Crescent Moon Spring because of a song I heard.

"On the other side of the sky, far away, there is a beautiful crescent spring. It is the mirror of the sky, the eye of the desert and the paradise where the stars bathe. "

You must not miss going to the crescent spring in Mingsha Mountain to see the whistling of sand dunes.

Mingsha Mountain is located seven kilometers south of Dunhuang, on the eastern edge of Kumtag Desert. It was formed more than 3000 years ago. The mountain is formed by the accumulation of quicksand, and it will make a noise when it is sunny or when someone goes down the mountain, so it is called Mingsha Mountain.

It is located between the Mogao Grottoes in the east and the Danghekou in the west. It is a transitional zone between Badain Jaran Desert and Taklimakan Desert, covering an area of about 200 square kilometers. Its mountain stretches more than 40 kilometers from east to west, with a width of about 20 kilometers from north to south, with the highest elevation of 1, 7 15 meters. Shajiao Mountain in Han Dynasty, also known as Shensha Mountain, and Mingsha Mountain in Jin Dynasty.

"Records of the Five Dynasties in Dunhuang" said: "Mingsha Mountain went to Zhouli ... I learned that pure sand gathered. This mountain is miraculous, and the peak is cut into pieces. " "Old Tang Book Geography" contains Mingsha Mountain "When the weather is fine, Shaming hears about Gancheng." The famous Dunhuang suicide note said that Mingsha Mountain "sounds in midsummer, and people practice it, and the sound vibrates for dozens of miles." Su Youshi, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, praised: "Thunder sends a lingering sound, and the wind is whispering."

In fact, the phenomenon of sand whistling in sand dunes is caused by various climatic and geographical factors, resulting in fine sand particles mainly in time. Due to the vibration of the wind, fine sand slides down or moves with each other, and many grains of sand rotate in the airflow, and the surface cavity causes the "diabolo" effect to buzz, which is called the sand whistling land.

Although Shapotou, Zhongwei County, Ningxia, Xiangshawan, Dalat Banner, Inner Mongolia, Yige Island, Chile, Mongolia and other places have such mountain-like dunes, they are all called Mingsha Mountain. But the desert of Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang is famous for its five-color sand.

There are five colors of sand in Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang: red, yellow, blue, white and black. The sand is not only extremely fine, but also crystal clear and spotless. It is said that five-color sand therapy is an essential health care project for Dunhuang people in the dog days.

When I came to the foot of Mingsha Mountain, I saw the undulating Sha Feng in the distance, some of which were like closely connected crescent moons; Some are towering pyramids, others are like angular peaks and rocks; Some like Youlong winding to the horizon.

Seeing the dazzling desert experience: sand skiing, camel riding, desert motorcycle riding, desert off-road vehicle adventure tour, go-karting, skydiving, paragliding, desert surfing, sand bath, sand therapy and other activities, I was at a loss.

This is a world of camels and deserts. It is said that the camels operated here have 12 15 peaks. These camels belong to different farmers. They joined Mingshashan Tourism Company in a unified way, and the company will uniformly allocate the number of people served by each camel farmer according to the number of tourists on that day.

During the tourist season, each camel is restricted to five trips a day. Every five camels form a group. Sometimes it can be a group of six horses. Standing outside the camel farm is like eating in a restaurant, and it feels like coming to the desert of Egypt.

Camels, unlike horses, can walk as fast as flying on mountains and grasslands. When they are huge and move forward step by step in the soft desert, the people on the camel saddle will swing back and forth, and because they can't clamp their legs like riding a horse, their hips will stick to the saddle for a long time, which is hot, sour and numb.

Thousands of years of quicksand have shaped the shape of Mingsha Mountain into ridges and blades. Under the scorching sun, the undulating sand ridges in front of the sand beams present soft and round ripples, like turbulent Jin Lang, like rolling wheat waves, like winding dragons, and like bright yellow and brilliant soft silks and satins.

Layers of sand hills look bright and radiant, just like a golden mountain with endless treasures. The golden peaks are magnificent and unattainable against the blue sky.

Mountain climbing is a physical activity, and climbing sand mountain requires more physical strength. Climbers need to work harder and spend more time than usual. Mingsha Mountain is not high in altitude, but it is steep, so you can only climb slowly. Because the sand is soft, the continuous fine sand makes the sand mountain very difficult to climb. Climbing halfway up the mountain, there will be sand sliding, which is equivalent to climbing two steps and sliding one step, or further, retreating half a step. After struggling for a long time, you find that you have only climbed a little.

Not to mention, the sun is high in the Gobi, and it will be tanned if you are not careful. Even the rays of sunshine give off a scorching light, and the strong light seems to scorch everything on the surface at any time. Your body is reflected in such a mirror image, which will certainly amplify your inner inertia and fear until you stop climbing.

There are two soft ladders on the mountain on this side of Crescent Spring: one is an escalator, but there is sand under the feet and no one to help it; One is a wooden bench ladder on the beach, with a handrail but no handrail at the foot.

Although there are traces to follow at the foot of this stair climbing, we should move forward step by step, not in a hurry or slowly. Some wooden steps erected on the beach have been buried under the sand because of the trampling of climbers.

It is said that one of the wonders of Mingsha Mountain is that the footprints left by people who climbed up during the day are completely gone the next day. Wooden ladders are certainly not buried in the sand. The tourists who came to climb the mountain the next day still found the wooden ladder.

Under the high blue sky, I saw a sapphire lake lying quietly at the foot of Mingsha Mountain, surrounded by sand ridges. This lake is like a crescent moon, and the protruding sides of the huge Mingsha Mountain are like giant's outstretched arms, which strongly embrace this pool of clear water. And this golden sapphire lake, like a touch of bright green in winter, brings fresh and smart charm to Shashan.

The description of "eternal quicksand does not fill the spring, and spring water does not dry up" is unobstructed from here. "The mountains are full of sounds, and the water is beautiful." Looking at the picture of the sand spring, I suddenly have a sigh that seems like a lifetime ago: since ancient times, fire and water are incompatible, and sand springs are hard to survive, but in front of me, the desert springs are accompanied by brothers.

The crescent spring in history is not only "inexhaustible", but also rich in aquatic plants, with large water surface and deep water. The ancients fished and rowed here. The fish in spring is shallow, the melons and fruits by the spring are fragrant, and the trees are shaded. In the Qing dynasty, big ships could still run here. At the beginning of the 20th century, people still came here to fish. Until 1960 years ago, the spring water did not change much, with the maximum water depth of 9 meters and the lake area of 22.5 mu.

However, in the mid-1970s, due to local reclamation, pumping irrigation and deforestation, the water level of Crescent Spring dropped sharply due to soil erosion around it. 1985, the average water depth of the crescent spring was only 0.7 ~ 0.8 meters. When the spring dried to the end, the crescent spring split in two, and the crescent water surface became history.

Since 1990s, Danghe River and Crescent Spring have been cut off, the underground river has been destroyed, and Crescent Spring has lost its continuous flow. Moreover, during the period from 20 10/995 to 15, the ridges of Dongshan and Nanshan around Crescent Spring moved to Crescent Spring by 8 ~ 10 m, and the area between North and South Mountains decreased by 7%. Compared with the 1970s, the foot of the sand hill around the Crescent Spring has moved down by 1.3 ~ 60m, and the Crescent Spring is facing the double threats of cut-off and sand mountain covering the spring.

It is said that in order to preserve this landscape, since 2000, Dunhuang City has taken emergency measures such as saving water, closing motor wells, reducing cultivated land, artificially replenishing water and diverting water. The local area even spent 4 billion yuan to build water supply, water conveyance, water treatment and seepage prevention projects, and recharge the river around the Crescent Spring to supplement the water level of the Crescent Spring.

By June 20th, 10 and10, the downward trend of crescent spring water level was initially controlled, and the water level of crescent spring gradually stabilized, and the average water depth was maintained at about 1.7 meters, which temporarily prevented the crescent spring from drying up.

"This spring is the eyes of the desert. Without it, this is a desert, and sand is singing everywhere. "