Forgotten Forest of Henan: A 27-km Drive from the City Center, Perfect for a May Day Road Trip
When I first heard of Burden Forest, I was puzzled why the forest was named after a foreigner. It turned out that Mr. Burden made significant contributions to China's forestry industry, particularly in 1917 when he introduced North American larches to Yinchang City and achieved success, forming the currently prosperous larch forest. Because the first successful introduction of North American larches to China, other larch trees in the country were largely derived from this, so the locals also called this area the 'Larch Forest'.
Burden Forest is located in the Li Jia Experimental Area of the Henan Province Xigongshan National Nature Reserve, 27 kilometers south of Yinchang City, accessible by heading south from Yinchang along National Highway 107. Road signs are available along the way, and a left turn leads to Burden Forest Park. Burden Forest is divided into 6 scenic areas and more than 20 attractions. The main attractions include Burden Memorial Forest, Burden Memorial Monument, pavilions, Ancient Tea Creek, Lake Ming, Forest Playground, Seven-Tier Waterfall, Emerald Bamboo Pool, Bamboo and Stone Culture, Golden Mountain Sightseeing, and Bird Watching Pavilion.
Burden Forest's main tourist areas are connected by wooden boardwalks, stone roads, and dirt trails, creating a completely natural and interesting landscape, which also greatly protected the natural environment. Walking along the wooden boardwalks through the vast, straight, towering larch forests, you can feel the tall plants shielding you from the polluted air and completely isolate it beyond the canopy. This creates a green world filled with birdsong and insects, a truly private and green world. And the ground between the trees is full of various unnamed flowers, all characterized by their extremely lush and dense growth.
Therefore, it is a good place to take children, with the air and scenery being very pleasant. Children's world is the purest, a stream, a bird call, a big tree, a small insect, can ask you a million questions. The deeper you go into the forest, the more humid it gets, the stone steps are somewhat old and slippery, but the air is getting fresher, and the ancient trees are more abundant, giving you the feeling of entering a primitive forest.
Under a thick maple tree, leaning your face against the grayish-blue trunk, you can smell the faint fragrance of the bark; the leaves rustle in the gentle breeze. Looking through the leaf gaps, you can see the white clouds floating in the sky, floating leisurely. This vast and expansive feeling suddenly rises from the heart. The well-developed larches are particularly stunning, with the leaves resembling birds' feathers, and their shape is exceptionally beautiful. Each larch tree is spaced approximately one meter apart, with thick, upright, and uniform trunks, creating a highly beautiful forest appearance.
Besides larches, there are also many cypress trees here, a plant rarely seen in the north, which added many surprises to the tour. Cypress trees are high plants growing in water, paired with water, feeling romantic, so it is not strange that there are couples with sweet faces taking wedding photos by the water. Following the path, though seemingly without a destination, you can encounter many surprises in the forest park, such as lush bamboo forests, and when the wind blows through them, you can only hear the rustling of bamboo leaves. You may also come to the bank of the stream, set up a small red tent, and stop to have food and drink. There are also long hanging bridges in the forest, which are fun to walk across, with children laughing and running to the other side.
There is also a tourist sightseeing small train track, originally a branch of the Pínghàn Railway built in 1898, which was diverted to the Wuhan-Chenjiagang Railway section in 2005 and put into operation again. In 2007, the 16-kilometer original iron track and its associated stations were stopped, and the Yinchang City government took charge of them for development as a cultural and tourist attraction. The starting point of the tourist sightseeing small train track is Burden Forest, the end point is the Cloud Mountain Forest Hot Spring. The entire track is 9.407 kilometers long. It's also a great place to take kids for a ride.
