Guyue Xunzong Waterfall Loop

The loop starts at 禅悦寺 (Chanyue Temple), in 车厩岙 on the south slope of 禅余山, reached by a cobble path among pines, bamboo and red azalea. For a walker choosing between water and ridge, the temple is the practical decision point: the 4 km family circuit turns back here, while this route continues up the full corridor. The surviving hall is 20.1 m wide over five bays, 13.9 m deep, rebuilt in 1877 after three destructions and four rebuilds; two traditions date it — local heritage to the 三国赤乌年间 (238–251), built by 吴国太, mother of 孙权, and a gazetteer's record of the 敕赐'禅悦寺'额 in 后晋天福元年 (936). The loop leaves the courtyard and follows the stream valley downstream, into the water half of the route.

Photo suggestion: The cobble approach among bamboo and the five-bay hall set the tone before the water starts.

This is the route's water half and what separates it from the 4 km circuit: the entire designed stop sequence, not just the bottom slice. The line runs 涵碧池 · 辰雨壁 · 鸳鸯潭 · 三叠泉 · 水木交辉 · 洞天处 · 岗山风径 · 层林听风 · 醉茗亭 — signage names for a calm pool, a rock face, a plunge pool, a stepped cascade, a shaded bamboo stretch and a tea pavilion. Treat them as places to stand, not dimensions to measure — no depths or heights are quoted for them. 鸳鸯潭 and 三叠泉 are the two headliners and both are stream features, full after rain and thinned to a trickle in a dry spell — That single fact decides when to come, so check recent rainfall before fixing a date. The corridor is the 野岭古道 whose watercourse is the 十里涵溪 ('Ten li of Embanked Stream'), the tourism build's 古越名谷. Walking it end to end is the difference between this route and the short one: more water, more shade, more time by the stream.

Caution: Wet stone on the cobbles and the cascade faces is the hazard on this leg — keep close, wear grippy shoes, and do not climb the cascade. The stream is not drinking water.

This is where the route changes character: it stops following the stream and starts climbing the east flank toward the 虹赤岭 (Hongchi) shoulder. The climb carries the gain — the stream section alone is nearly level, and the shoulder is where the ~250–400 m estimate is earned. The exact point where the corridor hands off to the climb is not a published coordinate (the named stops do not resolve as map points), so treat it as a signed junction on the ground rather than a dot on the map. This hinge is the heart of the route: below it is water, above it is stone and bamboo, and the change happens underfoot in a few minutes.

Photo suggestion: The point where the path leaves the stream bed and turns up the flank is the photo that tells the route's story.

The shoulder is the route's stone half and its best differentiator. Up here the corridor opens into bamboo groves and tea terraces, with the first real view over the 车厩 valley to the north. The 虹岭古道 (also 红赤岭 / 虹赤岭 / 洪峻) is a Ming-era road — ~3.5 km, 4,150 stone steps, up to 3 m wide, built of local mountain stone, with ~1.6 km of contiguous paving and ~220 m of climb surviving, gradient split 南二北三. It was never a scenic path: the five surnames of 余鲍陈村 (余/鲍/陈/邵/汪) lived off mountain produce and needed the 车厩 market on the 姚江, where bamboo and timber went downriver rafted on the tide. The pass shrine 关圣殿 keeps a Chen-family couplet (义存汉室三分鼎，志在春秋一部书); a Qing-late roadside pavilion at about step 800 once kept 苦艾茶 (mugwort tea) for travellers against heatstroke. This is the livelihood story that makes the route legible as a working road.

Caution: The cut-stone steps are slick when wet and exposed to sun on the open shoulder — avoid after heavy rain, carry water, and use the shade of the bamboo stretches.

From the shoulder the route descends back toward Chanyue Temple, closing the loop at the courtyard where it began. The descent is the reward after the climb: the gradient eases, shade returns, and the walking gets easy again. The return is the loop's least-wild stretch, and the one most likely to have changed, because the north-flank leg runs partly on village road. Readers who parked at Leishi Temple simply add the ~600 m connector back to the gateway. With 3–4 h estimated for the whole, the day ends where the signage began — stream first, shoulder second, temple last.

Photo suggestion: The bamboo over the upper stream and the cobble return to the temple close the loop.