Zhinan Village Greenway to the Red Leaf Viewpoint

The walk starts at 317 m in the free car park beside 临目村文化礼堂, with charging points and no shop. The first 470 m is the 205省道 / 横里线 approach, the road that carries village traffic up from the valley floor; the 神龙川风景区牌坊 and its public toilet come at 63 m. This is the least pleasant part of the line and it is worth naming: the road is 23.7 % of the one-way distance, and because the walk is an out-and-back you walk it twice. Past the gateway the surface changes to the greenway and the traffic stays behind; the 牌坊 is the boundary between the two.

Caution: The approach is a road walk with village traffic and no pavement for part of it.

Above the 牌坊 the 指南村绿道 takes over: stone steps and packed path through woodland, with the grade steady rather than steep. 石浪, a run of exposed rock the path crosses, is the one named feature, at 579 m from the car park and about 379 m above sea level. The named footpath is 52.3 % of the one-way line, and this is where most of it sits. The greenway is inside the 太湖源省级森林公园, which covers 12,733 ha and nine villages; it is outside the 天目山国家级自然保护区, and the 2025 notice that closes the reserve's core and buffer to walkers does not apply to this path. The canopy closes overhead for most of the climb.

The final 735 m is the steepest sustained stretch, and it ends where the named greenway band stops and the 永指线 mountain road begins. The 红叶指南景区-观景台 sits 30.6 m off the line at about 601 m, at the north-west corner of the scenic area; the drawn line runs 63 m past its nearest approach before the turnaround. Step off for the platform, then come back to the line. The 30 m side step is the only reason to leave the line on the whole walk. This is the top of the walk: the village, the terraces and both ginkgoes are still about 2 km further along the road.

Photo suggestion: The platform is a side step, not a summit; the drawn line ends just beyond it.

The 永指线 continues from the top of the climb for about 2 km to 指南村, and the village is the reason most people come to this valley: 368 mu of terraces, 122 registered trees in the village, free entry and a national AAA rating. The administrative village is 指南 plus 塘顶, and the two big ginkgoes the recordings visit are 700 m apart and different trees. This page does not walk that road. The route is a village road, the distance is a road distance, and the return is the same road; the walk stops where the greenway stops. That is the honest reason this page ends at the platform.

The return is the same line in reverse, and it goes faster: the climb takes about 1 h 21 min on the recording, the descent rather less. The platform is the last place to sit; above the 牌坊 there is nothing but the road and the car park. The descent is where the stone steps ask for the most care. The final 470 m is the road again, now downhill, and the car park is the end. If you are catching the bus, leave the platform with the 1.9 km to 指南山站 and the day's last departure in mind rather than the distance on the page.

Both recordings walked the full village loop, and both fail the site's road-share gate: 50.2 % ordinary road on the A record and 37.1 % on B, against a threshold of 30 %. The cut at the viewpoint is the first version of this corridor to pass, on two independent records, at 24.7 % and 23.7 %. The 临川古道 is a separate registered ring of about 5,500 m, with its own Anji-side segments; its POI is 327 m off this line and its name cannot carry a distance here. The 太湖源景区 is not connected by a footpath. A short honest climb beats a long dishonest loop. There is no alternative descent from the platform.