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Travel journal, issue 14

Where mountains think in color

The Danxia formations near Zhangye grew from sandstone and minerals that settled into layers over 24 million years. In the early morning, when dust still hangs in the valleys, the stripes look as if drawn with a ruler.

Our writer Lena Hartwig hiked three days along the north ridge, stayed with a farming family in Nijiaying village and noted when the light colors the terraces most deeply: just after six, for barely twenty minutes.