China Esiymbro · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 1,194 m.
The real relief above Zhijin Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
1,194m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
16°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
259m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
16 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 16 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 28 °C at the entrance, 12 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from May to August. The wettest months are from May to August: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 13°0°Jan
- 17°2°Feb
- 21°6°Mar
- 25°11°Apr
- 27°15°May
- 27°18°Jun
- 28°19°Jul
- 28°19°Aug
- 26°16°Sep
- 21°12°Oct
- 18°6°Nov
- 13°1°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Zhijin Cave, China
Zhijin Cave is a cave in China. The entrance is at 1,194 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Zhijinnearest town · 19 km in a straight line
- Anshun Huangguoshu Airport (AVA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 56 km in a straight line
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The the river runs highest from June to August.
The the river carries about 158 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from June to August. It is lowest from December to April.
- 44 m³/sJan
- 48 m³/sFeb
- 68 m³/sMar
- 100 m³/sApr
- 171 m³/sMay
- 300 m³/sJun
- 354 m³/sJul
- 344 m³/sAug
- 271 m³/sSep
- 218 m³/sOct
- 142 m³/sNov
- 83 m³/sDec
From about 44 m³/s in the lowest month to 354 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 10,114 km².
Follow the Wu River from source to mouth on Riveryas
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 km织金洞出口
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
- hotels and guesthouses within 8 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Zhijin19 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Zhijin Cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 13 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 21 | 18 | 13 |
| Afternoon | 13 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 21 | 18 | 13 |
| Night | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 1 |
| Rain (mm) | 20 | 15 | 36 | 67 | 130 | 210 | 173 | 143 | 112 | 86 | 26 | 18 |
| Rainy days | 4 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 6 | 4 |
| Sun hours/day | 0.5 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 5.5 | 5.1 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 13 | 13 | 0 | 20 | 0.5 |
| Feb | 17 | 17 | 2 | 15 | 1.6 |
| Mar | 21 | 21 | 6 | 36 | 2.3 |
| Apr | 25 | 25 | 11 | 67 | 3.2 |
| May | 27 | 27 | 15 | 130 | 3.2 |
| Jun | 27 | 27 | 18 | 210 | 2.6 |
| Jul | 28 | 28 | 19 | 173 | 5.5 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 19 | 143 | 5.1 |
| Sep | 26 | 26 | 16 | 112 | 3.1 |
| Oct | 21 | 21 | 12 | 86 | 0.9 |
| Nov | 18 | 18 | 6 | 26 | 1.6 |
| Dec | 13 | 13 | 1 | 18 | 0.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (1,194 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 218% | 163% | 87% | 70% | 120% | 124% | 150% | 62% | 297% | 91% | 33% | 105% |
| 2021 | 91% | 188% | 28% | 98% | 154% | 110% | 152% | 180% | 139% | 74% | 88% | 118% |
| 2022 | 172% | 236% | 117% | 213% | 132% | 91% | 79% | 30% | 103% | 41% | 15% | 110% |
| 2023 | 42% | 110% | 139% | 94% | 55% | 104% | 128% | 125% | 86% | 96% | 70% | 26% |
| 2024 | 160% | 68% | 48% | 176% | 152% | 115% | 59% | 50% | 127% | 126% | 103% | 128% |
| 2025 | 104% | 208% | 82% | 112% | 158% | 139% | 106% | 104% | 150% | 131% | 363% | 51% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Zhijin Cave
China
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,194 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Shuanghedong Cave Network
China · 212 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 803 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q3117185) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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