The Great Ladder Cliff of the Longmen Gorge on the Yellow River was excavated during the Northern Wei Dynasty, contemporary with the Yungang Grottoes. We crossed the river here for the nth time, entering the northern lands. The Iron Bridge is the narrowest point of the thousand-mile Yellow River, with a width of between 40 and 60 meters. It is also the place where fish leap from the Dragon Gate, the exit of the Shanxi-Shaanxi Grand Canyon, and the origin of the magnificent Yellow River history of the Chinese people. The word "Longmen" is so alluring to the Chinese that today, on both sides of the Yellow River, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces have their own "Longmen" place names marked on maps on both sides of the same riverbank. Today, three railways, one national highway, two provincial highways, and one expressway all cross the Yellow River within a 5-kilometer radius north and south of Yumenkou.