Duku Highway—Experience Four Seasons in a Day, Diverse Weather Within Miles

A must-drive Route 217 in your lifetime 🚗! This road fulfills all your fantasies about road trips. Dubbed the "Scenic Boulevard Along the Tianshan Ridge," this sky-piercing highway 🛣️ took over nine years for PLA engineers to construct, with 168 heroic soldiers sacrificing their lives—a monumental achievement in engineering history. Located in Xinjiang's Ili region, the 561-kilometer Duku Highway takes about 12 hours to drive 🚗. Along the way, you'll witness world-class landscapes: deserts 🏝️, snow-capped mountains 🏔️, lakes 🌊, alpine meadows 🌿, and more. Experience how human engineering blends seamlessly with nature, where peril and beauty reach their zenith. Highlights: 1️⃣ **Dushanzi Grand Canyon** The starting point of Duku Highway, renowned as the "Hidden Gem of Duku, a Billion-Year Wonder." Its rugged ravines resemble a finely layered print 🖼️. 2️⃣ **Hashilegen Daban Pass** Crossing this 3,400m-high pass feels like entering winter. Perilously steep and perpetually snow-covered, you might even encounter heavy snowfall 🌨️. 3️⃣ **Nalati Grassland** In summer, Nalati becomes a real-life Hayao Miyazaki scene, blending blue skies ☁️, glacial peaks 🏔️, forests 🌿, and river valleys 🏞️. Drive deep into Snow Lotus Valley along the grassland road for unparalleled "Sky Prairie" views. 4️⃣ **Bayanbulak Grassland** Famous for Swan Lake and the Nine-Bend Open River (featured in *Pegasus*), especially at sunset 🌇 when the light dances on the winding Kaidu River—utterly breathtaking. 5️⃣ **Big & Small Dragon Pools** Nestled in the Tianshan depths, these emerald-green lakes 🌊, 4km apart, are fed by glacial melt. Stop by for a lakeside stroll 👣~ 6️⃣ **Tianshan Mysterious Grand Canyon** The final highlight on the north-to-south Duku route, this crimson-hued mountain range ⛰️ offers "Flaming Mountain 🌋"-like vistas.