Hello Avatar Mountains

Field Notes: Zhangjiajie, China
Date: June 10-20, 2019
Location: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

Eleven days deep in the jungle, surrounded by towering sandstone pillars and monkeys that had zero respect for personal space. Zhangjiajie felt straight out of a dream mist curling around the cliffs, trees gripping onto rock like they were afraid of falling, and the kind of quiet that makes you realize how loud the rest of the world is.

The monkeys? Absolute menaces. Smart, shameless, and always watching. The second you looked away, they’d be in your bag, your food, maybe even trying to pickpocket you if they could. It wasn’t their fault though this was their jungle, and we were just passing through.

But the real showstopper was the landscape. The floating mountains of Avatar came from here, and standing at the edge of those cliffs, I got it. The rock formations stretched toward the sky like something ancient and unbothered, trees somehow surviving on vertical faces. Some parts felt untouched, wild like they’d been that way forever. Others were dressed up for tourists, boardwalks, steps, and cable cars making it all a little too easy.

I was lucky enough to see these mountains from every angle watching them rise above the mist from the top and then trailing through them at the bottom, where they felt impossibly massive. At one point, I got completely lost down there, no trails, no signs, just towering rock formations swallowing me into their world. And honestly? It was awesome. One of those rare moments where getting lost feels better than knowing exactly where you are.

And then there was the water. Cool, clear, and perfect after long days of hiking. I got to play in it, letting the sound of rushing streams and hidden waterfalls drown everything else out. It was one of those places where the air feels different, where the water feels like it’s rinsing off more than just sweat and dirt.

One of the most unexpected and unforgettable experiences was meeting Tommy and Rachel, a Tujia couple who invited us into their world. We had been wandering through when we came across them. They were incredibly kind, welcoming us without hesitation and sharing stories about their people’s traditions and history. Tommy was a natural storyteller, and Rachel laughed as she insisted we try on their traditional clothing, barely giving us a chance to refuse. The fabrics were intricate, full of rich colors and patterns that felt deeply tied to the landscape around us. Standing there in traditional attire, surrounded by these towering cliffs, was a surreal moment one that reminded me how much history and culture are interwined into the land itself.

Because I had been living in China for nearly a year at that point, I was able to communicate with them in Mandarin. I consider myself an intermediate speaker, and for the first time, I truly felt the value of language beyond just function it was a bridge, a way to connect on a deeper level. We weren’t just tourists passing through; we were guests, sharing stories, laughter, and a moment of cultural exchange that felt real and unfiltered.

That’s what got me thinking what does it even mean to ‘experience’ nature when it’s been shaped for us? The boardwalks keep people from trampling the ecosystem, but they also control where you go, what you see. The cable cars give you epic views, but they skip the sweat, the climb, the effort that makes reaching a place feel earned. At what point does accessibility start to chip away at authenticity? Are we really in the wild, or just in a very convincing, very scenic, open-air museum?

Somewhere along the way, I realized I didn’t have an answer. But I did have a monkey staring me down like he knew something I didn’t.