a glass walkway in china’s tianmen mountain national park all photographs © dingyun juan, courtesy tianmenshan

a new trail path in china’s tianmen mountain national park offers visitors an unusual experience: the floor and rails of the pathway are composed of glass, offering walkers a vertigo-inducing look at the sheer drops and wilderness below. the walkway spans three feet wide, composed of glass 2.5-inches thick.

measuring approximately 200 feet (61 meters) long, the walkway is raised almost a mile into the air at about 4700 feet (1430 meters), inviting comparisons to the grand canyon ‘skywalk’ in arizona, USA. the passage joins the west cliff at the yunmeng fairy summit, where tianmen mountain and zhang jiajie meet. visitors to the tianmen mountain bridge are requested to wear shoe covers to keep the glass transparent and clean.

views looking down the 200-foot path

visitors look out over the edge of the cliff known as ‘heavenly gate mountain’

a small lookout section

a traveler looks down the 4700-foot drop