Heilongtan: The Gorge of String-Pearl Waterfalls and Deep Black Pools, Three Falls and Eighteen Pools Beneath the Peaks Near Miyun, a Summer Cascade and a Winter Ice-Fall Country in Miyun District, Beijing

一谷飞泉穿石下，串珠潭影锁龙宫。Yī gǔ fēiquán chuān shí xià, chuànzhū tán yǐng suǒ lónggōng – Down one gorge the flying springs thread between the rocks; the pearl-string pools’ dark reflections lock in the dragon’s palace.

黑龙潭 Hēilóngtán Heilongtan is not a single waterfall with a viewing deck — it is, plainly put, a gorge strung with water: a narrow valley in the 石城 Shíchéng Shicheng hill country of 密云区 Mìyún Qū Miyun District where the stream drops through the rock in a chain the locals count as 三瀑十八潭 sān pù shíbā tán three waterfalls and eighteen pools, each fall pouring into a dark 深潭 shēntán deep pool and each pool emptying over the next sill below it. The name means Black Dragon Pool, after the deepest basin whose black-green water once made villagers believe a dragon lived there, and the whole layout reads like beads on a thread — hence the nickname 串珠 chuànzhū string of pearls. Paths and rock steps climb beside the water instead of above it, so you walk the gorge in the sound of it. What you actually visit is a cool, stairway-like canyon climb through falling water, not a roadside photo stop.

Call it honestly: the site charges a gate fee, with hours that follow the daylight pattern and seasonal closures when ice or drought reshapes the route (worth confirming the details for current admission, opening days and path conditions). The honest warning is footing and season, not money — the rock steps are wet beside the falls, so bring grip and patience, and pick your season deliberately: late spring through summer brings the falls at full voice, autumn gilds the gorge and thins the crowds, and deep winter transforms the place entirely, freezing the falls into 冰瀑 bīngpù ice falls of blue-white columns that draw photographers from across the city. Give it two to three hours for the out-and-back through the chain, and keep children close on the narrow steps.

The honest star is the staircase of water — the stream gathering in one black pool, spilling over a rock sill, gathering again, the gorge walls green with spray and moss, and at every landing a different angle on the next fall (worth confirming the details for which falls and pools are open on your day). What gets oversold is the dragon: the Black Dragon is folklore, and the real power is geological patience — water cutting one gorge into a chain of basins over millennia. What repays the effort is density: in two hours you pass more falling water than most Beijing day trips deliver in a day, with the peaks of the 密云 Mìyún hill country closing overhead. Come for the layering of the place: sill, then pool, then the next fall’s voice above.

The self-aware postscript: I stood at the deepest pool while a local man filled his water bottle upstream of it, and when I asked whether the dragon still lived in the black water he said, “in summer it is a dragon, in winter it is a sleeping dragon — either way the pool was here before both of us and will stay after”. That is the visit in miniature. 黑龙潭 Hēilóngtán suits whoever treats it as a compact, water-scaled gorge climb first and a checklist of named pools second, and exhausts anyone expecting a single grand cataract or a flat boardwalk loop. Everything else on this Miyun list lies within the same district: the vast protected water of 密云水库 Mìyún Shuǐkù Miyun Reservoir to the east, the pine ridges of 云蒙山 Yúnméng Shān Yunmeng Mountain in the neighbouring hills, the original Ming wall of 司马台长城 Sīmǎtái Chángchéng Simatai Great Wall in the northeast and the lantern-lit lanes of 古北水镇 Gǔběi Shuǐzhèn Gubei Water Town at its foot — all in the same 密云区 Mìyún Qū that strings a necklace of falls through one of its gorges.

Practicalities

• Rating: ★★★★☆ — the string-of-pearls gorge of falls and pools near Shicheng; the density of falling water outranks any single fall; wear grip, expect wet steps, consider the winter ice falls.
• Tickets: Gate fee, with daylight hours and seasonal closures when ice or drought reshapes the route (worth confirming the details for current admission and opening days).
• Address: 黑龙潭 Hēilóngtán, 石城镇 Shíchéng Zhèn Shicheng town, 密云区 Mìyún Qū, Beijing — in the gorge country northwest of the district centre, beneath the Miyun hill peaks.
• Time needed: Two to three hours for the out-and-back climb through the chain of falls and pools; half a day adding a slow photo pace or a nearby gorge.

Words and Names

黑龙潭 Hēilóngtán Heilongtan · the Black Dragon Pool gorge of falling water 三瀑十八潭 sān pù shíbā tán three falls and eighteen pools · the counted chain of the gorge 串珠 chuànzhū string of pearls · how the chain of pools reads on the map 深潭 shēntán deep pool · the dark basins between the falls 瀑布 pùbù waterfall · the thread the whole gorge is strung on 冰瀑 bīngpù ice fall · the winter transformation of the falls into frozen columns

flowcloud would say that 黑龙潭 Hēilóngtán is a gorge that counted its water and kept counting — a narrow valley in the 石城 Shíchéng country of 密云区 Mìyún Qū where 三瀑十八潭 sān pù shíbā tán three falls and eighteen pools thread down the rock like 串珠 chuànzhū a string of pearls, with the deepest black basin lending the whole gorge the name 黑龙潭 Hēilóngtán — and that the honest move is a weekday climb beside the full-voiced summer falls or a deep-winter visit for the 冰瀑 bīngpù ice columns, because admission and which pools are open shift with season and weather (worth confirming the details), the dragon in the pool is the poster half and the water-cut staircase underfoot is the real half, and the gorge repays whoever walks it in the sound of the falls. All checked October 2026.

Getting there: Bus 980 to 密云城区 Mìyún chéngqū Miyun town, then a taxi or local minibus north along 石城镇 Shíchéng zhèn Shicheng road to the Black Dragon Pools gate (worth confirming the details for the last leg, as no city bus runs direct); self-drive follows the 京承高速 Jīngchéng gāosù G45 then 密关路 riverside lanes to the car park. All checked October 2026.