Five-flower Lake

Five-Flower Lake

The pride of Jiuzhaigou Valley, Five-Flower Lake lies at the end of the upper reach of Peacock River, 2,472 meters (about 8,110 feet) above the sea level and five meters (about 16 feet) in depth. Most of the colorful leaves are gathered in the lakefront. The local people say that it is a holy lake, and where there is the water, there must be flourishing flowers and trees. When looking down from the mountain, you will find that the lake with hills on three sides is just like a huge upended cucurbit pouring colorful water to the lower place.

Peculiarly, there is a pattern of a deer’s leg in the abdomen of the cucurbit, 10 meters (about 33 feet) or so. The whole pattern is light green, while the middle part presents dark green due to the quincunx-shaped pits of the terrain of the lake bed. So the pattern is really like a spotted deer. The legend said that the deity of all mountains hurt the holy deer that belonged to the King of Forest by mistake when he was seeking for water source in the mountain. The King of Forest was so furious that he chased the deity on the holy deer and wanted to kill him. Other deities cut off one leg of the deer in order to help the deity of all mountains. Then the holy deer fell down and became the colorful lake.