The Yellow River Road Bridge connects Wuhai's three districts across the river and lake system, and a walk or cycle across the bridge gives the best overview of the city's unusual geography. From the bridge, you can see simultaneously the desert dunes to the west, the sandstone cliffs to the east, the broad Yellow River channel, and the urban development of the three districts strung along the riverbanks. The scale of the river at this point — wide, flat, and swift, carrying the heavy silt load that gives it its name — is impressive.
The bridge area is a local gathering point at weekends, with food vendors and fishermen. The Yellow River here is used for recreational fishing by local residents, though the water quality limits how much of the catch is eaten. The river itself, one of Asia's most historically significant waterways, looks more approachable and less mythological up close than its reputation suggests — it is a working river, with irrigation channels drawing off water for agriculture on both banks, and the colour really is yellow.