Baofeng Lake lies in the Wulingyuan Scenic Area on the south side of Suoxiyu village, which gives the surrounding valley its Tujia name. It exists because in the 1970s local villagers dammed the gorge to generate electricity and inadvertently created a reservoir 2.5 kilometres long. Forested stone peaks rise from its waterline, the same quartz sandstone walls that stand as pillars elsewhere in the district, and the lake has since served as a film location for the television classic Journey to the West.
Baofeng Lake exists because villagers dammed a gorge for electricity in the 1970s. The Tujia village whose fog gave the valley its name still sits on the shore, inside a scenic area that adopted the water as scenery.