Transport getting there: if you want to go all the way there from Kunming you will need to catch a bus from the new northern station to Fazhe 法者, which on some maps has now been renamed as Hongtudi Zhen Red Soil Township. But you will need to get off before at a cross road locallly known as 109 (it is where the road branches with the right turn going down to Dongchuan). It is only a cluster of a few houses on top of a hill.
Actually it is best to stay on the bus for another two hundred meters and get off right where the km marker says 110, it is where the best guesthouse is in the area. It is run by a local guy who made it by being a most amiable host to all photographers. I was there first when he had only three rooms in his farmhouse which went for Y5 each and local travel was by horse cart driven by his brother. His guesthouse went through a few iterations and last time he had standard rooms for up to Y120 in addition to a number of smaller rooms. His wife will cook, there are no restaurants. Last time I was there the owner also had a minibus which he used to drive people around. Bus drivers generally know the guest house and will stop there to drop you off.
The official time-table of the northern station says there are six busses per day to Fazhe, I do not believe that as only two years ago there was really only one, leaving early in the morning around 7:30 and arriving just after mid-day. The alternative is to take just a bus to Magai 寻甸马街 (there are lots of Magais around, the one in Xundian county is the one you want), which is the next larger town, but on official maps it always appears as something else. In Magai you can easily find a minibus to take you up to 109. Price maybe Y200.
Around 109 there are quite a number of scenic spots, some are within walking distance, others not. Some think that sunrise is best from Damakan (about 15km along the road to Fazhe, you will need transport for this), while others stay more locally. Afternoon is perhaps nicest from a viewpoint down and off the road to Dongchuan, I forgot the name of that place, again, transport is needed. A closer area is '114', reachable via the road (and a shortcut along the fields).
Particularly nice about the area is that you are really in the middle of pretty countryside, no town, just fields and a few farm houses combined with good views over the Wumeng mountains. I have never been there in April, autumn being the prime photo time there, so I would not think that the place will be overrun by tourist, but numbers have steadily increased.
To return to KM you can either go the same way back, waiting for the KM bound bus from Fazhe, or go to the 109 crossroad and wait for the bus from Magai to Dongchuan along a quite spectacular road through desert mountains. Check with the locals on what time the bus passes, I think it is only one per day. From Dongchuan to KM is easy.
