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| The largest waterfall on the route; a rope is visible besides water but we go pass around this one |
台湾のお正月は旧暦で行われている。太陽暦に対しては毎年その時期がずれる。今年は比較的遅く2月19日が元日である。日本のお正月と同じようにこの前後は休日となり、日常業務は停止する。家族が集まりご馳走をいただくなど同じである。この旧暦正月中の一日に、台北近くの山に登りちょうど咲き始めた桜の花見を行った。花見には酒はつきものである。頂上でワインを飲んだ。
旧暦正月は、当然人口大移動である。高速道路は過去最高の交通量を記録、どこへ行くにも大変だ。そこで、今回の登山対象は近くでなおかつ花見ができる、またお酒を飲んだあとも簡単に下山できるところ、といった条件で選んだ。ただ、普通の道では面白く無いので、大尖山登山道の中で一番難度の高い大尖瀑布の道から登った。
大尖山は過去に何度か訪れその都度このブログに日本語で
記述しているので、今回は英語で記載する。
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| A view from Mt. Dajianshan: looking for the direction of Taipei and the 101 building is visible |
The lunar new year this time came rather late relative to the Gregorian calendar. Native Formosa cherry blossoms have already gone at many places by this time, while those on higher locations or in hash conditions just start blooming and I know that the cherry trees on the top of Mt. Dajianshan of Xizhi district, New Taipei City would bloom in late February. I didn't feel like to go strenuous hiking in the festive time so this was it. Highways and long-distance trains during the few days of lunar new year holidays are jam packed and it is not wise to go to faraway places. Mt. Dajianshan is just fifteen-minute-train-ride away from Taipei main station. It has a rather difficult route to go up while a stone paved trail is also available. So I decided to go up by this hard route of Dajian waterfalls, have fun with wine and cherry blossoms and walk down via an easy roue of stone paved trail.
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| A round trip around Mt. Dajianshan |
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| The Dajian waterfall trail starts here |
Some of my regular company went to their home in southern Taiwan but some friends staying in Taipei joined this hiking. We meet at a bus stop of F911 community bus across Xizhi station. Two of them did not show up by 9:00 when the bus left and they catch us up by taxi near our starting point, Fuji Hilltop Community. We start at 9:20 and first go through the community houses along a street. We come out of the community in ten minutes and go around the foot of Mt. Dajianshan. We can see its top at some corners. There are a few cherry trees along the road, but most of the blooms have already gone. It is warm here and its blooming time is almost over by now.
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| The first waterfall: we climb the right dart slope |
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| Cross the stream to the opposite side |
At 9:40 we arrive at an entrance of Dajian waterfall trail. It is just at the elbow of a hairpin curve and stone steps are leading upwards. The footpath looks OK for the first few minutes but when we reach the first waterfall, we know that we have to climb a steep dart slope next to the waterfall. There should have been stone steps in the past but apparently a landslide washed them away. There are ropes affixed along the slope and they are useful. We keep going up like this for 15 minutes passing three waterfalls then see stone steps again. We go down to the bottom of the stream just in front of another small waterfall and cross the stream to the opposite side. As we come closer to a high waterfall in front of us, a vertical rock section faces us. We climb over it and find yet another very tall waterfall up there. The time is a quarter past ten. We have come for a half hour on this waterfall trail.
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| Climb the steep rock face |
A thin rope is dangling besides falling water of the tall waterfall and it may be possible to climb the waterfall with aid of the rope. We do not dear to try it and start a go-round detour path on the right side. This path goes rather long way to pass the waterfall, but obviously much safer. We go up another very steep slopes and then traverse for the right direction, away from the stream. We have a short rest at a halfway point of this whole trail. It is 10:25 and we have walked for an hour by now. After a few minutes of rest, we resume our climb. The path now changes the direction and goes towards the stream. As we go along a level traversing path, we can see a view of the town down there. At 11:00 we come to a last waterfall of all. This one is not big, but we need to climb just besides running water.
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| Walking a traversing section |
After we go up the top of the waterfall then we start a final steep ascent to the ridge above. We reach the wide hiking trail on the ridge at 11:38, the end of this climb. A man is just near where we pop out and wonders where on the earth we come from. The entrance of our path is not obvious and there is no sigh or any other indication. Unless you are familiar it is hard to identify there is a footpath. We turn right and head for the peak of Mt. Dajianshan. We find cherry are in bloom here and there on the sides of our trail. We reach the peak at 11:48. There are many hikers up here. The sun is shiny and sky is blue. Cherry blossoms here are just 30% in bloom because the condition is hush as cold wind blows through. It would need another week or so for all cherry trees come in full bloom. We have a long rest here under the warm sun with wine and food that members have brought up.
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| Looking over the town from a traversing path |
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| The members going on a level traversing path |
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| The last waterfall on the route |
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| A final labor to the ridge |
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| About a third of cherry on the summit are in bloom |
We enjoy nearly two hours of lunch and start descent. We take a stone paved trail down. Though this is rather steep it is very safe with handrails. Even small kids are coming up too. We reach Tianxiugong temple at the end of trail. The place is full of people as today is a sunny holiday with cherry blossoms. We then take stone steps from Tenxiugong temple down to another temple Wugujinshengdian where a F911 bus stop is. On weekend and holidays, F911 only comes up to this place, not to Tianxiugong temple. As soon as we arrive there at 14:15, a bus comes and we take it down to Xizhi station.
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| Looking back the top of Mt. Daianshan on the way down |
We walked for three hours this time. This was a short and easy hiking, though the trail up to the summit is not for everybody. The Dajian waterfall trail is not for beginners. The path is pretty clear and you will not lose it, but you have to have some experience of rope/rock climbing. The difficulty is level 3 in total, but if only take the waterfall trail, it is level 4. Stamina level is 2.
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