2015年4月18日 平溪石硿子古道 - 雙溪中坑古道 Hiking through abandoned rice terraces in a remote valley

At one of rice terraces of Zhongkeng historical trail

前回雙溪の中坑古道を歩いた時、もともとは更に石硿子古道をへて平溪望古へ歩く予定であった。ところが、内盤山から歩き始めた直後、大雨が降り出しそこで山行を終わりにした。今回は、その果たせなかった石硿子古道から内盤山へ来たあと、内盤山古道を登り中坑古道を下り、更に雙溪柑腳へ歩くという山行である。今回は、すでに日本語で記述しているのと重なる部分があるので、英語で記述する。

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Start from Wanbaodong (on upper left)

Hiking elevation profile

Alight #795 bus at Wanbaodong bus stop

Shuangxi district (雙溪區) of New Taipei city is a scarcely populated hilly terrain. More than two hundred years ago immigrants from mainland China settled in valleys here and established their homes. They cleared small pieces of flat land along valleys and built rice terraces with hard labor. To connect to neighboring villages, people had to walk across mountains and a network of footpaths were formed. As the economy of Taiwan advanced more car roads were built in remote areas like here. Cars took over the roles of local transportation. Residents moved out from their original home in valleys to cities for modern convenience. The footpaths which served the local people for many years were abandoned and forgotten. The nature claimed back its original state and thick vegetation covered settlements as well as footpaths.

Walk on the car road to the trail head

Taiwan became rich enough for its people to have time for hiking. Hikers explored this area and discovered once abandoned trails. Volunteering hikers cleared vegetation on trails and made them available for others to walk on. So called historical or ancient trails are those footpaths with such history. There are many historical trails all over Taiwan. Among the historical trails that I have ever walked, Shuangxi district keeps most beautiful trails. This is one of my favorite hiking destinations.

Waterfall beneath the car road

Shikongzi historical trail

Ｗe have 9 members today. 50 minutes of #795 bus ride took us to Wanbaodong (萬寶洞) bus stop in Pingxi (平溪) where we start today's hike. After a few minutes of preparation we start walking at 8:37. A small road diverges to right and this is the one we take. A narrow paved road turns into a even narrower foot path. We reach a small bridge in a few minutes where it connects to another paved road leading to the Shikongzi (石硿子古道) historical trail head. Because this road goes through a valley of small population, there is very little traffic. The road climbs along a beautiful stream down the valley. Small waterfalls are visible at some spots. We cover about 2 and a half kilometer and reach the road end at 9:08. A guide panel shows hiking trails in the region. The dirt historical trail starts just besides the panel.

Shikongzi waterfall

The dirt trail is clear and seems to be very often walked on. It goes under a massive concrete bridge which was once used for carrying coal across the valley. There was a coal mine on the other side of the valley until a few decades ago. In a few minutes we come to a junction. The right one goes up to Mt. Mumushan (畝畝山). We take the straight one along the stream. The trail goes along the stream on your left. It passes by a small waterfall and goes small ups and downs along the stream until we come to a junction at 9:30. This is where a short walk to Shikongzi waterfall (石硿子瀑布) diverges. We take left and head for the waterfall. The waterfall is only two or three meters high and water flows down over a solid rock. The pool in front of the waterfall is not deep either. It is not so impressive but it is worth a detour anyway. We have a first rest here.

Zhikongzi trail after crossing a concrete bridge

We resume our hike and go back to the junction. We follow the main trail. It still goes on the left side of the stream (looking from the upstream) for another twenty minutes or so and crosses the stream over with a concrete bridge. As we go along the stream for a few more minutes from the bridge, the trail looks narrower and less walked on. We still keep on that small footpath and it starts going up. I find that this is not the main trail and my map does not shows this one. We have missed the main trail somewhere but I know this can go up to the car road up the hill so we keep on. The trail becomes much unclear as we go. We climb for about 15 minutes and jump on to a car road.  We then take right and go down on the road. We meet the main trail from the right at 10:24. If we had followed it, we would have come this point and met the car road. We keep on the card road and soon find a small dirt footpath going up on our left. A route guide board is just beside the trail head.

The summit of Shikongzi trail

Shikongzi trail end

This dirt trail is another part of the Shikongzi historical trail. We climb the steep dirt grade for two or three minutes and come to the highest point. This is a four way cross road. A small footpath crosses here with the historical trail. If we take right here, we can go to Mt. Mumushan. We go straight and start descending. The slope is steep on this side too. In fifteen minutes we see a house and a car road and soon end our walk on the historical trail. We have another short break here. A local old woman comes over and talks to us. We have several Caucasian members and it must be a little unusual for her to see such a troop like us in this place.

at the highest point

We take right and goes up along the car road. We soon arrive at Neipanshan (內盤山), the end of the car road and the last bus stop F812 community bus. We goes left and pass by a firm house. We go down to a valley. This is another historical trail called Neipanshan trail (內盤山古道). I walked on this trail only two weeks ago, albeit the opposite direction. We first go along the main stream, cross it for the right side. In a few more minutes the trail goes up along with a sub stream flowing into the main stream. It passes by abandoned rice fields now covered with thick vegetation. We crosses the stream from left to right and back again. At 11:35 we come to a final stream crossing of this historical trail and have a short break.

At a rice terrace after lunch

Abandoned houses

Stream crossing

The trail goes along the stream for another few minutes and ascends with steep grade. We pass by a Tudigong (土地公) Taoist stone shine. There is no god image inside and now apparently nobody prays for it anymore. When local people used to walk on this trail in the past, they must have prayed for their safe passage and protection. We further go up and come to a junction. If we go left, we start walking the west branch of Zhongkeng (中坑古道) historical trail, which joins the east branch of the trail that we will walk on later. We take right and walk further on the Neipanshan trail. It keeps climbing and we reach the highest point of the trail at 11:56. This is also the highest point on today's hike. The trail starts descending and in a few more minutes we come to a junction to meet the east branch of Zhongkeng trail. We take right and soon come to a terrace rice filed. We go up the bank and a green field spreads in front of us. Another group of hikers is just about to leave after their lunch break. The leader of the group, Mt. Jiang is well-know person as he is a leader of Lantian troop (藍天隊), which voluntarily maintains hiking trails every week. Most of active hikers, including myself, know this group and appreciate their contribution.

Last stream crossing

As they leave for their next destination, we have a lunch break in turn. The rice terrace is now transformed into a green grass field, like golf courses. We sit down on the grass and have rest. Two of the members bring out wine and share with other members. It is really a nice picnic on such a grass field. After having a good rest of more than a half hour we resume our hike. This is a highlight of today's hike and we pass by most beautiful section of the Zhongkeng historical trail (east branch).

Tudigong shrine

A ten minutes of descent bring us to an abandoned village. Stone walls of several houses still stand and show the size of the village. In front of the houses there are rice fields. I guess there should have been forty or fifty people living in this remote village in the past. We further go down and come across another big rice terraces. It has several steps. I wonder how much sweat and blood they had shed to built this massive size of rice terraces just only with their hands and animals. Huge rocks still remain in the fields because they were too big to move without modern machinery. We keep descending and cross a stream several times. Some members slips while crossing and get their boots wet. I slip and get mine wet too on one of crossings. We go by several more big rice terraces. At 13:43, one hour from the place of lunch, we cross the stream for the last time. By then everybody except those who wear rain boots gets their boots wet.

Trail end, looking from a last bridge

The trail becomes wide and we see another Tudigong stone shrine. There are fruits and cookies in its front. Obviously people still come here and pray for gods. At 14:00 we walk cross a new concrete bridge. It seems that the local government has upgraded this section of road for tourism. We cross another big bridge and pass by a parking space. Several cars are parked there. They must belong to the members of Langtian troops whom we have met. We go up a little and meet a car road at 14:05. We go further down on the car road to our final destination Ganjiao (柑腳) where we catch a bus. When we have walked for ten minutes or so, a F812 free community bus is coming behind us. I thought that we did not make this bus, but luckily enough we have walked faster than my expectation. We just hop on the bus and head for Shuangxi train station.

We spent 5 hours and a half and covered 13 km. Because we were lucky to catch the F812 bus on the way to Ganjiao, it shortened our total time and distance. The rice terraces are really beautiful. The creeks along the valley are clean. The public transportation is not that convenient for this area but it is worth your extra time. You might well get your boots wet when crossing a stream, but the trail is clear to follow and easy to walk on. This route is highly recommended for any hikers.