2015年5月23日 平溪-三貂嶺瀑布ハイキング Hike to visit waterfalls of Pingxi and Sandiaoling

嶺腳瀑布 Lingjao waterfall

台湾は梅雨に入り、天気がすぐれない。中南部は日照りが続き給水制限も行われているので、慈雨であるが山登りには、あまり歓迎でないのは変わらない。今回はもともと、まだ歩き残している平渓基隆河右岸の石古井や和尚尖などをめぐるつもりであったが、天気が良くないようなので変更し、まだ訪れていない平渓の滝めぐりにした。また、それだけでは短すぎたので三貂嶺の滝を以前とは反対方向に歩いた。山行中ずっと雨かと覚悟していったが、ほんの僅かの雨を除いて幸い雨には降られなかった。以前も歩いている場所でもあるので、今回は英語で記述する。いつもどおり、地名などはピンインで表記、初出は中国語も併記します。

枇杷洞瀑布 Pipadong waterfall

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We walk first the left part and take a train to the other section

Two separate sections of hike

Wangu Station (望古車站)

Jilong River (基隆河) is one of the main streams that flow through the metropolitan Taipei. It originates in mountains of Pinxi District (平溪區) of New Taipei City. It flows eastwards first and then changes its direction to northwards at Sandiaoling (三貂嶺). As it flows down through the valley of Pingxi, water goes over waterfalls like Shifen waterfall (十分瀑布) and Lingjiao waterfall (嶺腳瀑布). Its sub steams also have impressive waterfalles like Wanggu waterfall (望古瀑布) and the three waterfalls of Sandiaoling (三貂嶺瀑布群). This hike was to visit these major waterfalls of Jilong River and its sub streams except Shifen waterfall. Lingjiao waterfall and Wanggu waterfall are close each other and an improved trail connects the two locations. We first visited these two and then took a train ride from Lingjiao station to Dahua station (大華站). We followed a trail that goes over a hill and started down to Sandiaoling Station passing by the three water falls, Pipadong waerfall (枇杷洞瀑布), Motian waterfall (摩天瀑布) and Hegu waterfall (合谷瀑布). The second half is a roue just in the opposite direction of my previous hike here two years ago.

Trail head is just across the roadbed and next to the house

My original plan was to visit peaks of Pingxi first and then visit Wanggu waterfall. Bad weather made my mind to change not to climb peaks but to visit waterfalls only. I expected that we would have rain for the entire course of hiking, but we were lucky enough to have almost no rain after all. The dirt trail was wet and mushy at some section but it was way better than getting wet. We completed our activity in about five hours, which was rather moderate compared my recent hikings of nine or ten hours.

Wangu waterfall (望谷瀑布)

New wooden staircase

Because we would have a short hike today, we meet at 9:20 to catch a #795 bus at MRT Muzha (木柵) bus stop. Five of us meet there and take a bus which comes at 9:38. A fifty-minute ride takes us to Qinghe bus stop (慶和站). We take a road going down to the valley from #106 road. We cross Qinghe bridge (慶和橋) and see Wangu train station (望古車站).  A road goes parallel to the railroad for a few minutes and we cross it for the trail head, which leads to Wangu waterfall. An old seemingly abandoned house stands by the trail head. We go up steps and comes to a junction where a left path leads to Mt. Lingjiaoliaoshan (嶺腳寮山),  which we will go later. We go on straight and down the wooden steps. In a few minutes a big waterfall shows up. This is Wangu waterfall. One of the members, Dora, goes into a pool beneath the fall and swims around! She is prepared for it.

Go down the rope bridge

Summit of Mt. Lingjiaoliaoshan

We go back to the junction and take a path upward. This trail has recently been improved by the local government. We go through bridges made of ropes, which are very rare kind. The trail is wet but easy to walk as they are well maintained. We cross a little creek and up we go. We follow the trail on the ridge and come to the summit of Mt. Lingjiaolaioshan (elevation 297m) at 11:30. There are benches and a triangulation stone is placed in the middle. We have a rest for a while. We go down for a few minutes and come to a junction. We take left and go further down. A brick-built house shows up and the dirt trail ends here. We then walk along a paved road to Lingjao train station. The sky is gray with cloud but no rain. We pass by an old mansion of the Cai family (蔡家) who once owned coal mines in the region. The house is no longer inhabited. It is not open for public but you can see a piano in the hall from the front door, which must have been very rare in this valley of mountains back then. We further go down to a station where we reach at 11:56.

Old brick mansion

Hall of the mansion viewed from the main door

Lingjiao Waterfall

Train to Dahua

We take a road parallel to the railroad and come to an entrance to Lingjiao waterfall. Steps lead down to the river in the bottom of the valley and we see the big Lingjiao waterfall there. A canoeing lesson is under way and many people are on the top of waterfall. The water volume is very big and the pool looks pretty deep. The time is still early. We decide to go for more waterfalls in Sandiaoling. We go back to the Lingjiao station and take a train at 12:28 to Dahua station.  We have lunch on the train and arrive at Dahua staion 12:56.

Walk from Dahua station

We first walk along the railroad to a trail head leading to Yerengu (野人谷). The trail goes down to the river and crosses it over an impressive red steel bridge. The trail climbs a steep grade with slippery stone steps. We arrive at Yerengu at 13:20. The trail ends here and a paved road leads to to Xinan (新安) village.  We turn right at Dacuo bridge (大厝橋) and enter the village. We then turn right by a community bus stop and go into mountains. After climbing concrete steps for a few minutes a yellowish dirt path leads further upward. We cross a paved road and continue our trail. We then join a paved road again and go all way to the end of it. A foot trail starts again and we continue our climb over to the top. As we come to the highest point, we go down steps and come to a junction at 13:55, where a right path leads to the waterfalls.

Junction to the waterfalls

They love to play with water

Newly installed steel ladder

A dirt trail descends very steeply. A wooden ladder leads to a lower section and we soon come to a terrace right besides Pipadong waterfall.Water plunges twenty meters or so onto a big rock down at the bottom. A steep path goes further down to the bottom of the waterfall. The time is 14:12 and we have some rest. Two of us wonder around the bottom of the waterfall while I rest there. After a half hour rest we resume our way down the trail. To my surprise a new stainless steel staircase has been constructed where wooden ladders used to be. The new steps are much easier and safer than the old wooden steps. We have a good view of Motian waterfall from a upgraded observation deck at the bottom of the waterfall.

At Motian waterfall

Hege waterfall

We keep on our walk on the trail and pass two small suspended bridges. At 15:07 we come to an observation deck where we can see Hegu waterfall. Water is plenty and the fall looks great today. We follow a dirt trail and go down stone steps to the trail end. We reach there at 15:30. The rest is just to walk along the railroad to Sandiaoling station. No sooner we arrive at the staion at 15:38, a Taipei bound train pulls in and we take it back to Taipei. We later learned that it rained hard in Taipei in the daytime. We were really lucky.

Crossing the suspended brdige

The whole activity took a little more than five hours including the train ride between the two locations and all rests. We walked ten kilometers or so. The trails are all well maintained and easy to walk on. The trail is rated level 2 and the stamina also 2. It is highly recommendable to all hikers particularly for the hot summer season. If you visit Shifen waterfall too, you can have a hike visiting all major waterfalls in the region.