2021年1月13日 雙溪大竹林山 - 十分番子坑山(雙十)縱走 "Double Ten" trekking

Weed-free summit of Mt. Dapinglin

冬の台湾北部でも、青空が広がるときがある。今回はまさに、その好天の時に長く雨が降り続いた雙溪と平溪の山々を縦走した。目的地は、昨年10月に歩いた雙溪の大竹林山と新路尾山から大平林山，內平林山を越えて平溪の十分に下るものである。大平林山から內平林山へは数年前に一度訪れたが、その時は棘のある密生した草に道を塞がれ、林投に苦労して歩いた。そのセクションも含め、この山域は昨年からボランティアが道整備で状態がとてもよくなり、スムースに通過できた。內平林山は過去4回ほど訪れている。今回もとてもよい展望があった。今回ルートの一部は初めて踏み入れる場所もあるが、英語で記述します。

New Taipei City (新北市) has a large territory including hilly as well as coastal terrain. Its Shuangxi district (雙溪區) has both sea coasts and mountains while Pingxi district (平溪區) is just comprised of hills and valleys. They are actually not far from the capital Taipei and offer very attractive hiking trails and paths. I have been visiting various places of the districts in the past ten years and almost covered all trails available for hiking. Some trails are very seldom visited by hikers and left for returning to wilderness. The trails we visited on this hike are just of such kind. I visited Mt. Dapinglin (大平林山) several years ago. Three of us had really hard time passing over the ridge between Mt. Dapinglin and Mt. Neipinglin (內平林山), which took us more than two hours just for 1.3km of the distance due to overgrown vegetation including nasty thorny bushes.

Hike from east to west

Route elevation profile

No matter how fast vegetation grows in the semitropical Taiwan and the nature claims trails going back to wilderness, volunteer hikers keep clearing such obscure trails and put them back to pretty in good shape. Thanks to their contribution, the trails over and around Mt. Dapinglin, Mt. Neipinglin, Mt. Xinluwei (新路尾山) and Mt. Dazhulin (大竹林山) spanning over Shuangxi and Pingxi districts have recently been back to easily passable. We took a hike over to Mt. Xinluwei and Mt. Dazhulin last October. We had several hiking activities to Mt. Nepinglin in the past. The hike this time is to connect the two sections and walk from Shuangxi station all the way to Shifen (十分) visitor center, thus getting the name of "Double ten"; shuang meaning double and shi meaning ten, which happens to be same as Taiwan's national day of October 10.  The section between Mt. Dapinglin and Mt. Neipinglin took us 42 minutes, which is just one third of the time six years ago when we struggled through thick vegetation and had to search for our path. 

At Shuangxi train station

We meet at Shuangxi train station (雙溪火車站), where the #104 Ziqiang (自強號) express train has brought us 20 minutes behind the schedule. Some of the members were on the same coach of the train. After all nine members assemble, we take off at 7:52 and buy some lunch at a 7/11 store on our way. Upon passing through Zhongzheng tunnel (中正隧道), we see a small but familiar sign of the Lantian team (藍天隊) of Taiwan Alpine Association showing the direction to Mt. Dazhulin. The paved road passes through a local people house and turns to a muddy narrow trail. After a long period of rain in this region, there is no chance of drying even though today is a perfect clear sky. We are glad to have wellington boots on.

Coming out of the tunnel

Muddy and slippery path with an aiding rope

Going by the first tower

The trail first goes along rather moderately inclined side of the hills and crosses a couple of small streams.  Wherever it is hard to step on, an aiding rope is fixed. The clearing grass is wide and complete. The Allied Scouting Corp (聯合探勘隊) of hikers had done a really remarkable job, which deservers our highest appreciation and gratitude. The trail gets steeper and passes under a high-voltage electricity transmission tower at 8:15. It goes under another tower and leaves the hillside to climb to a ridge.  It then passes under the third and big tower (200m in elevation) at 8:53, where we can have a nice view overlooking the valley on our left. We have come up about 170m in height from the train station. 

A view over the valley  from beneath the tower

Going on a wide dirt road

A steep incline to the Summit of Mt. Dazhulin

The summit of Mt. Dazhulin

Steep decent

We come onto a wide dirt road right after passing under the tower and go on the road to a point where another small path leading to the summit of Mt. Dazhulin. Several minutes of steep ascend takes us to the summit (302m elevation) where we visited once last October. We take a path leading to our next destination Mr. Xiluwei, while there is another path going down to the valley south. The trail soon turns very steep and then onto a poorly paved road down.  At 9;39 we come down to the paved road going between Mudan (牡丹) at north and Waipinglin (外平林) at south and take left. The road soom meets another paved road on our right and we take it. It then diverges into two and we again take right. The chanting from a Buddhist temple which we first noticed on the way to the summit of Mt. Dazhulin turns louder as we come closer to the temple. In fact there are many temples and shrines on the mountains. 

Take a right turn here

passing by betel nut trees

Final ascent to the summit

The dilapidated and moss-covered road goes along the hillside and passes through betel nut trees. It comes to the end at 10:01 approximately 275m in elevation. A wet and muddy dirt path takes over and further goes up. It passes over a small hump and down to a valley where Xinluwei old trail (新路尾古道) meets from right. We take left and go up a final steep ascent to the summit of Mt. Xinluwei. At 10:19 the summit (elevation 315m) welcomes us with big blue sky above. This is our second visit since October last year when it was cloudy with hint of rain. There is no trees around the summit but it is a pity that tall grasses obstruct view. Our next destination Mr. Dapinglin is just visible and far by seeing through grasses.

At the summit of Mt. Xinluwei

Viewing Mt. Neipinglin and Mt. Dapinglin from the summit

Thorougthly cleared-out path

Continous small ups and downs

The section from here to Mt. Dapinglin has since been cleared. The work is pretty complete here too. Down to the bottom of a slope from the summit we see a junction where a newly cleared path goes down to Houfanzikeng (后番子坑) on our left. A small ups and downs follow while we go up in overall elevation. At 11:30 another junction shows up in front of us. A path on our left goes down to the valley. A short climb from there brings us to the summit of Mr. Dapinglin (elevtion 420m). The place is widely cleared from side to side and a triangular stone sits in the center. The same stone was buried in overgrown grasses six years ago. We have a lunch break under the warm sun.

At Mt. Dapinglin

A weedy summit at the same location 6 years ago

A view of Mt. Neipinglin from the trail to it

Going beneath a big rock

Climb up to a hump

We start for Mt. Neipinglin at 12:05 and in a few minutes see a path leaving to right down to Youkeng (幼坑). The section between the two peaks is exactly where we had a hard time passing six years ago. The trail is now very clear and easy to follow. No overgrown vegetation to bother with, what a difference! From the open window of trees on our left Mt. Neipinglin is clearly visible. After seeing a junction of a trail down to Houfanzikeng, a rocky section starts. The trail goes on the left side of rocky ridge for a few minutes and up to the top of it, where you can have a wide view of three directions. The summit of Mt. Neipinglin is not far but you need to go down first and climb the last steep incline. 

At the summit of Mt. Neipinglin

At 12:47 we arrive at the summit (elevation 502m). Under today's clear blue sky this summit is a very nice observation platform. You can have a view of all directions with no  obstruction. Compared with my first visit several years back, how many peaks that I can identify now!

Panoramic view from the summit

A junction just below the summit

A brown colored dog comes up. She originally followed a hiker whom we passed by on our way up to the summit. She apparently changed her mind and decided to come with us. Her breasts are large and indicates that she just had given birth to baby dogs. She does not look like a stray dog and we wonder where she comes from. While we are enjoying wonderful views, a group of many hikers are coming up, some of whom I recognize. We exchange greeting with them and leave the summit to our next destination at 13:10. The dog is coming and leads us in front.

Recently cleared trail to Yaokeng

A view of Mt. Wufen from the trail

Nice and flat trail

In a matter of one or two minutes we come down to a junction and take right to go on Pinghu west trail (平湖西步道), which is also very wide and clear. It was in a poor condition when I first visited seven years ago. There are some ups and downs with ten to twenty meters in height gap at most along this trail but it basically follows rather flat ridge and very enjoyable. After seeing a path of poor condition going right down to Yaokeng, the second path shows up on our right again. This one looks in good shape as a new sign indicates the work was done last month. At 13:49 we see a junction of Qiankeng old trail (乾坑古道) diverging to right and then a trail going left to Pinghu valley down at 13:58. This trail and the section here to Shifen is now designated as a part of Danlan old trail (淡蘭古道) by the local government and gets a proper maintenance.

The junction of Danlan old trail to the valley down

A weedy trail to Mt. Fanzikeng

In another one or two minutes we see a sign post showing the right one is down to Shifen (十分). Before going down we first visit Mt. Fanzikeng (番子坑山 or 三羌坑山 elevation 476m) on the continuing ridge route in a short distance. It is obvious that fewer hikers walk to Mt. Fanzikeng as the trail is now narrow and covered with grasses. It goes down for a while and then up to Mt. Fanzikeng. We reach the desolate summit at 14:11. The dog is still with us. The small summit is the one I missed for many years. I had several occasions coming near but did not visit.

The summit of Mt. Fanzikeng

Round log steps

We take the same route back to the junction and start our way down at 14:40. Steps with round log have been made to the trail, which was apparently done by the local authority. This kind of steps may not be so helpful because wet logs can be slippery. We go down the steep incline for twenty minutes and come to a junction where a couple of benches are provided. We take a rest before continuing our way down. There are two humps on the way and the second one is Guoqiling hilltop (國旗嶺). The bare rocky top gives you a nice view over Shifen village. After a short stopover at the hilltop we further go down to the trail end at 15:37. We take a small path at the paved road below. We wash boots at an irrigation canal besides the path and then walk the last leg of our hike to the Shifen visitors center (十分遊客中心). Our #795 bus back to Taipei is due 16:20 and we still have a half hour for it. 

A junction with benches

A view over Shifen village from Guoqiling

The dog accompanied us

The brown dog has come all the way down here with us. She wonders around the visitor center looking for something or someone. The bus comes on schedule and we leave the center. I wonder what happens to her later. One of the hiker group whom we met on the summit of Mt. Neipinglin told me later that she had accompanied them from Ganjiao Weihuigong temple (柑腳威惠宮廟), which stands just on the other side of the mountains. I wander whether she made her way back home and fed her babies.

Washing boots

The route we took on this hike has 14.6km in length, for which we spent about 8 hours including rests. The total ascent is 988m and decent 831m. The calculated route physical requirement index is 29. This index is a kind of indicator how a particular route needs physical strength of hikers, which has been invented by Professor Yamamoto who teaches at National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya of Japan (鹿屋体育大学). Several provincial governments of Japan including those having high mountain trails like Nagao (長野縣) , Toyama (富山縣) and Yamanshi (山梨縣) have employed this index to show prospective hikers how each of their trails need physical fitness and to prevent accidents. I myself have recently introduced in my blog this index to show my readers for the same purpose.