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| 阿玉山山頂 Summit of Mt. Ayu-shan (photo taken by Mr. Tu) |
阿玉山は、今年5月に訪れた。この山域の山を多く歩く活動の一部として、阿玉山と西阿玉山を一緒に登った。阿玉を冠する山は、阿玉山以外に上記西阿玉山、東阿玉山、
下阿玉山、中阿玉山、そして
阿玉溪山の都合六座である。まだ現時点で訪れていないのは、中阿玉山と東阿山山である。ともに遠くまた道もよくない。それなりの準備と実行に際しては十分な時間が必要だ。
5月に訪れ、また今回訪れたのは目的がある。それは、この山の別の山道を歩き、下見をするためだ。前回は宜蘭側からの登頂だが、今回は裏門とでもいうべき烏來側からのアプローチである。烏來側からは西坑林道がある。廃棄されて久しく、がけ崩れなども多いが、それでも獅坑橋まではほどほどに歩かれ道筋もはっきりしている。5月にはこの林道経由で露門山を日帰りで登った。今回は林道の獅坑橋に一泊し、翌朝阿玉山を登頂した。計画段階では、阿玉山から西阿玉山を経て主稜線を露門山との分岐へ行き、時間があれば露門山を登頂し獅坑橋へ戻るというものであった。しかし、阿玉山の上部付近はカヤに覆われ道筋がなく、思いのほか時間を要したこと、また3カ月ほどほとんど登山者が訪れていない阿玉山は、ほぼ自然に戻っている状態で、その先の道でもかなりの時間を要することが予想された。そこで阿玉山から往路を下山した。
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| Cutting through vegetation, note a yellow sign (taken by Mr. Tu) |
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Mt. Ayu-shan (阿玉山) sounds fantastic, with an association of a cute girl to Chinese people (or those who understand the Chinese characters). Yu (玉), meaning precious jade stones, is very often used for female names. However wonderful the name of the mountain sounds, it has in fact nothing to do with jade stones nor a cute girl. The area where the peak stands was a territory of Atayal indigenous people (泰雅族原住民) and they came to this mountain for hunting. They found that the mountain was vastly covered with nothing but tall Chinese silver grasses (芒草), or "Agyaq" in their language. Babow (meaning a peak) Agyaq was thus named by the indigenous people. When the Japanese regime sent their officials to investigate the terrain, they learned the name "Agyaq" and put it in Chinese characters by Japanese pronunciation, "Agyoku = 阿玉". This is the way the name of Mt. Ayu-shan has come up.
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| The route of two days |
The mountain of silver grasses is indeed just like a hundred years ago. The whole area surrounding the summit was covered with dense and tall grasses. Compared with
our visit last May, even the official trail maintained by the forestry bureau from Yilan (宜蘭) side was buried deep under the grasses, which may be partly because of closure of the trail under the COVID-19 alert. While we had come up to the summit from Yilan in May, this time we came up from Wulai (烏來), just from the other side of mountain. There are many visitors by way of the official trail from Yilan. Very few hikers come up from Wulai, simply because it is very far and the trail is not good. So the trail from Wulai would be called a backdoor route. It took us two days. We came in from Xiaoyi (孝義) to Shikengqiao bridge (獅坑橋) through the abandoned Xikeng forestry road (西坑林道) and camped there on the first day. We climbed to the peak in the morning and returned the same way back to Xiaoyi on the second day.
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| At Shikengqiao brdige |
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August 28 (SAT)
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| The route of the first day |
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| At the starting point just before the trek |
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| Passing the first gap |
Our itinerary for this day is just to cover approximately 8 kilometers of Xikeng forestry road. It would take four hours only. Ten of us gathered at MRT Xindian station (新店站) at 9:30 and headed for Xiaoyi by three cars. The drive was eventless. We pass the end of Taiwan #9A (台九甲線) road and enter Tonghou forestry road (桶後林道) at 10:05. We go a litter further on the gravel road to the junction (elevation 274 meters) where our Xikeng forestry road diverges. The first few hundred meters of the Xikeng forestry road is wide and smooth enough for cars to pass, but it is closed for vehicle traffic. We park our cars by the junction and get ready by 10:35. We have all necessary stuff to camp out so our packs are heavy. Some members' packs weigh more than 18 or 19 kilograms while mine is about 13.5 kilograms, which still feels heavy after a long interval since the last time of carry a heavy backpack.
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| A narrow track goes between weeds |
The forestry road goes up very modestly so it does not give you a hard time, yet we need to ascend about 400 meters eventually at the end of our walk. After a ten minutes walk, the road gets narrower and a narrow track goes between weeds. A chunky water pipe goes parallel along the trail. At 10:55 we run into the first gap, where a stream cuts wide and deep into the road bed. You dip down to the stream, cross it and go up again to the trail. We hear a stream of water down below on our left and find a waterfall down in the valley. We cross another stream at 11:08 but not so big as the last. The sky is very blue and fine, and we feel a nice breeze most of the time. We have a rest at 11:15.
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| A fresh land slide |
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| Some obstacles |
As soon as resuming our walk, we see a fresh land slide on our right. It does not affect the passage though. We pass by a group of elderly people resting by the trail. At 11:47 we pass yet another gap, which a big chunk of road bed has been washed away. We come to where two streams merges (elev. 450m) at 12:10. The water is much more than our last visit in May. A group of people are having rest at the small flat place by the stream, so we spread out on the two sides of the stream to have a lunch. The sky is nicely blue and fresh water is splashing down just beside you. What a nice combination for summer!
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| Stream merging point for a lunch break |
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| Climb from the stream back to the road |
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| A landside with bare rocks to climb over |
We set off for the rest of our walk to Shikengqiao bridge at 12:43. This section of the abandoned road is less travelled. Such casual hikers as ones we have come across so far do not usually venture beyond this point of two streams merging. As soon as we get onto the road from the stream, we pass over a debri of big rocks and in a few more minutes a large land slide with a big rock to pass over shows up. Coming down from the rock we keep on the trail. There are more obstacles like fallen tree trunks or fallen rocks on the surface. Around 13:20 as we make a bend on a rather flat and wide spot, a solar panel and small instrument box stands by the trail, It is a seismic sensor. Soon after this we have a rest at a wide open spot on the road.
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| Viewing Mt. Ayu-shan arcorss the valley |
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| A solar panel and an instrument |
On our last leg of the today's hike, we pass over three more such land slide spots, one of which is quite wide. From the top of the first land slide, a clear skyline of Mt. Ayu-shan stands high across the deep valley of Ayuxi river (阿玉溪). We also cross two more streams, large and small, cutting the road bed. We finally arrive at Shikengqiao bridge at 14:30, completing our journey of the first day. The top of the bridge is flat and good for camping. We put on 7 tents, some of which are shared by two members. The water is just below the bridge but it is a deep gorge and not easy to get down. So we go on the trail to Mt. Lumen-shan (露門山) for a few minutes to fetch water.
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| Tents on the bridge surface |
The sun still high in the sky. Some people have a good time playing with water. We are all back at the bridge camp site by 16:00 and start a fun time with a lot of food, beer and other beverages. It is good to be alone out in the wilderness without warrying the pandemic. Finishing the feast by 18:30, everybody is preparing for night rest as darkness comes around. The sound of water is pretty loud, but I fall asleep by 20:00 or so.
We have covered a little less than 8 kilometers for 4 hours including three breaks. The total ascent is 402 meters and 64 meters descent. The route physical index is just 14.
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August 29 (SUN)
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| Route of the second day |
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| Start on the forestry road |
I wake up at 4:00. It is still dark outside the tent. When I step out, the sky is with no starts. Everybody is ready for today's hike by 5:30. It is still a little dark, particularly in the bottom of a valley. We first take the forestry road for a while. It soon shows a little land slide. We come to the trail head in ten minutes with a yellow marker showing it, The forestry road goes further, which according to a map leads to another trail to the main ridge line, but there should be almost nobody to travel. Our trail is really steep and climbs on the hillside. We struggle this uphill for a while and get onto a sub-ridge leading to the summit at 6:02.
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| Climbing a steep trail |
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| Clean track with fallen leaves |
The track on the ridge is not clear but markers are enough to guide the direction. In addition, there is little undergrowth in sparsely standing broad leaf forest. The forest floor is full of fallen leaves. We straightly go up the ridge and gain height. We have our first rest at 6:25 on a little open flat place. The grade on the ridge gets steeper at some points and less so at the others but it does not break flat. At 7:42 we see an old sign with fading letters on a hilltop. The trail descends a little and ascends again. We pass such small humps and come onto a long flat section. The surrounding tress are more of Japanese cedars. Cedars of this area must have been planted a couple of decades ago when logging was still busy here.
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| A small hump with a fading direction sign on the tree trunk |
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| A small pool on a flat area |
At 8:07 we come down to a place where a small muddy pool lies. There are some animal stamps around the pool. This must be a pool for animals like wild bores to wash themselves. We find two big holes one after another just above the flat place, which look like a remain of charcoal kiln of the past. There were many camphor camps in this area in the early last century, and this may be something to do with them. Mist is getting denser as we go up, which makes you feel as if coming into a wonderland.
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| A remain of charcoal kiln? |
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| Going through vegetation |
Completing a short break a little after 8:30, we head for our last section to the summit. The trail soon gets weedy and a track is lost in dense vegetation, though there are markers enough to show the direction. The general topology now is flatter with small humps to pass over. There is no hard labor of climbing but we need to cut out grasses to proceed. Misty rain makes grasses wet and my hiking pants get all soaked. At 9:23 we find a small yellow direction sign with a word "Wulai (烏來)" in thick grasses. This must be a junction with the official trail from Yilan side. We still amid tall grasses and cutting them to advance. A half hour struggle with grasses, we finally find the broken concrete-made hut in front, which is the summit of Mt. Ayu-shan (elev. 1420m). All around is white mist, which prevents any distant view.
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| Cutting grasses with a handy sickle (taken by Mr. Tu) |
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| Roaming through a wonderland |
To our surprise, the hut is surrounded with high and dense grasses, which was clear of it on our last visit just three months ago. The official trail was closed during the highest alert of the pandemic and no hikers visited. The nature claimed back its original state here just like
Mt. Xiaojiaoxi-shan which we visited a week before. The time is already 9:35. I go around the hut and look for the trail to Mt. Xiayu-shan. I only find tall grasses there. We need to cut through it if we advance to Mt. Xiayu-shan. The trail on the main ridge between Mt. Xiayu-shan and the junction to Mt. Lumen-shan is very little traveled and unknown to us, which would take at least two hours provided no such obstacles as we have just passed. We need to be back to Shikengqiao bridge, our campsite, by 15:00 to ensure enough time to be back to the starting point before dark. Taking these factors into consideration, I decide not to go for the direction of our original plan but return our way down to the campsite.
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| Hut on the summit of Mt. Ayu-shan |
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| Take the same route down |
We spend a long time on the summit and leave at 10:28. The way back is easy as we have already opened our path and added our markers too. We pass by the small muddy pool at 11:15. We go on a flat section in cedar woods for a while. Passing small humps the long way down begins. At 11:30 we have a rest for lunch at a flat place which seems to be a part of an abandoned forestry trail. Mist clears out as we go down. At 12:20 an open spot at the edge of the ridge allows us a wide and distant view.
Mt. Guanyin-shan (觀音山) of Bali (八里) lies in a far distance with many tall buildings on its front.
Mt. Datong-shan (大桶山) stands with its massive body on the right side of the valley. A long range of Yamingshan shows itself over Mt. Datong-shan.
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| A view towards Taipei |
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| Going down a very steep section |
We keep on descent and make a rest again at 12:49. We still have plenty time. The sky above through tree branches is blue. We pass the steep section at the bottom of the trail, get onto the abandoned forestry road at 13:25 and back to Shikengqiao bridge in another 5 minutes. In 45 minutes we are all packed and ready for our return trip along the forestry road. Flat it looks on our way here, the road actually has a gradual grade, which makes our way back faster. Passing those obstacles like land slides or debris, we come back to the halfway point of two streams merging at 15:48. We have come here in one hour and a half with a break on the way. We have a long final rest by the stream as the sun is still high up.
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| Packing tents and equipment |
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| Passing a gap |
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| Passing debris |
We leave for our final leg of the trek at 16:18. This section is much better in shape than the last half. We pass over several groups of fishers and casual hikers on the way, which proves many people travel this section. We are back at the junction where our cars are parked at 17:30. We find more cars are packed around ours, no wonder we have run into so many people. The pandemic situation has been relaxed and many leisure seekers are returning. On our way back to Taipei, we are trapped in traffic congestion of many cars.
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| Many cars are packed near the junction |
The distance covered on the second day is approximately 14 kilometers, with the total ascent of 964 meters and descent 1280 meters. The total time consumed is 12 hours including breaks. The route physical index is 36.
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Our two-day activity resulted that the total distance is 21 kilometers, total ascent and descent 1360 meters each, making the route physical index 50. It is not impossible to make the round trip one day, but you would need more than 12 hours provided the trail is OK. It would be more strenuous than the round trip to Mt. Lumen-shan via the same Xikeng forestry road. If you want to visit Mt. Ayu-shan from its backdoor, you should be prepared for such weedy section of the trail near the summit. This is not for beginners for sure.
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