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| 遠くに羅葉尾山, Mt. Luoyewei-shan in a distance |
台湾の山岳界では、ローマ（羅馬）縦走と呼ばれる、有名な縦走ルートがある。ローマというのは、二つの山名、羅葉尾山と馬武佐野郡山のそれぞれ初めの文字、羅と馬とを合わせたもので、ちょうど中国語でイタリアのローマを意味するのと同じということだ。本家のローマとは、まったく関係ない。二つの山の名も、実は中国語として見た場合、特定の意味を持たない。つまり本来の泰雅族の言語の山名に対し音で漢字をあてたものである。
名前の由来はさておき、このルートは位置的に雪山山脈と中央山脈北部の有名な高山が連なるそのちょうど中間位置にあり、尚且つ防火帯で樹木がない部分より広い視野が得られるため、これら高山を眺める格好の展望台となっている。それに加えすでになくなってしまった阿里山の神木にも匹敵しようかと思える、紅檜（ベニヒ）の巨木がルート中にある。つまりは、標高2700mから2300m台の山だが、非常に優れた特徴を有している。10月も下旬に入り、山の木々は彩はじめ、ススキの穂が風になびいていた。
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| 羅馬神木 Giant red cypress |
台北からだと登山口まで片道3時間はかかる。我々は5時過ぎに出発、8時半前に登り始めた。北側思源埡口近くの羅葉尾山からスタートした。登山口から行程中最高となる羅葉尾山（標高2717m）との標高差は800m足らず、そして馬武佐野郡山（標高2368m）との間には、それほど大きな登り返しはない。羅葉尾山からしばしヤタケが密集する地帯を過ぎると、針葉樹の森となる。下草も少なく、また木々もまばらなので、陽光が差し込み明るい森だ。そこに神木が現れた。馬武佐野郡山からの下りは落差500mである。距離や落差などルート自体についていえば、標高位置が高いが台北近郊の山を歩くのとそれほど違うわけではない。ただ、ほかの中級山に比べると、防火帯があるので視野がとても広い。そうしたことから、高山を歩いているような気分にもなれる場所があった。
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So called "Rome traversing (羅馬縱走)" is one of mid-height mountain routes, actually nothing to do with Rome of Italy. The route goes between Mt. Luoyewei-shan (羅葉尾山) and Mt. Mawuzuoyejun-shan (馬武佐野郡山). It is a common practice to take each word from the two and put them into one word "羅馬", which happens to be exactly same as the name of Italian capital in Chinese, thus "Rome" traversing. Given no actual connection with Rome, the name still carries some sort of exotic connotation to this route, which may help attract quite a few hikers in addition to its intrinsic nature.
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| Hiking from north to south |
The two peaks, with an elevation of 2717 meters of Mt. Luoyewei-shan and 2368 meters of the other, stand on a mountain range running in a north - south direction, which connects at its north end to the main ridge of Xueshan mountain range (雪山山脈) at a point between
Mt. Tao-shan (桃山) and Mt. Kulaye-shan (喀拉業山) , two peaks of so-called Wulin-sixiu (武陵四秀, Wuling's four beauties). On the east of Mt. Luoyewei-shan lies Siyuanyakou pass (思源
埡口越嶺鞍部) , which constitutes a water divide between Langyanxi (蘭陽溪) drainage of Yilan (宜蘭) and Dajiaxi (大甲溪) drainage of Taizhong (台中)。The east side of the pass is the northern part of Zhongyang mountain range (中央山脈, Central mountain range), of which Mt. Nanhuda-shan (南湖大山) and Mt. Zhongyangjian-shan (中央尖山) stand close.  |
| The location between the two major mountain ranges |
This location affords the route nice vantage points to closely view the two main high mountain ranges of the island on its either side. The sub-ridge of Mt. Luoyewei-shan is clear of tall trees as a fire prevention band and the east side of Mt. Mawuzuoyejun-shan is a large grass field, both of which yield a very nice and wide view of the well-known high mountains. Not far from the peak of Mt. Mawuzuoyejun-shan stands an ancient giant red cypress tree (紅檜), which surely makes you awestruck when you face it. Besides this old giant, there are countless huge weymouth pine trees (五葉松) and other big trees in a sparsely wooded pristine forest along the route. They are a unique quality of this route.
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| A view of the central mountain range from Mt. Luoyewei-shan |
You can start your hike from either trail head. It seems that most hikers start from the trail head of Mt. Luoyewei-shan which is the highest point of the route, and go down along the ridge to Mt. Mawuzuoyejun-shan, further down to its foot and finally cross a rather large stream to get onto the other trail head. This steam very recently claimed a casualty, in which a hiker crossed a raging water when he came down on October 11 and was washed away. The rescue work so far seems to have not yielded a result, which should be classified still missing but apparently with very little hope. This stream crossing can be a pain in the neck for this super nice trail. The point, however, is that you should not cross a stream of raging water no matter where.
[ Sadly the hiker was later found deceased near the Deji reservoir (德基水庫) 26 kilometers down the stream on Oct 22, almost two weeks later the accident. - An update of Oct. 25]
We followed such a way of hike as most hikers do, starting from Mt. Luoyewei-shan trail head. The weather was great. Autumn was already there. We saw yellow and red leaves on bushes and gently waving grass fields in wind. On the final leg of our hike we crossed Youshengxi rive (有勝溪), the upper stream of Dajiaxi river. The current was strong and wide. The water was so deep that all of us got our feet wet even though we all had wellington boots on. It must have been very strong on October 11, when many locations of Taiwan were bombarded with heavy rain.
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| Approaching Nanshan-cun village |
Our destination of today is simply very far. It would take three hours by a car to get to the trail head from Taipei. We gather at 5:00 and head for it by a hired 10-seater van. Passing the notorious Xueshan tunnel (雪山隧道) is as smooth as a breeze at this time of a day. The Lanyang plane (蘭陽平原) is under a overcast sky when we get out of the tunnel just past 6:00, which makes me a little nervous. Making a brief stop en route, we get into the valley of Langyagxi rive (蘭陽溪). As we approach Nanshan-cun village (南山村) around 7:40, the sky above shows blue patches and the telecommunication tower by the Siyuanyakou pass is visible in distance. The winding road ends at 8:14 and we soon reach the trail head.
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| At the trail head |
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| Crossing a stream |
The sky is clear and the sun shines. As we step out of the van, chilling air reminds us of the altitude here. My map shows it is 1960 meters high. Two more members who have come by themselves are already waiting for us. The trail starts just by a steel gate to an abandoned police station on a nearby hill. Twelve of us set off at 8:24. The trail soon cross a stream, which is luckily not so deep. It soon comes to a very steep grade, for which we struggle for a while. A red allow is painted on a rock showing the direction like ones you see on Japanese mountains. This red allow shows up again and again for the entire route, which is rather rare in Taiwan.
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| A red painted allow on the rock |
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| Dead and dry thin canes (箭竹) |
We get on to a fire prevention band at 8:37, which is devoid of tall trees to prevent wild fire from spreading. This is one of the characteristics of the route, which allows a nice view around from many points en route. Around 8:44 we pass by a large area of dead and dried thin canes (玉山箭竹), like ones seen all over the high mountains in the recent years. The higher we go up the wider and nicer the scenery gets. Some bushes by the trail have red or yellow leaves revealing the autumn has arrived. We first see the summit of Mt. Luoyewei-shan in a far distance at 8:47.
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| Nice views are available at many points |
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| The colorful trail |
We keep climbing on the fire prevention band and pass by an automated weather observation station by 8:52. The direct sun ray makes us perspiring as we keep going up. We come to a rather flat spot at 9:10 and have a first break. It feels even very warm under no trees so everybody seeks shades of trees nearby. Yellow, red and green leaves with wide range of gradation orchestrate a wonderful beauty of autumn against a blue sky. It feels so good to be here!!
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| We have gained height |
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| "Rock fall" |
The trail goes down a little and up again. There are a few small humps on the ridge to follow. At 9:34 we pass a short stretch of scattered rocks, small and large. This is a kind of so-called rock fall (石瀑), which has been created by repetitive heating and cooling on rocks for a long time. You see more of this kind of geological phenomenon on high mountains. The central mountain range extends widely across the valley and its top is covered with clouds. The summit of Mt. Nanhuda-shan reveals itself among clouds at an instant and soon disappears. By 9:54 we get over the second hump. We find that the summit of Mt. Luoyewei-shan is much closer now.
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| The summit of Mt. Nanhuda-shan in clouds |
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| A tall Taiwan hemlock tree by the trail |
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| The summit is now much closer |
We find Taiwan hemlock trees (鐵杉) by our trail, showing that we have come up to the altitude where they grow. Passing one or two little humps we come to a small flat place (elev. 2460m) at 10:10. We have a rest before our long and final ascent to the summit. We take off for an ascent of approximately 240m in height after the rest of 15 minutes. The trail gets steeper and goes mostly among tall grasses. This reminds me of the long ascent to
Mt. Tuilun-shan (推論山) of Xue-shan mountain range. Happily this is much shorter than that. We run across several fallen trunks on the track, but it is not that bad. At 10:57 a sign plate shows that this is a junction to Luoyewei pond (羅葉尾池). The pond lies just below in the depressed terrain. We go down for a minute or two to get to an edge of the pond to take pictures and back to the trail. Another two minutes brings us to the summit of Mt. Luoyewei-shan (elev. 2717m).
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| Luoyewei pond |
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| Mt. Zhongyangjian-shan viewed from the summit |
The summit has no trees on its west side, allowing a nice view towards the central mountain range. The summit of Mt. Nanhuda-shan is still in clouds, but those peaks like Mt. Zhongyangjian-shan (中央尖山),
Mt, Wuming-shan (無明山) stand clearly against the sky. The summit under the direct sun is nice but it is pretty warm. We have a long lunch break here at this highest point of today's hike.
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| At the summit of Mt. Luoyewei-shan |
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| A clear track in tall canes |
At 11:46 we leave the summit behind. The elevation profile shows that we will have a downhill from here on, but there are a few small peaks to go over. The trail soon gets into thick and tall thin cane undergrowth. The popular route like this has a nice track to follow, so no need to worry. We go down on a steep descent among canes for about 10 minutes. As we go down, the cane becomes shorter and Taiwan red pine (二葉松) and weymouth pine trees become dominant. The track is covered with fallen pine needles. At 12:25 we hit the bottom (elev. 2400m) and climb back a little to reach the 2410 peak. The track goes down again on a broader ridge with big trees of various kinds. We come down to a giant weymouth pine tree at 12:42 and have a rest just beneath it.
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| Strangely shaped tree trunk |
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| A giant weymouth pine |
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| Trail in a bright forest |
This section of the ridge has very little undergrowth. The forest is composed of various kinds of big trees and shorter young trees standing apart each other, making the forest bright. The forest bed is covered with fallen leaves. A little after 13:00 the trail goes on the lowest point between the two peaks (elev. 2280m) and up again. We ascend for 20 or so minutes and find the giant cypress tree in front. The ancient giant stands high and huge. If you stand just by the formidable tree, you will surely get awestruck. Its longevity ten or more times of your own naturally calls for a respect. It is a respect for the life, which has been witnessing all changes taking place in this island since the time way before humanity arrived. We have a rest by the giant tree.
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| Big trees are everywhere |
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| The giant cypress from the other angle |
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| Wondering the forest |
Having twenty minute of rest by the giant tree we head for our next destination, Mt. Mawuzuoyejun-shan. We first pass over a small and round peak and then down again. The final ascent is easy. At 14:15 we get out of the forest and into an open grass field. Following the trail in the open for about 5 minutes the gentle summit of Mt. Mawuzuoyejun-shan shows up. It has a triangulation marker with very low vegetation surrounding. On our east lie peaks of Xueshan mountain range. It is a pity that thick clouds cover the top half of the mountains, which makes it hard to identify each peak. The valley below is Wuling Farm Recreational park (武陵農場). Terrace orchards and houses of the farm are visible. On our east side a range of the central mountains lies long behind the open grass field.
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| Coming out into an open grass field |
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| Mt. Mawuzuoyejun-shan summit |
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| A view towards Xueshan peaks in clouds |
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| A view of the east side from the summit |
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| Author at the summit |
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| A very wide open field benath the summit |
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| A burned-out trunk by the trail |
We set off for the final leg of our hike at 14:45. The trail first goes among grass field. Yellow grass are swinging in gentle wind. Beyond the grasses Mt. Wuming-shan, Mt. Linmgming-shan (鈴鳴山) and Mt. Shuan-shan (閂山) stand side by side. This area of the open field looks like having a wild fire in the past. Tree stumps along the trail have black scorched marks. We traverse the open field for about ten minutes and get onto a steep ridge. This ridge is also devoid of tall trees as a fire prevention band. As we go down, the mountains across the valley get higher. On our halfway down, we come to a spot where an wide view toward the north spreads out. Beyond the valley of Siyuanyakou fills white cloud like a sea. Siyuanyakou is not just a water divide but a weather divide as well. It may rain under the cloud in the valley of Yilang Langyangxi river while the sun shines on this Taizhong side.
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| A view toward the north, clouds fill the valley of Lanyangxi |
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| Going down a steep grade |
It is very nice to go along an open field of grasses. After seeing a blue sheet on our left a few meters below at 15:07, which seems to be a hunters' camp, the trail gets steep again almost in a straight line. Short bushes around the trail bear no leaves. The steep descent ends in twenty minutes. The sound of water is getting louder as we go down. We also hear traffic of the road in the valley. We reach the bank of Youshengxi river at 15:40. This is where we cross the stream. An accident happened here only ten days before. The current is strong. It is good that ropes are fixed across the river and we can hold onto it while crossing. The water is deep. Water pours into our boots. All of us safely cross the stream and dump out water in the boots. We follow the trail in tall grasses and get on to the paved road of #7A highway at 15:49. Our van is waiting just by a nearby bridge.
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| Coming down onto the river side |
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| Our van is waiting by a nearby bridge |
We completed our hike in seven hours and a half including all breaks. The GPS record shows that we walked 9.6 kilometers with a total ascent 937 meters and descent 1033 meters. This calculates the route physical index 26. On our way back, we made a stop over at Nanshancun village to have a supper. We met no congestion at all even at Xueshan tunnel and were back in Taipei a little after 20:00. Everybody enjoyed the hike, about which I was happy.
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| A massive trunk of the giant cypress |
Except for traffic to and from the trail heads, this route is very nice. Though you have to prepare your own means of transportation, it is highly recommendable. No wonder so many hikers love this route. To one of our members, this was his third visit and he was still fond of it!!
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