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| 竹篙山忘憂草原 (Wangyou meadow of Zhugao-shan) |
陽明山系は、台北から近いので今までに数多く訪れている。歩いた目的地は、陽明山公園範囲の山峰だけでなく、その近くのピークもほとんど訪れている。それでも、また新しい歩いていない道が、ボランティアグループなどのおかげで出現する。それはそれでまた、同じ山の別の側面を垣間見ることができるので、面白いものだ。今回のルートもまさにそれだ。訪れた場所は、忘憂草原は初回だが、その他は今まで訪れている。しかし、歩いたルートはほとんど今まで歩いていない。それが、この山行の目的である。
陽明山公園の官製歩道である絹絲瀑布步道の入口近くから沢の対岸を溪內古道が行く。この古道は、かなり沢の上まで続き、そこから沢を渡り返し、対岸の丘を登って清朝時代の軍隊基地を過ぎ、雞心崙を訪れた。また下って沢を渡り、竹篙山の西斜面をのぼり忘憂草原でゆっくりと休んだ。その後は、一部過去の歩いた道もあるがほぼ別のルートで下り、途中竹篙山西南峰を訪れ、大きなパラボラアンテナが目立つ衛星電台のバス停へと歩いた。高度差もそれほどなく、距離も長くない。忘憂草原は、思わず憂さがはれるような、広大な景色が広がる。そこで、まだそれほど陽射しが強くない太陽のもとでゆっくりと時を過ごした。
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Just next to the metropolitan Taipei, Yanmingshan (陽明山) is a very popular destination of pleasure seekers, including hikers like us. Popular and well-known it is, the official trails of the Yangmingshan park do not lead you to some wonderful yet obscure spots in the park, like Wangyou meadow (忘憂草原, meaning a meadow that let you forget your worries) on the south slope of Mt. Zhugao-shan (竹篙山). Under a clear sky, it offers a fantastic vista of whole Taipei and beyond, and you will forget your daily chores and worries that you encounter in your city life , well at least for a while.
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| Figure 8 route of the hike |
This nice meadow is only accessible by non-official trails. As long as you stick to those stone-paved paths of the park, you will never reach this spot. You need to step out of the official trails and venture onto unsinged trails. They are not on the official map. Yet they are passable. Some unofficial maps show them and even GPS files on the internet can be downloaded. So it is a matter of your decision and navigational skills.
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| Happy hikers on the Wangyou meadow |
We made this easy and enjoyable hike on a nice sunny day. We started from Juansi pubu (絹絲瀑布) bus stop on Qingshan street (青山路). At a short distance from the head of the official Juansi pubu trail of Yangmingshan, we got down to Zhugao-xi creek (竹篙溪) below and crossed it. There is an old trail called Xinai trail (溪內古道) going parallel to the Juanxi pubu trail across the valley. We followed it to the end and crossed the creek again to get on to the hill of Mt. Jixinlun (雞心崙) via a recently cleared trail. We passed the site of soldier station of the Ching dynasty (清朝) era and returned to the creek. Crossing it we took on a path going up on the west slope of Mt. Zhugao-shan to Wangyou meadow for a long rest and lunch. On our way down we made a visit to Mt. Zhugao-shan south-west peak, a kind of seldom visited summit, and down to Satellite Radio Station bus stop (衛星電台站) where a large parabola antenna dish stands nearby. Our route ended up like a shape of figure 8.
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| Our Xiao 15 line bus at Jiantan |
We meet at a bus terminus beside MRT Jiantan station (劍潭站) to get aboard a bus of Xiao 15 line (小15). Today is a week day, yet a long queue is formed for a Xiao 10 (小10) bus which is parallel to our queue. Most of them are rather aged hikers. I can't help but recognize that the hiker population has indeed grown bigger in the past ten years. Our bus comes at 7:36 and departs on time packed with full of passengers.
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| The bus going further up to Qingtiangang (擎天崗) |
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| The head of Juansi pubu trail |
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| Coming down from the official trail above |
An approximately 40-minute ride takes us to the bus stop of Juansi pubu trail. There is a map of the trail by the steps leading down to the trail. From the terrace by the steps you can see a large antenna dish down in the valley, where will eventually end our hike. We set off at 8:26. A stone paved trail goes parallel to an irrigation canal. A few minutes walk takes us to a junction down to the valley. We leave the trail and go down to find a rather dilapidated Tudi-gong shrine (土地公) by a junction. A left trail takes us to go over a bridge to cross the creek and leads us a large stone house with a wide front yard (elevation 518 meters above sea level). It is obvious that nobody lives in the house but still very still intact and looks like being used as a storage.
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| Stone house of the old trail |
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| Going up along the old trail |
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| Stone steps |
A dirt trail starts by the left side of the house, which is called Xinei old trail. Lantian-dui (藍天隊) volunteers made a nice maintenance work on it last year. The track is pretty clear. It soon passes by abandoned terrace fields behind the house. It gains height as we go and passes a small stream with a bridge made of a bunch of bamboos. At a steep stretch of the trail stone steps are placed, which is one of the characteristics of old trails. At 9:00 we come to a large machilus tree standing high and strong. A label placed on its trunk shows 100 year old machilus tree (百年楠樹).
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| "100 year-old" large tree |
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| Advancing on a flat trail |
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| Ropes are fixed at some points |
We keep ascending for another few minutes to find a junction (elev. 632m) where a right trail goes along the lower part of Mt. Zhugao-shan west slope. The grade gets moderate and traverses the mountainside with a little ups and downs. The trail follows the contour line and crosses some dried small creeks as we go. At 9:17 we see a remain of charcoal kiln. That must have been used by local workers to make charcoal for sales in the distant past. We often come across such remains in the mountains. At 9:25 we reach a junction where a right trail leads to Wangyou meadow and we will come again here later.
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| Junction with a new direction sign of last year |
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| Back on the stone paved trail |
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| Going up along a grass cut-out trail |
After a short break at the junction, we keep on our traversing along the old trail. It soon diverges left to the Zhugao-xi creek but we keep on the trail further. The track gets fuzzy as we go for a few minutes and goes down to a creek bed. It crosses the stream and goes up to the stone paved Juansi pubu trail. We take the official trail up a little and comes to a small stream where a couple of hikers are resting. This is where a new trail commences. This trail is one of the paths that Lantian-dui cleared lately. It goes up on a steep grade and gets out of forest into a tall grass filed. At 10:02 we come up to a decommissioned bunker #5.
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| No. 5 banker and Mt. Qixing-shan (七星山) |
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| Site of Qing dynasty military camp |
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| Members at the camp site |
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| A view from the deck, Zhugao-shan behind |
Yangmingshan was once an important military zone to protect against Communist China. There are many such bunkers around meadows of Yanmingshan area as the number five indicates. We soon pass an open flat space where a military camp of the Ching dynasty stationed. This also proves the strategic importance of Yanmingshan in the past. Now only a weather observation equipment stands on it. A wide trail goes on to another stone paved trail where a observation deck stands and a wooden post beside it shows "Jixinlun" (elev. 763m).
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| A junction on the slope of Jixinlun |
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| Cross the steam again |
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| The second remain of charcoal kiln of the day |
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| Climbing a steep uphill to the meadow |
We take another non-official dirt trail down to meet a trail coming from right. This traversing trail leads to a junction in a forest of tall cedar trees, which we reach at 10:50 and have a short rest. The left trail descents steeply to meet the Juansi pubu trail and we go further down to cross the Zhugao-xi creek again at 11:13. The trail goes up for a while to meet the Xinei old trail which we followed this morning. We cross the trail to go further up on the steep mountain slope. Another remain of charcoal kiln shows up by the trail which in about 10 minutes gets out of woods into tall silver grasses. The grades turns moderate and at last we reach Wangyou meadow (elev. 799m) at 11:33. What a spectacular view the meadow reveals us!
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| The meadow is just up there |
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| A panorama from the meadow |
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| Having a rest on the meadow |
It is one of our main objectives to come over here just to enjoy the meadow. Blue sky with patches of cloud is very high. Cloud occasionally shuts strong sun ray. Buffalos may roam here to feed but there is none today. So all meadow is only for us. We have a leisurely lunch and nap after that. Enjoying a long rest, we finally leave the meadow at 12:50. The trail leads to another meadow called south Wangyou meadow at the edge of rather flat field.
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| Going down to the south meadow |
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| Songshi medaow |
We descend on a steeper downhill through light woods to anther little meadow called Songshi meadow (松石草原 meaning pine tree and rocks).at 13:06. A large pine tree stands at a corner of the meadow. Under the tree a large flat rock sits and smaller stones circle the large rock, just like a table and stools. These rocks are naturally formed. It is impossible to move those rocks without a heavy machine. We have another nice and long rest of twenty some minutes with beer and light snacks under the pine tree.
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| Having a good time |
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| Going on the traversing trail |
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| At Zhugao-shan south west peak |
There are two trails from the Songshi meadow. One leads to Zhugao-shan south peak and other travers to the west. We take the one going west. There are no direction signs along the trail and we need to consult the map and the topology as we go. We make a little error at two junctions and finally get onto a last trail to Zhuago-shan southwest peak. This trail goes steeply up on the hillside and passing a junction. We hit a small open space with a stone marker and a name plate of the peak(elev. 139m) at 14:08. It is in fact not a peak, but just a spot of a marker stone so named Zhugao-shan southwest peak.
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| Going down to the stone house |
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| Bacj at the stone house |
We go back to the last junction and follow a trail going down. It leads to the stone house by the Xinei old trail that we passed this morning. We get to the house at 14:29 and follow the trail further down, which connects to a paved road. We pass by a small community of a few houses and come to Weixing radio station bus stop at 14:48. #303 bus comes in about 15 minutes, which we take to MRT Jiantan station.
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| Looking back Mt. Zhugao-shan near the end of our hike |
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| White azaleas seen by the trail |
It was a nice and easy hike to enjoy a good spring weather on an open meadow. It is not easy to reach the meadow unless you find your own way. It is well worth your try, though. We walked 8.7 kilometers for 6 hours including breaks. The total ascent was 438 meters and descent 553 meters. The route physical index is just 18.
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