。この辺りの山は、数年前までよく訪れほとんどのピークやルートは歩いていたが、新たに整備され良くなった道ができたので、再びおとずれた。今回の東北角の山行も同様な理由である。
和美山から草山に向けて伸びる稜線を、11年の間に部分的なセクションの再訪はあるが、再び山稜全体を歩いた。稜線縦走路は、今年になって藍天隊による整備が行われ、とても良い状態である。また、草山の東斜面を横切る草山山腰古道は、長い間閉ざされていたが、同じく整備された。こうした条件であるので、暑くなる前に再訪した。
ルートについては、和美山へは龍洞からいわゆる黄金10稜を追うのではなく、反対側の北勢坑から登った。山稜を歩き終えた後は、草山を東側の山腰古道を経由して巻いた。下山は、4月に登った金東坑古道を下った。金東坑古道は上半分が二股に分かれる。一つは前回の沢沿いに行く道、今回はもう一つの急坂枝尾根道を下った。4月の山行ルートと重なる部分は戰備道ほか一部だけである。夏が近くなり、気温が上がってきた。風もあまりなく、まだ暑さに慣れていない体には、かなりきつかった。今回は英語で記述します。
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The Northeast Coast of Taiwan is know for its rugged beauty with mountains of endless grassland. The seasonal wind of winter sweeps through mountains, which prevents forests to growing high and dense, letting grasses to take over slopes of the mountains. In addition to that the toxic exhaust of copper and gold smelting which took place beneath Jinguashi (金瓜石) long ago contributed to shaping this landscape.
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| @庫命嶺山頂 Summit of Mt. Kumingling |
I have been visiting mountains of this area for a decade and covered almost all of its peaks and trails. This is indeed one of my favorite places for hiking. Even so, there are a few trails that I did not visit because they were left impassable for a long time. In the recent months groups of volunteer hikers like Lantian-dui (藍天隊) came in and cleared such weed and debris covered trails including Cao-shan mountain side trail (草山山腰古道) and Jindongkeng trail (金東坑古道). They are trails that originally served for mining industries or local people carrying goods in the past and left unused after the mining industries left the place years ago and new motor roads were built.
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| 東から西へ縦走 Traversing from east to west |
This hiking is a kind of walk along such trails and to make up the uncovered gap. I made such a
hike in early this April and this is the second hike in row for the same purpose. Seven friends accompanied me. We started from Beishikeng (北勢坑) at the coastline up to Mt. Hemei-shan (和美山 or 蚊子坑山), traversing the ridge towards Mt. Cao-shan (草山) and along the east slope of Mt. Cao-shan via Cao-shan mountain side trail. We came out onto a motor road called Zhanbeidao (戰備道, meaning war preparation road) , followed it to the point besides Mt. Canguangliao-shan (燦光寮山) and then down to Jinguashi via Jindongkeng trail. I made
my first hike over the ridge between Mt. Hemei-shan and Mt. Cao-shan eleven years ago. The trail was in dense weed at that time, but it turned out a very good one thanks to the clearing work of Lantian-dui in recent months.
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| Many hikers alighted at Fulong station |
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| Waiting at Fulong bus terminus |
Our stating point, Beikengshi, is located by the coast line not far from Aodi (澳底) and Fulong (福隆). The new road Jifu highway (基福公路) makes a shortcut from Taipei to Yilang (宜蘭) for the Coastline highway (濱海公路) and shortens the time of travel to Bekengshi if you go by a private car. If you go by public transportation on the other hand, this place is yet very far. We took a fast local train #4006 leaving Taipei station at 6:28 and arrived at Fulong at 7:37. There were a quite few hikers alighting the train. All of them are apparently heading for other destinations. Only eight of us walk to the bus terminus which stands by the Coastline highway and wait for a #791 bus to come.
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| Mt. Hemei-shan viewed through a bus window |
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| The trail head is just by the shelter |
An empty bus comes along at 8:13 and we get aboard with a few local passengers. Passing by Aodi goes the bus along the coastline. As we go further, Mt. Hemei (elevation 355 meters) shows up in front and comes closer. At 8:30 we alight at Beikengshi bus stop. The trail head is just by a bus waiting shelter across the road and a little way back. We walk to the shelter and start our climb.
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| Coming down from Hemai-shan |
Mt. Kumingling, also called Hongmao-shan (紅毛山, meaning red hair mountain), is a single named peak between Mt. Hemei-shan and Mt. Caoshan. Its name is rather unique. It means a mountain of hard life. I wonder how it grained such a dishonorable name. The life in this rural and remote area must have been very harsh in the past days. We go down from Mt Hemei-shan for a while and climb back on a very steep slope. There are more ups and downs along the way. At last we climb to a steep section, meet a path from our right and reach the summit of Mt. Kumingling (elev. 428m) at 10:30.
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| Ridge trail (recent clearing of grasses) |
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| Mt. Kumingling summit |
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| Heading for Mt. Caoshan |
The flat and wide summit of Mt. Kumingling has a triangulation marker in the center. Trees surround the summit and it offer no view. After a break we resume our way on the ridge towards Mt. Caoshan. Just like the way we have come through, there are more ups and downs to follow. When we come out of woods, a nice view spreads out on our right. The morning fog has gone by now and we can see the surrounding mountains and Bitoujiao (鼻頭角) cape in a distance. We reach a nice little summit with a name tag of 450 peak (it refers to the height) at 11:30 and have a lunch break.
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| Bitoujiao cape (鼻頭角) |
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| The four-way junction |
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| Take left at this junction above the four-way one |
On our last visit in early last month we came from the opposite direction after climbing to the summit of Mt. Caoshan and made a turn down towards the coast via Jinhe trail (金和舊道). Today we pass the junction and take the left trail at another junction just above the four-way junction. The trail we are walking was once a major road for the mining industry and still keeps its broad width though bushes grow here and there. We go down for a while and hit a junction for Caoshan mountain side trail at 12:21.
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| A wide abandoned road |
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| New direction signs at Coa-shan mountain side trail |
This trail must have been one part of the road network for the local mining industry but has since lost almost its original track. You would not notice its existence if volunteers had not cleared the track nor placed a direction sign at its head. The location of the trail is very remote compared with another trail going west side of the mountain. I am afraid it would go back to a desolate state very soon because apparently very few hikers visit this trail. The trail gains height as we go and pass a stone-piled platform. It must have been a kind of structure in the past.
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| A stone piled structure |
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| Going up along the trail |
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| Tanakagumi stone marker |
At 12:42 we pass by a stone marker engraved with a word "Tanaka-gumi (田中組) #7". Tanaka-gumi is a Japanese contractor who leased this side of gold mining field and carried out its mining business in the early last century. The Japanese regime leased the area near present-day Jiufen (九份) and Jinguashi to two contractors in 1897 shortly after its take-over of Taiwan in 1895. They are Tanakagumi and
Fujita-gumi (藤田組). This marker was one of leased land boundary markers of the time and reminiscence of the old days.
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| Coming out onto the Zhanbei-dao road |
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| Going down the Zhanbei-dao, Caoshan summit is visible |
This motor road was built in 1973 when the tension for a potential warfare with the Communist China was high (now it is high again, though) to prepare for possible conflict. There were military facilities on the top of Mt. Caoshan then and this road served them. The road was decommissioned in 1982 and now open for public. On our last visit we went up to the summit so we just take left and go down along the road. At the bottom we have another break for sometime. The overcast sky reduces the direct sunlight and it feels good to lie down on the earth.
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| Looking back Mt. Caoshan (Mountain of grasses) |
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| A view towards Shuangxi (雙溪) from the road |
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| Going up along the road |
At 13:51 we resume our walk for the last leg. We follow the Zhanbei-dao road and gradually go up along the side of Mt. Canguangliao-shan. We pass the trail head for Mt. Banping-shan (半屏山) at 14:14 and keep on the Zhanbei-dao. One of our members leaves us for going to Mt. Banping-shan and Mt. Chahe-shan (茶壺山). The rest of us come to the trail head of Jindongkeng trail at 14:23.
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| Head of Jindongkeng trail ridge line |
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| The trail goes down bey steeply |
The Jindongkeng trail was an (once abandoned) old trail travelled by local residents as well as mine workers. It directly connects Jinguashi and the Zhanbei-dao in a shortest distance. On its halfway point the trail sprits into two, one going along a creek and one on a very steep ridge. As a matter of fact, we took this trail from Jinguashi last month. We went up by the one along the creek for the upper half then. We take the other half down this time.
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| Trail between tall grasses |
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| Still very steep |
From the trail head it goes down very steep indeed. like plunging oneself in a dip. There are no aiding ropes and we go down very carefully. It is good that the track is dry and neatly cut out of weeds. After a long and precipitous decent of twenty minutes we reach the half-way junction. One of water supply tubes has a ruptured hole and water is gushing out from it. Water is flowing down along the trail, making the trail look like a small stream. We go down and cross a creek. Further down we come to an abandoned gold mine portal by the creek and have a final rest at 14:50. One of the members takes out beer and shares with us, which is very nice and refreshing!
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| Water is running down from a punctued pipe |
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| Abandoned gold mine |
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| Last section of the Jindongkeng trail |
All we have for the rest of hike is to go further down the Jindongkeng trail, which we complete in twenty minutes. We come out onto a stone paved official trail leading to Mt. Chahu-shan at 15:32. This trail soon ends at a tourist trail which once was a wagon railway for carrying ores. Four of us head for Jinguashi gold museum (金瓜石黃金博物館) bus stop for #965 bus while one member and I for Quanjitang (勸濟堂) bus terminus for #1062 bus. Our bus leaves at Quanjitang at 15:50, which soon is filled with tourists of Jiufen.
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| Trail end |
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We spent a little more than 7 hours (inclusive of break times) covering 10 kilometers. Our total ascent was 763 meters while descent 500 meters. We started from the sea side and ended in the mountain so more ascent than descent. We find that the weather is turning warmer and makes us feel more tiring than cooler seasons. It may be because our body has not yet used to heat.
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| Weed covered ridge trail 11 years ago |
The trails we followed this time are not well informed among the hiking public, particularly non Chinese speaking hikers. Most of information about this kind of trails is only available in Chinese. Now that more and more volunteers come out and make those originally obscure trails passable, I hope that more hikers, regardless of nationality and language barrier, enjoy Taiwan's less-known mountains and its nature. At the same time, we can show our appreciation to those volunteers by visiting those cleared trails. They will find the value of their work in our frequent visit and get encouraged as well.
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