2024年5月30日 貢寮山 - 水返港山 - 外文秀坑山 A successful visit to the peaks that were denied in April

外文秀坑山山頂

新北市貢寮區の海岸に面した丘陵は、標高200m足らずの丘陵が続く。4月初めこの地域の九份坑山を歩き、水返港山から貢寮山をへての下山を試みた。水返港山に登るべく台北一莊をへてすぐ近くまで来たが、この土地の所有者が通行を認めず、目的の山を目の前にして下山した。今回は、別のルートでこの山を訪れ，その稜線上から4月に歩いてきたすぐ近くの地点を下に見た。登山者に友好的な地権者ばかりでないことも事実だ。

南から北へ歩く

今回歩いた場所は、3月末4月初にボランティアがその道を整理した部分である。外文秀坑山は、水返港山から東に伸びる稜線上にあるピークで、四年前に一度登ろうとした。ところが、長い間歩かれていないルートは、とても荒れており土地勘もないことがあり諦めた。今回は、整理されて間もなく、問題なく登頂できた。つまりは、二回訪れたが歩けなかった山々を歩くことができたわけだ。ただ、低山であり距離も長くないが、涼しい日々が続いた後の好天で、気温が上がり、その点で苦労した。

@水返港山山頂

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Sometime you come across peaks that you are not able to reach even though they are of just a couple of hundreds meters high. Mt. Shuifangang-shan (水返港山, elevation 162 meters) and Mt. Waiwenxiukeng-shan (外文秀山, elev. 186m) of Gongliao district (貢寮區), New Taipei City were once such peaks for me. In early this April I tried with a few friends to reach Shuifangang-shan but could not because the land owner of the aera through which we planed to reach Shuifangang-shan did not allow us to pass. Back in early 2020, several friends and I tried to go up to Waiwenxiukeng-shan from Aodi (澳底) but its long neglected trail was hardly passable and we had but to give up.

Entire ridge line alongside Gene21+'s land, Mt. Waiwenxiukeng-shan on the left

In late March and early April this year groups of volunteers came in this area and made nice clearing job to trails there. They include the trails to Mt. Jiufenkeng-shan (九份坑山) and trails passing these two peaks mentioned above. Thanks to the volunteers, we were able to walk along the trail from Mt. Gongliao-shan (貢寮山, elev. 60m) to Waiwenxiiukeng-shan. We made a short detour to Shuifengang-shan en route and down to Aodi in the end. So we made it to reach the two peaks at last!! 

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Train #4148 at platform of Gongliao station

Despite a short notice of this hike and today being a week day,  eight friends showed up at Gongliao train station when I reached there a little after 9 o'clock by a local trail #4148. This is a rainy season of Taiwan now and we had rather rainy but cool days in raw. Today it has turned out sunny. We step out of the station and walk towards the trail head of Gongliao-shan, which is just a couple of hundreds meters away. We find a construction work in progress just by the trail head.

The staircase between the buildings leads to Mt. Gongliao-shan

A new sign shows direction for Gongliao-shan

At the top of staircase a brand new direction sign is attached to an electricity pole. We follow the trail indicated by the sign and step in a dirt and slippery path. The soil has soaked up rain water of the past few days and feels very soft through my boot sole. A short and steep climb has led us up to the summit of Gongliao-shan at at 9:27, just a ten minutes away from the train station.

Summit of Gongliao-shan

Coming down to a farmer's house

The trail from the summit goes down for about 10 minutes to reach a side of a house of farmers. We pass the front yard of the house and get onto a narrow path alongside an irrigation canal. The path goes around as the river below goes and comes to connect a stone paved trail to go up. The trail ascends between thin bamboos for a while. Our path leaves the stone paved trail and goes down steeply to the bottom of a valley. On our way down abandoned terrace rice paddies show up one after another. We cross the creak and then go up through another abandoned terrace paddies. The steep climb ends at a paved road by 10:10.

A narrow path along a canal

A good stone paved trail

Abandoned terrace rice paddy

Up to a paved road

A steep climb along a narrow path

A mouth of another path up to our next destination, Shuifangang-shan opens just two or three hundred meters up ahead by the road. This path is very steep too and goes between thin bamboos. The sun shines brightly over us. This steep climb makes us sweat a lot. Our path gets into woods finally after several minutes of hard labor. A moderate climb leads us to a junction. To our left the path goes up to Shuifangang-shan. A eight-minute climb from the junction has brought us to the summit at 10:34.

Junction to Shuifangang-shan

Summit of Shuifangang-shan

The summit is surrounded by trees and offers no view. Besides there is no shadow, so we go back the trail to a high-voltage electric tower. The spot where the tower stands offers a good view as well as welcome breeze. We sit down by the tower and have a break. The coast line of Fulong (福隆) is visible. Beyond it a mountain range of Mt. Laoliao-shan (荖寮山)  to Mt. Fulong-shan (福隆山) defines the skyline.

Resting by the tower base

View from the tower base

Out from woods onto a paved road

At 11:00 we go back down to the junction and take left. The trail soon ends at another paved road. This road goes all the way along the ridge that is supposed to divides the land of Gene21+ (台北一莊) from the other. The road is in good shape but no traffic at all because it serves only Gene21+ rear gates and  electric towers of  the Taiwan Power only. 

A good road going up

Passing by a rear gate of Gene21+

A 25-minute walk along the gradually ascending road brings us to a junction on our left. This dirt path goes up in woods and connects an abandoned hiking trail on the ridge. We must be now on the boarder of the Gene21+. We walk for a few minutes to a flat field where a house stands at its corner. It feels breeze and we have a lunch break under trees there. From the side of the field we can see a place below the hill where we were denied access to where we are now and returned on our visit in early April. It is very short distance away.

Coming out onto a abandoned hiking trail

Abandoned but nice trail

Lunch break under trees

A: where we were refused to go further in April. B: where we had lunch on this hike

Coming down to a small stream bed

At 12:21 we resume our hike. The trail goes down along a ridge and plunges into a bottom of a narrow creak bed where water from a small reservoir flows. It then ascends steeply up to the ridge again. We follow it and down to pass a small stone shrine. A sign by it says 100-year-old Youyinggong (有應公). 

Youyinggong shrine

Youyinggong is a part of local belief system. It is supposed to give peace to the souls of deceased that have no relatives to tend to. In the early days of Taiwan Island development, many unidentifiable men and women died of conflicts, disease or famine. People collected bodies and buried them because they were afraid the deceased souls otherwise might cause misfortune. Youyinggong shrines were elected at such a bury spot of the souls of no name as this one.

A junction: left to Danli-shan, Right to Waiwenxiukeng-shan

At the summit of Waiwenxiukeng-shan

We follow the ridge trail to reach a junction at 12:49. Our original plan was to take left at the junction and go to Mt. Danli-shan (丹裡山) and back. The hot weather today makes us give up this plan. We directly go to Waiwenxiukeng-shan where we reach by 13:00. The summit was originally surrounded by trees but those trees in the direction towards the coast line were cut out. The cleared gap allows a good view, including Mt. Meiyan-shan (美艷山), Mt. Huoyan-shan (火炎山) and fishing port of Aodi.

View from Waiwenxiukeng-shan

Passing by another tower

We leave Waiwenxiukeng-shan at 13:12. The trail soon pass by an electric tower and goes steeply down to the valley bottom. There is a tall waterfall in a short distance up stream. We first go to the waterfall to take a look. The volume of water is not much but it falls from a very high point. It is well worth a short detour. We go back to the junction and follow the stream down. The trail runs through water passage for a while. It may not be good to pass this section in heavy rain.

Down to the valley bottom

Tall water fall

Going down along the stream

On a such sunny hot day, it is nice and cool to follow this kind of watery path.  We go down along the creak bed for about twenty minutes and up to the left bank. A log bridge spans over a small gap. This log bridge is a work of volunteers, a nice job indeed! We come out of woods to cross a wide river over a water covered dam top. If water is much more, it could be dangerous to cross. On the other side of the river we have a rest in a shadow at 14:05.

Down along the stream

A log bridge

Crossing a wide river

Looking back Waiwenxiukeng-shan

It is only a couple of kilometers from here to Aodi. We get to highway #102A and walk down to Aodi. We reach the intersection of Aodi by 14:34. Our original plan was to walk along the coast line to Fulong. Again this big sun discourages us to do that. Instead we walk down to a bus stop and take a bus bound for Keelung (基隆), which has come only in a few minutes. The coast line is very beautiful under the clear blue sky. Our bus has reached Keelung at 15:52.

Bus for Keelung

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A view through the bus window

Our hike lasted a little more than 5 hours, covering 7 kilometers. It was intended to be an easy hike. The unexpected hot weather made this easy hike not so easy after all. The sudden increase in temperature from the preceding cool days made more impact on us though the route itself is short, easy and enjoyable.