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| 南雅山から見る黃金九稜, Gold Ridge #9 seen from Mt. Nanya-shan |
10年ほど前、観光地としてにぎわう九份・金瓜石のある台湾北東海岸の山々は、その稜線ごとに1から10までの番号がつけられ、それらを走破することが流行であった。それまであまり注目されていなかった、カヤが道をふさぐこれら稜線道は整備された。筆者も、黄金一稜から十稜までをしげく訪れ登った。特に天気が良ければ、どれも大海原を望み山道を進むことができ、とても気分が良いものだ。
その後の山行はほかの山域が多く、東北角の山を訪れることはあったが、このルートはまさに10年ぶりである。そのきっかけは、二日前の山行と同じ、ボランティアによる整備で山道が歩きやすくなったことである。はじめに歩いた龍洞坑古道は今月初めに、またその他のルートもこの夏以降の整備があった。筆者は、自分で鎌を使い藪漕ぎをして歩いたこともあるが、その苦労せずに山行ができることに越したことはない。龍洞坑古道から黃金九稜を縦走、鼻頭角へと歩いた。秋晴れの山行は、17名の参加者があり、愉快に歩き終えた。
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| Going via the valley route first and then onto the ridge |
About a decade ago there was a boom that hikers enthusiastically visited so called 10 Gold Ridge routes of mountains in the Northeast Coast. The mountains there are not so high but offer wonderful views of ocean as well as variety of routes. For general pubic this region is known for its popular tourist spots like Jiufen (九份) and Jinguashi (金瓜石), former gold mining towns. The author was one of those enthusiastic hikers and visited all of the 10 routes one after another. Since then I visited this region and hiked some routes again several times such as
this hike, but not
this particular route until this time.
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| Location of the hike destination |
I was motivated to plan this hike by a post on internet that a volunteers group Nuanxi hiking association (暖曦健行協會) had just completed a maintenance work on the
Longdongkeng historic trail (龍洞坑古道) along which my friend and I hiked ten years ago. This trail was once a vital passage between Londgongkeng, a small fishing community along the coast line, and Jinguashi or Jiufen, commercial centers of the time, before the coastal road was built in the 1960s. The small village tacked in the corner of Longdong bay (龍洞灣) had no other means to connect the outer world than this trail except by boat. The contour through which the trail is going is moderate and allowed many terrace paddies along the stream, which must have supported the community's life as well.
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| At Nanya-shan |
The ridge extending from Mt. Nanya-shan (南雅山) towards Bitoujiao (鼻頭角), a horn sticking into the northeastern ocean, is called Gold Ridge No. 9 (黃金九稜). Why Gold? It is because this area used to be gold mining center of the country. This ridge has no other named peaks than Nanya-shan but has a special exposed rock called "Incisor Rock (門牙岩)". Bitoujiao has been built to be a national scenic area (國家風景區) and has a good trail system going around the horn. We hiked by way of Longdongkeng trail up to Mt. Nanya-shan, then followed the Gold Ridge #9 down to Bitoujiao and finally strolled around BItoujiao.
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| #866 bus returning to Ruifang on coastal highway |
The public transportation to our staring point Longdongwan park (龍洞灣公園) is a #886 bus service from Ruifang (瑞芳). When we got to Qumin Square (區民廣場) bus stop of Ruifang at 7:10, 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time of departure, a long queue was already there. When the small bus came around, a crowd rushed into it and a half of us had no way to squeeze in, so we had but to take taxies to Londgongwan. Today's nice weather of course contributes to this kind of congestion, but the main factor is that the hiker population has since increased a lot. It was a half full of the bus a few years ago.
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| Stone-walled house by the trail head |
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| Direction sign with the date of Nov. 20 |
A couple of members coming by their own cars joined us and made the total of 18 for our hike today. At 8:05 we took off and headed for the trail head, a hundred meters or so ahead of the coastal highway. The trail starts by a stone walled house which looks very ancient. The direction sign there shows the date of November 20, 2025. Weeds on the trail have been neatly cut out indeed. Far ahead of us shows the ridge line where we will go up later.
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| Wees are cut down |
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| Our destination ridge is visible |
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| Terrace puddy |
In about ten minutes, the valley gets narrower and the trail comes close to the stream. In another 15 minutes terrace paddies come into our sight. The stone-pilled retaining walls are still intact and firm. Residents must have spent a lot of time and efforts to built such terrace paddies in the old days. Now they are all abandoned.
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| Paddies on both sides of the steam |
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| Crossing the stream |
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| The trail gets steeper |
At 8:46 we made a first stream crossing. Across the stream finds a fork for Mt. Wenzikeng-shan (蚊子坑山 or 和美山). Going around a large paddy finds another stream crossing. We made a short break just before the trail gradient getting steeper. As we went up, the valley got narrower, yet we found terrace paddies one after another. At 9:20 we passed the last paddy and found an abandoned stone wall house. The wall has half fallen down and looks very old. The house must have belonged to a family of farmers who cultivated the terrace paddies.
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| Paddies even at a higher place in the narrower valley |
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| The forth and last stream crossing |
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| The abandoned house remains |
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| Steep climb to the ridge |
The trail got even steeper after the house remains and hit the junction on the main ridge at 9:38. We took right turn and followed the ridge trail to Mt. Kulingling (苦苓嶺, elevation 295meters, the highest point of the hike ). A few minutes further along the ridge brought us to a nice vantage point. In front of us the Gold Ridge #9 extends down all the way to the sea, even a light tower on the Bitoujiao horn is visible. Down and up we went to reach Mt. Nanya-shan west peak (南雅山西峰, 265m). This is where a trail from the Nanya seashore comes up. A large group of hikers (they say 60) have come up through this way. The tail of their troop was going very slow and blocked our way. We god Mt. Nanya-shan (elve. 270m) at 10:25.
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| At Mt. Kulingling |
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| Vantage point on the way to Mt. Nanya-shan |
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| Panorama viewed from the point below Mt. Nanya-shan |
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| Longdong Bay and the valley where we have passed |
A good vantage point is just tens of meters away from the summit. We all got there and enjoyed a nice view. The curiously shaped "Incisor Rock" is just across the valley on a sub ridge by the Gold Ridge. On the other side stands a massive rocky body of
Mt. Banping-shan(半屏山) . We followed the trail to reach the Incisor Rock. When we got there, many hikers of the other group were still around. It would take too much time to see all around so we left after seeing the center part of the rock.
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| The Incisor Rock |
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| Mt. Banping-shan |
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| Incisor rock |
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| Looking down the gap of the rock |
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| At Titanic Rock |
The ridge trail has many ups and downs, with some little steep rock climbs. At 11:42 we reached a point called Titanic Rock (鐵達尼岩), a kind of vantage point on a cliff top. This was so named in association of the famous movie Titanic. We were almost at a halfway point of the Gold Ridge #9. There was a flat open space above the Titanic Rock beside the trail that can accommodate our group. So we had a lunch break there.
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| Looking over the ridge we have come, note Incisor rock in upper right |
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| Going over humps like this |
While we had lunch, the other large group had all gone and apparently took other route down so we advanced without slowing down. Passing two junctions we kept on the ridge trail with several ups and downs. We finally came down to a large public cemetery and found the trail end at 12:54. This is also a junction for Bitoujiao trail.
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| Climbing a boulder |
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| Down on the ridge |
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| Up again |
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| Coming down to the cemetery, Bitou primary school is beyond it |
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| Bitou trail by the school gate |
Bitoujiao trail starts by a primary school. This school is just on a flat ridge by the ocean and very impressive. The trails are all stone-paved as this is a part of the scenic park. We advanced on the trail and got to a resting hut for break. The sun ray was still strong by the ocean and it was good to rest under a roof.
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| Rest hut by the trail |
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| A view from the hut |
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| At the top of trail |
After a rest we climbed the trail up to the ridge of Mt. BItou-shan (鼻頭山). We had a nice view towards the mountains where we had just come over. Under a nice blue sky came many tourists, young and old, to enjoy this beautiful autumn day. We went down to the other end of the trail a little before 14:00 to complete our hike. Our hike was approximately 9 kilometers with 500 meters of total ascent. We hiked about 6 hours including rests.
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| Looking back Gold Ridge #9 |
-------------------------It is always so nice and enjoyable to go hiking for the mountains of the Northeast Coast under such a beautiful day. It is good that more and more people come to hike and enjoy it. For the general public, hiking can contribute a good deal to their health, physically as well as mentally, and improve their life quality, which is also very good for their nation as a whole.
