2025年5月13日 陽明山系聖人瀑布~頂山溪山~內雙溪山~梅花山~雙溪山 O型縱走 Circular hiking over peaks on the east side of Yanmingshan Park

聖人瀑布

陽明山山系は、いままでかなりの回数を訪れ、陽明山国家公園の公式登山道やその他民間による登山道もほとんど歩いている。それでも、新たに開かれた道もあり、それを訪れる楽しみがある。今回の登山は、そうした最近の登山道を経て、今まで歩いていない道や山頂をカバーした。5月に入り、梅雨による雨がけっこう降った。それもかなり強い雨が二日ほど続いた時もある。それが明けて、すっきりした青空のもとで山行ができた。

場所は、內雙溪にある聖人瀑布からのスタートである。この滝はちょっと道から奥まっていること、また30年ほど前に起きた死傷事故のあと閉鎖されたことで、近くには何度も訪れているが、この滝は行ったことがなかった。今回は、沢を超えた反対側から風櫃嘴縦走路へと続く道の途中前の登山道が開かれたのを機会に、滝見を含めて訪れた。その後は、近くのいくつかの初登の山も含め、ぐるっと回って出発点の聖人橋へもどった。この記事は、英語で記述します。

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Clock-wise circular hike from Shengren waterfall 

Shengren Pubu (聖人瀑布, Saint's Waterfall) is located in the upper valley of Neishuangxi (內雙溪) of Taipei Shilin District (士林區).  It is 17 meters tall and with water of 6 meters wide falling straight down, which is pretty impressive, but I have never been there. This waterfall belongs to Yangmingshan National Park. There happened a fatal incident in the waterfall park area in 1992, which led to its closure by the park authority. 

In the recent few months volunteers cleared the weed-covered trail by the waterfall, which made this obscure place popular among hikers all the sudden. I made a plan to visit and hiked around. Our route covered a few peaks that I had never been while some places were familiar. Under nice blue sky after a week of heavy rain, our hike was indeed very fun and enjoyable.

All members at DingshanXishan summit

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Xiao 18 bus leaving Shengrenqiao busstop

If you are familiar with National Palace Museum (故宮博物院), you can easily locate where the waterfall is. It is almost at the end of the road (至善路) in the valley that passes the museum. Among several bus services calling at the museum, Xiao 18 route (小18線) is the one going to the waterfall. We took a 7:30 bus from MTR Jiantan station (捷運劍潭站). Today is Thursday. On the way the bus picked up many passengers like students to its full capacity. But by the time it passed the museum only several hikers were onboard.

A very impressive sign of the waterfall but you can't get close

This is as close as you can get

A little after 8:00 we were at Shengrenqiao bus stop (聖人橋).  The next stop Shengren Pubu is actually closer to the waterfall.  A few friends already at Shengren Pub bus stop waiting joined us, totaling 11 members today. We walked down a short distance of a trail which ends by the river. The waterfall is far beyond the river. The whole area by the waterfall is still closed for public.

 

Crossing the stream

A view of the watefall

We walked back a little and entered a narrow path, which goes to the riverside. Water flows over the wide solid-rock riverbed. Exposed rock spots are easy to go over. We made to the other side and got onto a steep climb. Up we went to a spot with an old and long stone stepway further going up. This must be a part of the abandoned trail after the closure.  At the top of the stepway a tall platform stands on our right, which we went up. This was also a part of the old waterfall park area, now covered with weeds. 

On the platform corner

At Shengrenlun with another team of three

A new trail goes over a ridge to join another trail at the bottom of a public cemetery. It passes Shengrenlun peak (聖人崙, elev. 293m) and a curious rock on which 神石寺 (God stone temple) is inscribed. We went up a path going through the cemetery. This cemetery is not one with which people usually associate. Large family graves show up one after  another  along the path under a thick forest, no open space nor piles of grave stones.

The curious boulder

At junction with another trail

Trail going by family tombs

Crossing an irrigation canal

Tudigong shrine

At 9:16 we hit a paved road where a Tudigong (土地公) shrine stands.  I had come this way 7 years ago. After a short break, we took on the steepest section of our climb today. The trail is pretty clear now and many ropes are fixed at steep stretches. We reached the summit of Dingshanxishan (頂山溪山 or 頂山南峰 elev. 660m) at 9:55.  The summit is a flat green field and very nice. It was mostly covered with tall weed on my last visit.

A little more of steep climb

Clean summit of DingshaXishan

Coming out onto the official trail

We headed for the Fengguizui trail (風櫃嘴步道) at 10:09. The path is not steep but  not easy to follow because water buffalos also walk on this path and made many holes. We stepped out onto a stone paved trail in bright light. It is about 0.9km away from Fengguizhui. A very wide view spreads out on our left, including clearly visible of Jieliao Trek peaks. On our way down, we stopped by Xiangtui-shan (香對山, elev. 624m) and reached Fengguizui for a short rest.

A wide view from the Fengguizhi trail

Jieliao trek ridge across the valley

Fengguizui, the peak in front is Neishuangxi-shan

Trail to Neishuangxi-shan

Our next peak is Neishuangxi-shan (內雙溪山). The path to this summit was also opened by volunteers. The trail head is just by a paved road (Bei 28 county road 北28). The steep climb led us to a small summit at 11:16. We then plunged to Shimenling historical trail (石門嶺古道 or 車坪寮保甲路). This trail goes along a clear creek and among cedar trees, very tranquil and beautiful. We could have gone along the paved road instead of coming down and climbing again but this trail is well worth doing otherwise.

At the summit of Neishuangxi-shan

Junction with Shimenling trail

Beautiful trail with a small creek running alongside

Crossing the paved road

At 11:51 We came out of the Shimenling trail and got onto the paved road (Bei 28 ), crossed it and then again went down. This trail is also goes along a clear creek. At the junction with other wider trail we had a lunch break. This trail is a part of Taipei Big Traversing Route (大台北縱走). A large group of elderly hikers passed by while we were there.

Going down along the creek 

Lunch break at this junction

Natural method of trail fixing

Mt. Meihua-shan (梅花山, elev. 640m) was about 80 meters above us. We made our last and rather long climb to the summit. I visited this peak only two weeks ago on my long Jieliao route hiking. The rest of our hike is basically downhill. We crossed a trail called Neigouxi historical trail (內溝溪古道) and further down to Meihuashan west peak (梅花山西峰 elev. 520m). This small summit is surrounded by tall pine trees and it feels nice breeze.

Keep going up for Meihua-shan

At the summit of Meihua-shan

Passing under a overhang rock

Summit of Meihua-shan west peak

Coming down from Meihua-shan west peak

Shuangxi-shan summit

Our last peak of the day was Shuangxi-shan (雙溪山, elev. 439m), which we reached in a few minutes from a paved road that we had just came down and crossed. A friend found that a pair of butterflies parched on my backpack and stayed there for a while. The last descent was rather long and steep. We hit a paved road (至善路三段336巷) at 14:20, which is coming all way from Fengguizhui.

A pair of butterflies on my backpack (friend's photo)

Steep descent

One of our members discovered that a Xiao #18 bus would come in ten minutes, so everybody hurried down the road and came to Shengrenqiao bus stop in time. A bus came at 14:35. We were lucy to catch this bus otherwise we would have to wait for forty minutes.

#Xiao 18 bus has come

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The hiking was very good. We walked 8.1kilometers for 6 hours and 20 minutes including rests. Our total ascent was approximately 700 meters and the route physical index 21.

Wild berries seen on the hike

By the way, "saint" of the waterfall, of course, is not a saint of Christianity, but refers to Confucius of China. The Communist China opened many "Confucius Schools" around the world that teach the Chinese language. This is in fact an irony. They deny any religion and condemn Confucius traditions at home. Then why do they use this name? It is because Confucius is closely associated with Chinese cultures in the mind of people. The schools are in truth a part of their propaganda to spread their own message of communism, which has been proven so in recent years and resulted in closure of the schools in some countries. It is very disgraceful to Confucius that they hypocritically use his name for their evil purpose, whose teachings played an important role throughout the history of China as well as of neighboring countries including Japan.