2014年11月15日 瑞芳黃金八稜-九稜 慢集團の道案内 Ruifang "Golden" Ridge #8 and #9 routes, guiding the Manjituang hiking

Climbing the steep slope of the #8 Golden Ridge, Nanya village and Mt. Nanzilin are behind

今年の春に歩いたいわゆる黄金八稜と九稜を、慢集團の道案内として再び歩いた。今回のルートは、八稜を登り石梯坑古道と龍洞古道を経て南雅山へ登る。その後鼻頭角へ黄金九稜を下る予定であったが、天候が悪くてパーティ全体の歩みが遅く、南雅山に着いた時すでに15時半。日暮れまでに鼻頭角へ下るのは難しいため、左に折れ急坂ルートを濱海公路の信義橋へ下った。午前中は曇り空であったが、昼ごろから雨になり、赤土の下り道はとても滑りやすかった。25名の参加者には外国人の参加も多く、若くて体力があるが山歩きには慣れていないメンバーもいた。八稜は、下部に岩登り部分もある。そこを通る時は雨が降らず幸いであった。雨もふり濡れながらも8時間の山道を歩き終えた。すでに歩いたルートでもあるので、今回もより多くの読者を対象に紹介という意味で、英語で記述します。

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Round hiking trip over the Golden Ridge #8 & #9 (a part)

Hiking elevation profile

Jiufen (九份) and Jinguashi (金瓜石) of the Ruifang district (瑞芳區), New Taipei City (新北市) is now a very popular tourist destination. Not only Taiwan local people but many visitors from abroad including Japanese come for sightseeing and witness the rise and fall of this old gold town which once produced the biggest volume of gold in the east Asia in the early last century. The gold town is surrounded by rocky mountains with little vegetation, which makes a spectacular scenery very different from other parts of Taiwan. There are abandoned gold mining installations and process plants left all over the hills and valleys around the town. Because this place is closely related to gold, ten conspicuous ridges of the mountains in this area are singled out and given a name of "Golden Ridge" #1 to #10.

Hiking members at the parking space near Renai briege

Walking along the coast to Renai bridge

As more hikers are interested in the "Golden Ridges", more footpaths have been opened by volunteers in additions to the ones already having existed such as the #3 Golden Ridge of Mt. Chahu (無耳茶壺山) official hiking trail and a few others. The Golden Ridge #8 route which we hiked this time had just been opened by Lantian Group (藍天隊) of volunteers in Spring this year. The other ridge route that we walked, the #9, existed before this recent hikers' interest but was neglected and almost impossible to walk as it was covered by thick and almost impenetrable grass. The Lantian group came in, cut out grass and added ropes at some dangerous spots along the footpath last Spring. I myself walked  in the past all but one ridge routes including the #8 and #9 ridge. They all give you breath taking views of mountains and the ocean at the same time.

members crossing a stream

I lately guide the Manjituan (慢集團) hiking club (meaning slow-but-steady going group) once every month. This activity was posted at the clubs's Facebook page and quite a few members responded. On the day of activity it rained rather hard in the early morning in Taipei, and less members showed up but there were still 25 including myself. The weather was OK in the morning with thick clouds hanging over the ocean. Later it started rain around noon and gave us a hard time walking on very slippery slopes and slowed our pace.  My original plan was to walk all the way to Bitoujiao (鼻頭角) at the end of the #9 ridge route. When we arrived at Mr. Nanya (南雅山) on the #9 ridge, it was already 15:30. It would take another two hours or more to walk to the end, and I decided to take a short cut and went down to Xinyi bridge (信義橋) on the North Coast Highway (北部濱海公路). No sooner than we arrived at the highway, sky turned dark. Despite rail fall and hard conditions we hiked more than 8 hours of strenuous routes without trouble.

A view from the cliff top

Climbing the rock slope

We meet at Jilong (基隆) railway station at 7:30. We then walk to a nearby bus stop and take a #791 bus, which comes around 7:40. We arrives at Nanya (南雅) bus stop after forty minutes of ride. A few more members join here. They have come by their own car. After preparation and my brief explanation of the activity, we start at 8:42. We first walk along the coast line parallel to the coast highway to Renan bridge (仁愛橋). Luckily drizzle that I saw while riding on the bus has stopped.  We pass under the bridge and come up to a parking space near the bridge. We walk on a trail along the stream just for a little and go down to cross the stream. The #8 ridge route starts at the opposite side. The water is not much and we easily go over water.

The 210 peak, the ridge continues in front

The footpath is just a little more than a stamped-out dirt pathway. It goes very steep on a slippery slope but without rain it is still manageable. We struggle for a few minutes and come up to the top of cliff overlooking the village of Nanya and the ocean. Although clouds hang over the sea, we can have a good view, which give us a hope that the weather holds for the rest of our activity. From this point onward, we walk on the top of ridge. In a few minutes we come beneath a steep slope with exposed rocks. A rope is affixed to the face of rock to help hikers go up. The slop edge is protruding and no bushes around it. Your whole body is exposed into air. Luckily there is no strong wind or rain. The steep slope has two stages of rock face climb. After I climb to the top, I wait for the rest of the troop coming up. At 9:42 we reach a top of this steep ridge slope called the 140 peak vantage point. The Nanya village now looks small in the far below. Mt. Nanziln (南子吝山) behind the village looks almost as high as here.

Mt Banping and Mt. Jilong are visible behind the Golden Ridge #7

A tall waterfall beneath Mt. Banping

All members reach the peak and we continue on the ridge path. The path keeps going up in low growing shrubs. At 10:08 we come to the 210 peak vantage point.You can have a wonderful view of the mountains and the ocean at the same time. Across a deep valley the Golden Ridge #7 lays in front of Mt. Banping (半平山). The Golden Ridge #6 (Jianlong leng 劍龍稜) and #5 Ridge (Juchi leng 鋸齒稜) goes up toward the Mt. Banping summit. Behind another Golden Ridge of #4, Fukanleng (俯瞰稜) stands Mt. Jilong (基隆山) with its beautiful triangle shape.On the left of steep unforgiving rock face of Mt. Banping stands Mt. Caoshan (草山) and Mt. Canguangliao (燦光寮山), the highest peak in this area. Just below Mt. Banping, a tall water fall is in the deep valley, which can only be viewed from here unless you trace the dangerous stream all the way up there.

A view from the diversion point of the Golden Ridge #7 and #8

Small camellia flowers in bloom

We yet ascend atop the ridge. At 11:00 we reach a diversion point of the Golden Ridge #7 and #8. Small white flowers of camellia are in bloom at side of the path. The ridge walk continues for another ten or twenty minutes sometime in thick tall grass and sometime in shrubs. The weather changes worse and it finally starts raining. Rain fall gets harder and everybody takes out rain ware and puts on. As you go through dense grass fields, you pants soak water on grass leaves and get very wet . Slopes are now very slippery with rain drops. After going down and up again, we pass a junction and keep straight to Mt. Shitikeng (石梯坑山). Though it is called a mountain, it is in fact a flat place on the hillside with a marker stone, not a peak in its original sense. It is 12:00 and we have a lunch break. It is already nearly an hour behind my original schedule.

Mt. Shitikeng with a marker stone on the ground

Walking on Shitikeng old trail

We start for the Golden Rige #9 after lunch at 12:25. The footpath goes down in woods. The trail is not clear on wet ground. The wet slope is very slippery and a few members fall on buttocks. We go down for a few minutes and meet the much walked Shitikeng old trail(石梯坑古道). We turn left and keep descending. Some parts of the trail is covered with grass but it is generally better than the footpaths that we have come so far. The trail goes down in zigzag. We walk along the trail for about a half hour and sound of water stream is audible from the valley beneath. At 13:06 we have come to a diversion point where a sign indicates a path to Mt. Kumingling (苦命嶺), but it is completely covered by dense grasses. It appears hardly passable to walk in.  We go down another 10 minutes and come to a junction where it also has a sign showing a path to Mt. Kumingling. This path is much clear and it must be the right one, at least looks passable. We take left and go further down the trail. At 13:42 we finally come to a point where Longdongkeng (龍洞坑古道) old trail diverges to right.

Crossing a creek on Longdongkeng old trail

A ruin of old stone house by Longdongkeng old trail

A century old Tudigong shrine

We start to follow the Longdongkeng old trail. It goes level for a while and crosses a creek. Water in the creek flows rapidly but it is OK to go over. We then start uphill. Rain falls harder now.Stone steps appear on steep sections of the trail, which indicate that this is truly an old trail. By 20 minutes or so of ascend we come across a ruin of stone house. In another couple of minutes we see another ruin of stone house of larger size. People used to live in this remote mountain. We go further on the trail and find a old stone shrine of Tudinggong (土地公, a deity of Taoism) on the side of trail. This shrine was elected more than one hundred years ago to protect travelers. The area of Longdong is an old settlement. The cultivation started nearly two hundred years ago by the seaside. The local residents opened this trail to connect the settlement with a town of Jiufen.

Mt. Nanya in front

At 14:23 we reach the top of a ridge and a footpath merges from right, which comes down from Mt. Kumingling. We go further a little and see a junction where the Longdongkeng old trail goes downhill on our right. We keep on the footpath on the ridge and go up to Mt. Kulingling (苦苓嶺).  We reach the summit at 14:30. We then go down a slippery steep slope in slivergrass field. We can see Mt. Nanya beyond the tall grass. Many members slip and fall down on the steep slope.15:06 we come to a little open space where we can see the Golden Ridge #8 across the valley. We were there in this morning. We go up and find a hand-drawn map nailed onto a tree trunk. It shows a new route that comes up directly from Renai bridge. At 15:30 we reach the top of Mt. Nanya. It is such late in the afternoon and we can hardly walk through the rest of the Golden Ridge #9 before dark so I decide not to go to the end of the ridge route but go by a shortcut path down to Xinyi Bridge.

The Golden Ridge #8 viewed from a point near Mt. Kulinglin

A view of the Golden Ridge #9 from Mt. Nanya, Bitoujiao is in the distance

Swim in grass field to go down to Xinyi bridge

We have a final rest and start downhill. We come down to a junction and start a very steep path in tall grass on our left. It seems that traffic on this footpath is very little. We have to swim in tall grasses to proceed. Luckily the trail under grass is still clear and we can follow without much trouble except annoying grass. We go down for 40 minutes and get out of the narrow valley. When I look back, the ridge is already very high up there. Now we can see the ocean not far away.  A small hut is just down below. In another few minutes we are down by the Xinyi bridge and complete the footpath hiking. Five Indonesian friends say that they need to pray and they do so by the road side. We walk along the coast highway back to the Nanya bus stop. By the time we reach the bus stop at 17:10, it is already very dark. At 17:27 a #791 bus comes and we all take a ride except members having come by their own car.

Xinyi bridge is just down by the coast

We walked approximately 8 hours and a half to cover 9 km in total. We did not have long rest during the activity. It was a strenuous hike. It is not that members are not strong enough but rain contributes to slow space. Wet steep slopes are not easy to walk down. If the weather were good, we would have completed the entire route of the Golden Ridge #9. I am very glad that everybody seems to have enjoyed the hike despite the long walk in rain.