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| Full of flowers near Dailaokeng-shan |
This is one of the uncompleted records of my hiking a few years ago. One month has passed since the accident in last June yet my injury needs more time for healing. I am still grounded and have plenty of time to reflect back my past hiking activities. Two friends and I went to hike over the hills near Taipei, from Xindian (新店) to Muzha (木柵) to be exact, for that occasion. This article shows what our hiking was like on a winter day of the year 2016.
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| Hike from Xindian on the west to Muzha |
Now I cannot recall how the plan of this hike came up. It might have been my own idea for friends to join or they requested. The route itself was almost identical to the one I had walked three years earlier. It was an easy hike. The highest point of the whole route was mere 382 meters of Mt. Dailaokengshan (待老坑山). Once we got onto the ridge of the moutain, the rest was without many ups and downs. The weather was cloudy when we set off from Xindian in the morning. It later turned worse and finally started raining. We walked down all in rain to a street of Muzha, which was rather a pity.
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| Start from Xindian station |
The route of the day was not long and we met at 10 or so minutes past 9:00 by the gate of MRT Xindian (新店) station facing Beiyi-lu road (北宜路). If you get to Xindian station by subway for the first time, you might probably feel some kind of overwhelming sensation. The overpass of the national expressway #3 way high over the station complex and steep hillsides close by orchestrate such atmosphere. We crossed Beiyi-lu road and headed for Mt. Xiaoshi-shan (小獅山).
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| Trail head by Hengren high school |
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| Good trail and signage |
Xindian has long grown to be a large bed town of the metropolitan Taipei, especially after the MRT was completed in late 1998. Many residential buildings have sprung up on the hillsides in addition to the original township near the MRT station. We went up a precipitous road along such buildings to our trail head by Nengren high school (能仁家商高中). Xiaoshi-shan is in fact a small mountain with three conspicuous peaks on its main ridge, of which the highest is at 180 meters above sea level. There are several trails going up to the mountain. The one we took opens its head by the school main gate.
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| A big fallen trunk |
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| The first peak |
The trail systems are well kept as many local residents stroll around just like their backyard. We went up to a halfway for the ridge above and took a left traversing path to the north peak, the lowest of the three. A very large fallen tree trunk hung over the path supported by Y shaped tree branch. Passing a junction merging another trail from Xindian, we soon arrived at the top of the north peak at 9:43. A concrete Chinese style pavilion stood on the summit where you could have a good command of view. The flat space on the both sides of Xindian-xi river (新店溪) were almost all covered with residential buildings. One condominium complex attracted our attention for its size. Under the hazy sky we cloud not make out beyond a kilometer or so in distance.
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| A view from the summit |
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| Steps to the second peak |
We followed a trail on the ridge and climbed to the second peak. A two-story tower stands on the summit. The second level of the tower offered us a view of the north peak where we were just a while ago and beyond. Pink cherry blossoms were just in full bloom by the tower. Going down to the bottom from the tower and further along the ridge brought us to an observation deck. The national express way overpass crosses over the MRT station complex and the river. Many buildings, small and tall, are crammed into a narrow strip of land between the river and the mountainside. Behind the national flag of Taiwan rows of mountain stood one after another and melt into a haze in a far distance.
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| A tower on the second peak |
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| Cherry blossoms by the tower |
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| At a viewing deck |
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| A view towards the south |
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| The third peak seen from the deck |
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| Passing by a small park built by local people |
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| Down to Mingdeting |
We continued our way over the main ridge to the third peak, the highest of the three. We reached it at 10:30. A tower named Changshou-ting (長壽亭) stood on a wide summit and we went up to its third floor to have a break. A stone table and stools were made on the third level for people to rest. Having some snacks and hot drink for about 15 minutes we took our way down. The trail of wooden steps led us to pass a pavilion named Mingdeting (明德亭) and came to its bottom in a couple of minutes. A dirt path took over and led us to a trail head by a residential community named Dadishiji (大地世紀).
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| Trail head, the third peak behind |
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| Direction sign |
We passed through the community houses and kept our way towards Mt. Daxiang-shan (大香山). At 11:11 we found a bus stop named Daxiang-shan trail head (大香山登山口) but we did not go up its peak. The paved road got somewhat deserted as we advanced. At 11:27 we found a small direction sign showing a way to the summit of Mt. Yuandanzikeng-shan (員潭子坑山, elevation 260m) and followed it. In a matter of two, three minutes a small summit with a stone marker showed up, encircled with weeds and flimsy trees.
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| Yuantanzikeng-shan summit |
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| The end of paved road |
A path went down from the summit and met the paved road that came parallel to our path of Yuantanzikeng-shan. The paved road came to its end and a narrow dirt trail to replace it. A beside map board showed Dailaokeng-shan trail. As we went down along the stepped trail to its bottom, we met a group of several aged hikers. The lowest point was a four-way crossroad where another trail passed over the ridge to connect the both sides of the ridge. A tiny Tudi-gong shrine (土地公) perched just by the junction.
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| Four-way crossroad with a tiny Tudigong |
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| Dailaokeng-shan ahead |
The trail then went up to link Yushan-lu road (玉山路), passing an open orchard of cherry trees. The weather condition here could be hasher than Mt. Xiaoshi-shan. Only few cherry blossoms were in bloom. As we advanced, Mt. Dalaokeng-shan (待老坑山) drew nearer to us. Hitting Yusha-lu road we got into a Tudingong shrine by the junction. It was of a sizable scale with a roof covering all its area and a few sets of tables and chairs were provided. The weather finally turned bad and drops of rain were coming down. We had a lunch break under the roof. The time was almost noon. Two dogs were grooming each other nearby.
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| Inside the shrine |
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| Trail to Dailaokeng-shan |
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| 優人神鼓 |
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| Climbing to the summit with an umbrella |
At a little after a half past noon we took our way to Mt. Dailaokeng-shan. It was already raining for some time and the road was all wet. We stepped out into rain with an umbrella. The Yushanlu road soon diverged a narrow paved road to its right, which was to go to Dailaokeng-shan and we subsequently took it. A few minutes of climb on the road brought us to the head of a trail to the peak. In a few minutes found a large terrace of Yougenshengu theater (優人神鼓劇場) where a wooden stage and a shelter stood in cold rain and nobody around. We kept climbing the steep stair trail to meet the ridge trail in several minutes and turned left to the summit. We reached the summit at 12:56.
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| Dailaokeng-shan summit |
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| Take left at this junction |
We went down from the summit along the ridge trail towards Maokong (貓空) to a junction. We would have been able to reach Maokong by further following the ridge trail. In this rain it would be no fun to do it. We covered a major part of the hike so we turned left at the junction and started our way down. The trail passed by trees of plums and peaches, which were already with white and pink flowers, and led us to a large field of cosmos flowers and cherry trees in full bloom. This was a famous Xinhualin firm (杏花林農場) , but on such a rainy day like today we met very few visitors.
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| Down through a garden |
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| 杏花林 |
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| A long stepped trail down |
At 13:32 we got down onto Laoquan-jie street (老泉街) and followed it down, passing a shortcut in the middle, to a trail to Jiuqiangong (救千宮) temple. We follow the stone and concrete paved trail all the way down again to meet Laoquanjie street by a tunnel under the express way #3. Further going down along the street and crossing Jingmei-xi river (景美溪) over the Hengguang brige (恆光橋) we reached a bus stop of Sifa New Village (司法新村) on Muzha road (木柵路) at 14:39, thus completed our 5-hour-and-a-half hike.
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| Trail head by the express way tunnel |
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| Hengguang bridge |
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It was a pity that it rained in the latter half of our hike. Good trails and drizzles like this time enable us to use umbrellas, instead of clumsy rain jackets and pants. A quite bit of our route was paved roads, as much as a half of the entire 10.8-kilometer route, and there was not so much of ups and downs in addition to the little total ascent of 400 meters or so. This route would have provided us a nice easy hike if the weather had been fine. Late Fall through early Spring should be the best time to visit, and better avoid summer. A long stretch of paved roads and some parts of the mountain trails are without shade of trees and it would surely fry you under the big sun of summer.
I have since not been to this route nor Dailaokeng-shan. I may well go there again for hiking after my injury is taken care of in a few months. I would need rehabilitation and I suppose this kind of hiking route would be suitable for such purpose.
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