2019年5月22日 烏來三峽 紅河谷古道 Honghege old trail of indigenous tribes

Crossing water of Honghege on the way to the summit

二年前に台湾を襲った泰利颱風は、台湾北部の山間に甚大な被害をもたらした。烏來の温泉街や三峽の川沿いマス養殖場やレクリエーション施設が大被害を受けた。登山に関しても登山道などが寸断された。今回の登山対象である紅河谷古道も、がけ崩れなどで道が損失し、歩くのもままならぬ状態になった。それから約二年、登山者がこの地に入り、崩れた場所を巻き、沢に流されてきた大石の間を縫って、烏來と三峽の間をつなぐ古来の道がまた開かれた。もちろん、以前に比べれば状態は良くなく、急な上り下りや渡渉が余儀なくされるが、通じるようになったので、今回訪れることにした。数年前に二度訪れているので、今回の記録は英語で記述します。

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at the summit

Trails over hills and mountains are passable only while people keep using them. It is particularly true in the countries of sub-tropical climate like Taiwan, where vegetation grows very quickly. So-called old or historical trails are the ones that once were opened and walked on for necessity of the local people and then abandoned because modern transportation has since taken over their roll. They were forgotten and thick vegetation closed in on them or land slides cut off their passage. As the hiking population grows, such old trains have been rediscovered and cleared for passage again by local authorities or volunteer people. I have been to many of the old trails in the past several years in Taiwan.

We cross the pass from Wulai (east) to Xiongkong (west)

Hiking elevation profile

Honghege old trail (紅河谷古道) is one of these trails. It was once a trail connecting villages of Taiya (泰雅) indigenous tribes living in nowadays Wulai (烏來) and Sanxia (三峽) where Chatian mountain range (插天山脈) separates the two areas. Back in the very early 20th century, a decade or so after the Japanese took over the land in 1895, this area was a territory of  the indigenous people. They used the trails for marriage, reunion or other purposes without interference from the flat-land people.

Crossing point over Xiongkong river

I first visited the trail in July 2013 and again in November of the same year. Talim typhoon (泰利颱風) of 2017 left devastating damages in Wulai and Sanxia area. The Honghege trail was also damaged at many locations and became impassable. Recently I heard that more and more hikers ventured into the trail and now it is passable. So I made a plan to visit the trail and to see if it really OK or not. It turned out that we found new paths having been made to detour the damaged sections and we successfully walked all the way from Wulai to Sanxia Xionkong (熊空). The overall situation is not as good as in the past but if you have experiences of tracing broken trails, the current trail is good enough for you.

Red bridge over Nanshixi river

Trail head

Bus service to Wulai is very frequent. We take #849 bus at Gonguan bus stop. It is 7:30 and is a high time for commuters. The bus to Wulai, however, is with a few passengers. As we head for the destination on Roosevelt Road (羅斯福路), we have more passengers and by the time we reach at MRT Xindian station bus stop, the bus is full. After an hour of ride, we arrive at Chengong (成功) bus stop. Another member coming by the second bus joins us and fourteen of us start for the hike at 8:47.

The initial section of the trail walk

The first rest point

The paved road goes down to the valley and we cross Nanshixi river (南勢溪) over the big red bridge. We can see a sub stream empties into the main stream over on our right, which is the stream of Honghege and we will follow it upstream later. The road goes up a little and passes several houses. A few local people are just clearing weeds on the road sides. We come to the trail head at 9:00. A big red sign reads the trail is closed for it has been cut off due to typhoon damage. Well, we will see if it still so.

Pass over the log bridge

View over the valley and peaks beyond

The first part of the trail is paved with concrete and is in fact pretty in good shape. It goes on the right bank of the stream for a while, and then it gains height with steps. It turns into a dirt trail and goes high on the right side of the stream. At 9:27 we come to a open area where a few pent-up benches are placed and a little altar is made onto a wall. We have a little break as we have walked for forty minutes.

going the side of mountain

Stream crossing just under the work-hut

We resume our hike for a few minutes and come to a sub stream from our left. We go down to the stream and cross it with a log bridge. There used to be a concrete bridge here and it must have been washed away in the past typhoon. Big rocks and thick tree trunk on the stream bed indicate how strong the force of water was. A trail to Mt. Gaoyaoshan (高腰山) diverges on our left. The trail is winding as it goes along the mountain side and on our way we pass three small bridges made of scaffolding footplates and logs. 10:19 we cross a rather wide sub stream and arrives at work-site hut. There used to be a bridge but it must have been washed away. We have a break. A trail to Mt. Badaoer (拔刀爾山) diverges at the side of the hut. We have a long rest under and by the hut

The same stream was like this in 2013(viewed from the opposite side)

The section beyond the work hut

The trail becomes less obvious once we step away from the hut. This shows that there are much less hikers coming into this section. In fifteen minutes or so we come down to the stream bed. The trail ahead is washed away by land slides, though now trees cover the place. We cross the stream a couple of times from right bank to left and back again. After ten minutes or so of walk on the stream bed, we make a short steep ascent back onto the trail. The trail still goes on the right bank and some sections in the cedar trees. At 11:42 we come again down to the stream side. Before crossing it, we have a rest as a long ascent is ahead of us.

Going on the steam bed

Going up on the mountain side

We cross the stream and leave it behind for a long way up. The trail ascends along a sub stream and cross small creeks.for a couple of times. It then gets onto a ridge and gains height in zigzag way. This section of the trail is less affected by the natural disasters and still in good shape. As the trail levels out, we come to a junction to Liangtingge (涼亭格) at 12:27. We wait for the rest of the group catching up. A trail diverges on our right to the ridge above but it is almost covered by thick grasses. Obviously very few hikers visit this trail up to Mt. Xiangtianhushan  (向天湖山) or Mt. Jiajiuliao (加九寮山).

Ascending a steep zig-zag grade

A junction to Liangtingge to right

We have so far gained approximately 550m of height from the trail head, yet another 150m climb to the summit is waiting for us. The trail traverses the side of mountain for a while and goes almost straight up the summit. The last climb is very hard. I reach the top of the pass at 13:12 and the last member come up ten minutes later. This is a four-way junction. The old trail cross this pass and other trail goes on both sides of the ridges, one leading to Mt. Zhulushan (逐鹿山) and other to Mt. Jiajiuliao. We have a long lunch break.

The last steep climb to the summit

The sign of the pass summit

The Xiongkong side of the trail 

At 13:55 we start decent along the old trail. On my last visit, we took a trail to Mt. Jiajioliao and this is my first time to walk on this section of the old trail. This side of the trail is obviously better in shape. There should be more visitors from Xiongkong than from Wulai. We go down on a sub-ridge and then get down to the stream bed. In twenty minutes from the pass, we encounter the first stream and cross it. We further cross a stream twice and get into a beautiful cedar forest. At 14:41 we get out of the woods and a wide river bed shows up in front of us. The river bed is filled with big rocks which were brought down by floods in the past.

Crossing the first stream on the way down

going through a beautiful cedar forest

Going by big rocks 

The river on this side is much open and wider than the Wulai side. We go onto the river bed climbing over big rocks and cross water of much more volume. On our third crossing the water is deeper than the height of wellington boots that most of us ware. Most members take off the boots and cross the stream. I cross the water and sit down on a rock by the water to put the boots back  on. I found a fat leech is sucking my blood on my right knee. This area is infested with leeches and I had such encounters in the past. I take out a grain of salt and sprinkle on the leech. It drops off after a short while. The blood flows for sometime as the insect injects anti-coregulant agent.

Crossing wide and rapid stream

A leech sucking blood on my knee

Last main stream crossing point

We cross the water to the left bank for the last time and walk on the side for the last leg of the old trail. At 15:50 we make the last cross over a sub stream and follow the level trail. At a diversion we take left one and in a few minutes find that it does not go down. We have made a wrong turn so we go back to the point. The right trail leads us to the trail head at 16:32 at last. We are now on the paved road of North 114 local road (北114縣道).  The last walk on the paved road takes us to Xiongkong bus stop, where we arrive at 17:08.  We wait for #807 bus bound for Sanxia, which comes in an hour.

Members are happy after the final steam crossing

Looking back the Xiongkong valley where we have just come down

#807 bus has finally come to Xiongong bus stop

The distance we covered was 14 kilometers and the total ascent was approximately 900 meters, descent 600 meters. The total activity time was 8 hours and a half including rest. The trail is not that good but already passable all the way. If you want some kind of adventurous hike, this route is recommendable.  I rate the level of hardship is four out of the max five at the current trail condition.