2021年1月16日 三峽熊鹿縱走(熊空山-鹿窟尖) Sanxia Mt. Xiongkong to Mt. Lukujian (Bear-Deer) trekking

五寮尖から望む鹿窟尖-熊空山稜線(2015/10)

2019年の春に一度三峽白雞山・雞罩山から東に熊空山へ延びる稜線の縦走を試みた。その時点では、殆ど歩く登山者がいないようなので西熊空山(紅龜面山)までを目標に歩いた。ところが、残念な(半分予想していたが)ことに、大衆コースである雞罩山から一歩踏み出すと、草に埋もれた道になった。道探しにも苦労した。そんなことで西熊空山の手前の牛角尖で時間切れ、そこから北114県道に降りて終了した。この稜線と大豹溪を挟んで立ちあがる金敏山などの登山道は、昨年整理されて金平山までの縦走など歩いた。この道整理をした同じボランティアが昨年終わりに雞罩山から熊空山への稜線道の整理をしてくれた。今回は、このおかげでスムースに歩くことができた。予定は鹿窟尖からさらに北に添福山をへて下山するつもりであったが、4日ほど続いた北部の好天は、また東北季節風の影響で午後から曇りだし、鹿窟尖に着くころには雨粒を感じるようなった。そのため直接下山した。牛角尖-熊空山は初めて足を踏み入れるが、今回も英語での記述をします。以前の日本語記事は、上記のハイパーリンクをご覧ください。

Sanxia district (三峽區) of New Taipei CIty (新北市) has a wide range of mountainous terrain in its territory. Some peaks mostly in its norther region are just of one or two hundred meters in elevation while Mt. Beichatian (北插天山) with its 1728m elevation tops the all other peaks. I have been to majority, if not all, peaks of the district. One of the major ridge trails that I had not completed hiking was the one between Mr. Jizhao (雞罩山) and Mt. Xiongkong (熊空山). I once tried to get through it from Mr. Jizhao in March 2019 with several friends. I was very aware that the trail had became very deserted after a long absence of maintenance. It turned out be much worse than my expectation. I planned to hike only to Mt. Xixiongkong (西熊空山 or 紅龜面山) as we would not have enough time to get to Mt. Xiongkong under such a bad condition. We did not even make it and had to go down from the peak of Nioujiaojian (牛角尖) on our planned way.

Trek from east to west

Elevation profile

Location of the route relative to the metropolitan Taipei 

Late last year volunteer hikers came in and cleared the very same ridge trail all the way between Mt. Jizhao and Mt. Xiongkong. This is why we made a successful trekking on this ridge route and further walked to Mt. Lukujian (鹿窟尖) this time. Just like what we had seen on our hike last Wednesday, the work of clearing was wide and complete and a lot of aiding ropes were affixed to difficult spots. The nice sunny day made our trekking very enjoyable though the effect of approaching cold spell brought rain cloud in the afternoon. By the time we reached Mt. Lukujian around 16:00 mist became very thick and it looked like to rain soon. The original plan was to go down by way of Mt. Tianfu (添福山), but we went directly down from the peak to the nearest trail head on the paved road below. When we reached to a farmer's house by the road, rain drops started falling. By the way, the Chinese name of this trekking Xiong-lu (熊鹿) means bears and deers taken from the name of each mountain; Xiong meaning bears and Lu, dears.

-----------------------------

15 ｍembers gather near Taipei University Sanxia campus (台北大學三峽校區) bus stop on Fuxing road (復興路) of Sanxia at 7:30 and get on three cars that one of our members prepared for all of us. There is #807 bus service from Sanxia to Xiongkong but it leaves only 8:30 and it would be too late for our long distance trekking today. The weather forecast yesterday said that the precipitation rate would be as high as 80% by noon, but we are happy to see clear and blue sky. The cars pass Xiongkong bus stop and take us to Jiuru bridge (九如橋, elevation approx. 315m) where our trail starts. At 8:24 we cross the bridge and start our long ascent to Mt. Xiongkong.

at Jiuru brige

climb a steep section

Mt. Huoshaoliao

Going up with aid of rope

The road swings once as we go up and at the second corner opens the narrow hiking path.  It is almost seven years ago that I last took this trail to Mt. Xiongkong, however I still remember that at this spot I told fellow hikers about the route of the day in an activity which was organized by another hiking group and I was a guide to them. The path is pretty steep but very clear. This part of the mountain is very often hiked and naturally kept in good shape. Any trail can be passable only while people walk on them. Especially in the subtropical Taiwan, vegetation grows back very quickly and chokes the trail once no people come and walk.

Yet climbing a steep incline

Twenty-minute steep ascent takes us to our first peak Mt. Huoshaoliao (火燒寮山 elevation 490m), though it is not a peak in its usual sense. This is a spot where a triangulation marker is placed and thus called a peak. It is actually a flat space on the hillside. The trail again gains its grade. We pass a couple of very steep incline with ropes then come up to the bottom of almost vertical section at 9:27. You climb it by holding roots of trees and aiding ropes. I wait for all members coming up and we continue our yet steep clime. The gradient becomes less steep and we see our second peak of the day, Mt. Ruizijian (蚋仔尖, elevation 840m) at 9:46. This peak is also in woods and no view. We have come up about 518m out of the total 668m ascent from the trail head to the summit of Mt. Xiongkong. The steep climb gladly is over now.

@蚋仔尖

widely cut-out section

After a short rest we resume our hike and come onto a wide dirt road. The road is now much less steep and leads to an open field of high silver grasses, which beautifully reflect winter sun light. The grasses on the trail are neatly cut out, which supposedly the volunteer hikers did recently. As we go up, broad and clear view comes in sight; The long ridge of Mt. Dongyan (東眼山) to Mt. Jinping (金平山) draws a skyline in our south west and further east the range of Mt. Wuliangjian (五寮尖) to Mt. Baishi (白石山) stands. Beyond it you can see towns with many houses. As the open field is over we enter woods again. The gradual path in woods continue for about 10 minutes and we finally arrive at the flat and sunny summit of Mt. Xiongkong (elevation 972m) at 10:26. This is the highest point of our hike today.

Mr. Dongyan (left) to Mr. Jinping (right)

Mt. Wuliaojian and its nearby peaks

Mt. Xiongkong summit

There are quite a few mountains with an animal name in this region. If you follow the ridge north a lion waits for you; Mt, Shizutou (獅子頭山). We head for west to meet our deer and on our way we meet more animals like a turtle (Mt. Hongguimian, 紅龜面山), an ox (Mt. Niujiaojian 牛角尖山) and two chickens (Mt. Jizhao 雞罩山 and Mt. Baiji 白雞山). It is a kind of fun! We go down to a paved road below through bamboos. In a matter of several minutes we reach the road and a wide view for the north spreads in front. Beyond two ranges of lower mountains the big Taipei basin lays flat encircled by Yangmingshan (陽明山) mountain range and Mt., Guanyin (觀音山).  I am very happy to have a nice and clear day today.

Taipei basin and Mt. Guanyin (left) and Yangmingshan(right)

Cross the road and continue on the opposite trail

Going down on a wide path

At the corner of the paved road our trail opens its mouth.  We leave the paved road and enter the trail. The gradually descending path leads to another paved road which crosses over the mountain ridge and connects valleys on both sides.  Our ridge trail is on the opposite side of the road. The trail is very clear and wide. Obviously this clearing has been recently made. Cut-out grasses still shows tint of green. There are some small ascents but we are basically going down.  At 11:36 we come down to an open flat area with full of silver grasses. An old half-broken wooden plate says Yuyuanling (御園嶺). We have a lunch here under a warm January sun.

A nice trail going through woods

Having lunch at Yuyuanling

A view from the ridge trail near Mr. Xixiongkong

Along an open road with Mt. Xiongkog behind

We start off at 12:00 with a steep climb back. There are several ups and downs. We pass under a tall electricity tower and step into an area which is widely cleared of woods. Mt. Xiongkong is already far over the tower when I look back. The wide trail ascends for about 10 minutes. We reach the summit of Mt. Xixingkong (or Mt. Hongguimian, elevation 791m) at 12:25. Encircled by trees the summit offers no view. We have not yet made a half way point of our hike and hurriedly leave for our next peak.

Beautiful clearing of weeds

Author at Mt. Xixiongkong (or Mt. Hongguimian) summit

Going through Moso bamboos

Going by a house

The trail goes through a couple of beautiful moso bomboo sections.  Afternoon winter sunray penetrates through bamboo trunks and makes the whole area bright. We pass by a two-story house with green steel plate walls and make a few minutes of final ascent to Mt. Niujiaojian. A paved road shows up in front and leads us to the summit (elevation 708m) at 13:00.  This is my second visit and this was the last peak with some disappointment on that day We sit on the paved road of the summit and have a rest.

Mt. Niujiaojian summit

at Mr. Niujiaokeng

The newly opened path starts at a corner of the summit, which is different from the path we took on our last visit two years ago. The path is pretty steep and reaches the paved road beneath in a few minutes. We follow the road down all the way to another cross-ridge road, which is the lowest point between Mt. Niujiaojian and Mt. Jizhao, our next peak. On the way down we pass by a triangular marker with a name of Mt. Jiujiaokeng (牛腳坑山 elevation 570m), which is actually not a peak just like Mt. Huoshaoliao, today's first peak.

The cross ridge road cuts our trail

The trail connects to a paved road

Cherry blossoms

We cross the paved road and take our long ascent to Mt. Jizhao. This section is also newly opened and the surface of the trail is still soft with mushy mud. We struggle with slippery steep incline and come up to a paved road. Following the road up we comes to a small hut with an open yard in front at 14:04. We have a rest just like our last visit. A cherry tree next to the hut already has blossoms, but that is an only tree with blossoms and the other trees nearby do not yet. The view from the yard reveals that could is gathering over the Taipei basin beyond Mt. Tianshang (天上山) and its range of peaks.

Clouds gathering over Taipei

passing through tee tree field

We follow the paved road for a few minutes and come to the bottom of tee tree field. The path is going up through this field. A farmer is happens to be working on the filed. He is pretty friendly to us and let us go through his filed with no reservation. Some local people are not necessarily friendly to hikers. At the top of the field the path starts through bamboos and woods with steep incline at some points. We come up onto the summit of Mt. Jizhao (elevation 780m) at 14:42. Bushes and grasses have been cleared and the summit presents a wider view than before. The clouds has since thickened and we can no longer see the big Taipei basin.

Summit of Mt. JIzhao

Tiresome ups and downs

The trails ahead of us are very good as we already step in the popular area where many hikers visit unlike the section we have just come through. We make a brief stopover at Mt. Jhizhao north peak (雞罩山北峰). There are some tiresome ups and downs and we come to the junction to Mt. Baiji at 15:12. We make a round walk to Mt. Baiji, which is just a few minutes away. The summit of Mt. Baiji (elevation 740m) offers a very limited view with advancing clouds. We return to the junction and head for Mt. Lukujian. Passing over some humps we come to a junction at 15:36. The path on our right goes down to an abandoned coal mine, which I took seven years ago and came up here at that time.

Summit of Mr. Baiji

Junction on the way to Mt. Lukujian

Mist gets pretty thick as we approach Mt. Lukujian

Mt. Lukujian summit

We keep our way to Mt. Lukujian passing more ups and downs. Wind is getting stronger and colder as we go over the ridge trail. Mist is getting thick. We reach the junction to Mt. Tianfu (添福山) at 16:02. We continue the trail and see the sign of Mt. Lukujian (elevation 643m) in another three minutes. I feel some droplets of rain on my face. Our original plan is to go down by way of Mt. Tianfu. Witnessing the weather is quickly deteriorating I decide to go down the mountain directly from this peak. 

Crossing a small stream

This trail down is also newly opened. It goes down on the ridge for a few minutes and turn left onto the south slope of the mountain. We walk over soft ground at some points and cross a small stream twice. At 16:30 we see a farmhouse (elevation approx. 460m) at the end of the trail. The house looks to be inhabited but doors and windows are shut. The owner may be out. We wash our boots by a sink with fresh water supply from a nearby stream.

A farmer's house at the end of trail

A farmer burning bamboos

We start our long walk down on the paved road with an umbrella open as rain is already constantly falling. The wind is strong too, making holding an umbrella hard. As we go down it gets darker. By the time we arrive at a Tudigong temple (土地公, elevation approx. 190m) beside the road it is around quarter past five and street lights are already on. We have a rest under the roof of the temple. The #807 bus comes to the bus stop nearby only as late as 18:30. One of the members contacts the car service we took this morning. Thee cars come around 18:00. We get back the bus stop of Sanxia at 18:26.

Wating for our cars at the temple

The activity took us 8 hours and 50 minutes including rests, covering 16.8km in distance with 1487m of the total ascent and 1621m descent, resulting in the route physical index 38. The route that we took today is a long one, and without the recent clearing it would have been impossible. We are very grateful for those volunteers who did such a wonderful and  thorough job to the beaten trails on their own time and cost.