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| A bench overlooking Xizhi town |
台北は山に囲まれている。登山者にとってはとても良い場所だ。簡単にアクセスできる場所が多い。その中でも、今回の対象地はとても近い場所だ。台北市南港區とすぐお隣の新北市汐止區にまたがるこの山域は、近すぎてあまり注目を受けない。さらに近い南港山は、台北市の親山步道として整備されているので、多くのハイカーが訪れる。今回の場所は、そうした施設はなく、ボランティア登山者が手入れをしている。さらに半時間ほど行けば平溪や石碇の山々がある。それに比べると、見劣りする感がある。最近、藍天隊の草刈り整理があった雙溪口山から登り、以前
草深い中を歩いた深按頭山を越え、
十三份山から白匏湖に降りた。以前歩いた場所もあるが、天気の良いハイキングは新しい発見もあった。まさに、台北の裏庭を歩くという感覚だ。
I like hiking. I do hiking in all kinds of mountains and hills. I go for trekking to 3000-meter high peaks for several days as well as go for hiking to low mountains and hills near Taipei for a day. Expeditions to high mountains draw more attention but for me it is equally fun to go for hiking in those nearby mountains. Nangang-shan mountain range (南港山連峰) is one of the most popular areas for hiking near Taipei. It has a nice trail system called Qinshan budao (親山步道) going over the whole range and many trail heads to access to it. The Taipei municipal government spends money on it to maintain. Some of the trails get very crowded in recent years as hiking gets more popular in Taiwan.
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| Hiking from south to north crossing over mountains in between |
One mountain range just behind Nangang-shan is still very close to the metropolitan Taipei, but visitors to it are remarkably few. It has no such nice trails of the Qinshan trail system of Taipei city. The elevation of its peaks is far from attractive. You may just pass by it when you go to mountains further beyond it like mountains in Pingxi (平溪) where well-known peaks stand. I myself have neglected it for a longtime. When I found that trails to Mt. Shuangxikou-shan (雙溪口山) and its adjacent peaks were very recently cleared by Lantian-dui (藍天隊) team, I immediately decided to visit them out of curiosity. It turned out that trails are very attractive including a lot of ups and downs with ropes and a nice view from Mt. Meizha-shan (煤渣山). A hike only to these peaks would be very short so my plan for the day included
Mt. Shenantou-shan (深按頭山) which I once visited several years ago and down to Nangang (南港) / Xizhi (汐止) by way of
Mt,. Shisanfen-shan (十三份山) and Baipao-hu lake (白匏湖) . The itinerary made up a whole-day hike.
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| At the summit of Mt. Shishanfen-shan |
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| Zhangtanbi bus stop |
The bus route #749 and #666 pass our destination Changtanbi (長潭壁) bus stop. Our meeting location is MRT Muzha bus stop and several friends were already in line at the bus stop when I arrived there by 7:25. A very vacant #795 is coming soon and all of us except myself take the bus. I wait for any other member to show up until 7:30 which is the time of our meet-up. A #666 bus comes at 7:30, which I subsequently get aboard. When I arrive at Changtanbi at 8:00, all members are there waiting for me. The bus stop is just by the bridge connecting Wenshan road (文山路) and the Shiding junction (石碇交流道) of Hightway #5 is just nearby. I passed this bus stop so many times in the past on my way to mountains further on the road but never alighted here.
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| Trail head is just near the #5 highway |
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| Going up a steep ridge line |
Today is the first day of three-day labor-day holiday and the weather is so nice. It has turned out that 21 friends show up for the hike. We start at 8:15 by the #106 road, which is just below a large grave of a family. The trail passes by it and goes up a steep incline. This section of the trail is a part of maintenance path of electricity transmission lines (保線路). Two-day rain has made the soil very wet and slippery, Fallen leaves of bamboo make the surface worse still. We come under the transmission tower at 8:28 and the trail take right turn to go up further. It passes by the marker stone of Mt. Longsheng-shan (隆盛山), and leads on a rather narrow ridge line to the summit of Mt. Shuangxikou-shan. We get on to the small summit (elevation 208 meters) clean of weeds at 8:43.
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| Arriving at Shuangxikou-shan summit |
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| Going down to a gap |
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| A rail track going up |
We go further on the ridge line for a few minutes and gets down a steep dip. A rail track is coming up from our left. This was used to carry coal refuse to dump. There was a coal mine down in the valley, which of course was abandoned a long time ago just like other mines in Taiwan. The rails are pretty heavy-looking ones unlike flimsy rails used for other mines. We follow the rail track and get up to the summit of Meizha-shan (煤渣山 Coal refuse mound, elev. 223m). The south side of the summit is open enabling a wide view. In front stands
Mt. Waishikan-shan (外石崁山) and Mt. Huangdidian-shan (皇帝殿山) behind. In the valley right the highway runs straight, on which cars are bumper to bumper queueing as far as we an see and beyond. They are holiday makers to Yilan and I suppose that they will have to endure this traffic jam first.
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| The summit of Mt. Meizha-shan |
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| The east bound traffic is heavy |
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| Metal plate eaten by its host tree |
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| A steep way down |
Freshly cut grasses are very slippery when we go down from Mt. Meizha-shan. This section was just cut clean a couple days ago. The grasses are all still green. We follow steep ups and down in woods and come to a junction at 9:19 where we have a rest. The right trail leads to Mt. Shuanxikou-shan east peak (雙溪口山東峰). We just make a round trip to the summit (elev. 280m). An old metal sign plate attached to a tree trunk is now swallowed up by the tree and only its upper half shows. The tree has since grown bigger. We return to the junction and continue our way. The trail soon descends very steeply. Without newly fixed ropes, you would easily fall down on slippery slopes. We finally come down to a gradual slope where a large grave sits and soon down on to Bei 32 county road (北32鄉道) at 10:06.
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| Head of Xinxingkeng Baojia trail |
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| Going on Baojia trail |
We take a right turn and go up along the paved road until a small gap between the wall on or right. This is a head of Xinxingkeng Baojia trail (新興坑保甲路). It steeply ascends to another paved road above. So called Baojia trail is a kind of old trail. Baojia was an administrative institution of Chinese villages in the past until early last century. A household is a base unit of the system. 10 households constitute a Bao (保) and 10 bao, a Jia (甲) to maintain its population registry and security. This traditional system of China principally continued under the Japanese regime to administrate villages of Taiwan. Each Baojia system had its police responsibility and they patrolled their neighborhood on trails around them. That is why these trails are called Baojia trails.
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| Up to another section of Baojia trail |
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| Resting at a junction of Baojia trail |
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| Nice trail |
We go up on the paved road for a short while and come to another section of the Baojia trail on our left. It now goes gently up passing by graves and into broad-leaf woods. At a junction we take a break for a few minutes and at 10:36 take right trail further up. The sun is bright and gentle breeze sweeps through, The trail is wide and the incline is generous. This is just the best combination hikers can ever expect! We pass sections where white flowers of tung oil trees (油桐樹) and tiny yellow flowers of Taiwan acacias (相思樹） spread over, which adds joy of hiking. The nice trail however does not last so long. It comes to an end at 10:56 when it meets a trail from left. The trail pass by a large grave and gets steep. We reach the summit of Mt. Shenpantou-shan (elev. 422m) at 11:07 which a dense bush of thin bamboos surrounds and prevents any view.
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| Tung oil tree flowers cover the surface |
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| At the bamboo-surrounded summit of Mt. Shenantou-shan |
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| A view of Taipei in distance |
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| A shelter for rest |
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| The same shelter 5 years ago |
The descent from the summit continues for about 10 minutes. On our way down we have a view of Taipei beyond Mt. Nangang-shan (南港山) with the top half of the 101 building sticking over the ridge. We come to a shelter on the trail going around Nangang Tea Production demonstration center(南港茶葉製造示範場) and have a rest. A section of the wood railing has been removed for easy passage to get in and out which we had to climb over when we hiked several years ago. The trail that we have just come down was covered with grasses then, which now it is very clean. There is indeed a good improvement of hiking environment lately.
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| Elevated wooden trail |
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| Shenantou-shan north peak |
We go down on the elevated trail made of planks to the end and go to a parking space across the road. A short path to Mt. Shenantou-shan nourth peak (深按頭山北峰) opens its mouth at the furthest corner of the space. In a matter of a few minutes we see a marker stone of the peak and return to the parking space. We keep on the paved road of Bei 33 county road (北33鄉道) and pass by Luku incident memorial park (鹿窟事件紀念公園). The incident took place in 1952, which involved nearly 900 residents of the place. The police force of the time came in the area to arrest some allegedly communism activists, which resulted in 98 convictions of very harsh penalty including 28 death sentences. It is now officially regarded as a white terror and the government (the Control Yuan) issued a report in 2017. The government made a sizable amount of compensation to the victims of the injustice. We go up to Guangming Zen Temple (光明禪寺) , which happened to be used for interrogation at that time. There is a shelter for Buddhist statutes across the road. We have a lunch break under the roof of it.  |
| Luku incident memorial park |
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| Guangming Zen temple |
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| Lunch break under the roof of shelter |
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| Heading through bamboos for the summit |
After 40 minutes of the lunch break we continue on the paved road to get to the head of trail to Mt. Shisanfen-shan (十三份山) at 12:40. The trail looks good. Some sections are not as good as the recently cleared trails of Mt. Shuangxikou-shan this morning, but it is clear enough to easily follow. Except a dip with a steep incline on both sides at midway, the trail follows the ridge line to the summit of Mt. Shisanfen-shan. We see a flat summit (elev, 438m) at 13:20 which is encircled by small trees. The trail descends to a place where only low bushes grow. You can have a view over Xizhi town laying between Mt. Dajian-shan (大尖山) and Mt. Wuzhi-shan (五指山). Going further down you can then have a view of Nangang area of Taipei. The summit yields no view, but this is good enough to compensate it.  |
| The summit of Mt. Shisanfen-shan |
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| View of Xizhi town |
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| View of Taipei |
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| Reaching Baiyun temple |
Passing a junction at 13:41 we follow the right trail to Baiyun-si temple which we reach in a few minutes. We have a break under a big banyan tree in front of the temple complex. After 10 minutes or so of rest we follow a paved road from temple to the head of trail to Baipaohu lake below. We enter the trail by a bench and go down a rather steep trail to come out onto another paved road (Bei 33 county road) at 14:31. We take left and follow a mildly ascending road for 10 minutes to another trail head. This trail goes over a small ridge line to Mt. Baipaohu-shan (白匏湖山).
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| Going Bei 33 road for a while |
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| Crossing a small stream |
The trail goes down for 10 minutes, crosses a small stream and goes up to an electricity transmission tower. Passing a high point where the tower stands, the trail goes down again. Nice gentle wind blows through over the ridge. We have a rest on a nicely cleared surface of the trail at 15:07. There are several trails going around this area and they have all recently been cleared by Lantian team (藍天隊) of volunteer hikers.
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| Junction for Mt. Baipaohu-shan |
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| Baipaohu lake |
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| Going along the lake shore |
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| Going grassy path |
The trail leads to a junction in a matter of a few minutes from the place we had rest. The right trail goes to Mt. Baipaohu-shan. We take a left one and go down. Crossing a small stream we see another junction. The right trail goes along the stream down to Xizhi. We take a left path and climb a steep slope and down again. The second climb leads us to Baipaohu lake (elev, 67m) at 15:30. The lake is large. We go along its shore and come to a junction at 15:42. We take a right trail and go down along it. The wide trail gets narrow in a few minutes and turns to be a small grass-covered path. We further follows it as the map shows it should leads to Xintaiwu road (新台五路). We come to a paved but empty road at 15:57. Our expectation to reach the busy road soon turns to be a disappointment. At the end of the paved road stands a closed tall gate and fences with barbed wire do not allow us to get out. We see a busy traffic on the Xintaiwu road but we have but to return to Baipaohu lake.
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| Going back to the same junction by the lake |
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| Finally arriving at MRT station |
We make a way back to the lake and go further around the lake to a paved road. We take on the paved road down. Passing under the highway #3 we finally reach MRT Nangang Exhibition Center station (南港展覽館站) at 17:20 to complete our hike. We have hiked 16.1 kilometers with a total ascent 915 meters and descent 955 meters. The whole hike took a little more than 9 hours including rests. The route physical index is 31. If Nangang-shan and Yangming-shan (陽明山) are front gardens of Taipei, the mountains and hills of this hike could be called a backyard of Taipei.
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