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| アジア最古の原油やぐら出磺坑油井, Oldest oil rig in the entire Asia at Chuhuangkeng |
先月下旬に
二日がかりで歩いた樟之細路は、時間的な理由で予定していた出雲古道を歩けなかった。今回の山行は、出雲古道を歩き、その近くの山峰を登った。下った先の大湖は、イチゴで有名な町だ。1950年代末から試みが始まりその後90年代には広く知られるようになった。今は畑のほとんどがイチゴのように見える。大湖の街は、19世紀の半ば客家人による開拓が始まった。初期はタイヤル族との衝突が起きている。先月歩いた老官道は、原住民との境界である隘勇線がその前身である。
今回は、台6線道路の対岸出磺坑から歩きはじめ、台湾初めての油田やぐらを見て山にとりかかり、出雲古道を登った。現地では陸軍歩道或いは法雲寺步道と呼んでいる。出雲古道は、出磺坑と法雲寺を結んでいるので、この呼称である。鞍部に早く到着、そこで鞍部を挟んで南北にある、金童山と玉女山とを登り、法雲寺へ下った。山の山腹にある法雲禪寺からさらに大湖の谷間に下り、後龍溪の左岸を行く道路を大湖の街へと歩いた。
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| Hike from north to south |
To appreciate the geology, history and culture of a place, walking is the best way to do it. At a speed of one's walking, you can find a lot of thing as you go. If you go on foot, you feel the terrain and environment through your body. You can stop and take a look or do things whenever anything attracts your attention. This is the baseline concept of Laknus Seilu trail (樟之細路). You walk along the trail and appreciate the places though which it passes.
On our two-day trip of Laknus Seilu trail in late last month, we did not trace Chuyun historic trail (出雲古道) due to not enough time before dark. leaving this section uncovered. This trip was to complete that section and to have some more additional hike to adjacent mountains. We started from Chuhuangkeng (出磺坑) to get to the trail head on the foothill. Climbing to the highest point on the ridge line found the time was still early. We decided to go to Mt. Jintong-shan (金童山) and back before continuing the historic trail. The round trip to Jintong-shan took us not much time so after lunch we tried to another peak, Mt. Yunv-shan (玉女山), which is supposed to be a partner of the Jintong-Yunv pair (meaning a golden boy and a jade girl who serve Taoist deities). Upon completing a round trip to Yunv-shan, we made a visit to Fayun-si temple (法雲寺) and went down to the valley. The vally of Dahu (大湖) is famous for its strawberries. Almost all flat fields are strawberry gardens. As we walked along a country road going parallel to Houlongxi river (後龍溪) we came to one of such strawberry fields where farmers were picking fruits. We bought freshly-picked strawberries from them at a fair price. We finally walked to the town hall of Dahu to complete our hike.
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| #105 Ziqianghao express train |
Despite an optimistic weather forecast, the scene from a window of Zijiang-hao (自強號) express train heading for Miaoli (苗栗) does not look optimistic at all. The sky is overcast and even streaks of rain hang on the window pane. I wonder whether we can leave the gloomy sky of Taipei behind today. Upon stepping out of Miaoli station a little after a quarter to nine, we find the road surface is dry though cloudy sky hangs over. Our bus of #5657 line bound for Shitan (獅潭) leaves the terminus of Xinzhukeyun (新竹客運) transportation company punctually at 9:00. Our almost empty bus picks up mostly elderly passengers as it passes through the streets of Miaoli. They seem to have bought groceries in the town and to head back home.
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| Chuhuangkeng suspension bridge and elevated express way |
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| Preserved #1 oil rig on the platform |
Mountains come closer after the bus gets out of the town and passes over a bridge to cross wide Houlingxi river. The top half of the mountains is in thick mist. Approximately 40 minutes of ride takes us to Chuhuangkeng bus stop (出磺坑站, elevation 185 meters) on the route 6 (台6線), which is just by a suspension bridge. Across the wide river runs the elevated rapid highway #72, which links Houlong and Wenshui (汶水). We set off at 9:47 and cross the suspension bridge to get to Chuhuangkeng. We take left after crossing and goes a little to find a preserved ancient oil well No.1. Yes, an oil well, Taiwan produced crude oil in the past!
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| Oil museum |
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| A monument and disused #3 rig on the hill |
It is said that an oil oozing spot was found in 1861. At the time of discovery people thought it was of sulfur so the name Chuhuangkeng (meaning sulfur emitting depression) was given. Local merchants started to collect oil and sold to public. It was then controlled by the Ching government (清朝). It later came under a control of the Japanese regime. In 1903 Taiwan Oil Company (台灣石油會社) was formed to take over the oil business. CPC Corporation (中國石油公司) now controls it. Oil is no longer in production but natural gas is still abundant and its production is still running. The particular oil well numbered No.1 was built in 1877 under a supervision of American engineers with American components. This rig operated for a short period because oil ran out but this should be the first oil well in Asia and retains its historical value.
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| Trail head by Chenghuang-miao shrine |
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| Trail "terrain" map |
Next to the legacy oil well a museum of oil stands and some more remains of old wells and surrounding areas are open for public. We pass by them and follow a paved road up to the trail head, which opens just by Chenghuang-maio shrine (城隍廟). The sign shows the trail as "military trail (陸軍步道). The trail goes on a short red brick pavement and gets onto a steep paved road, which leads to a junction in a short while. There is a map by it and red big letters read "for Fayun-si temple" on a moss-covered left road. The very steep road looks slippery. We come up to a bottom of stepped dirt trail at 10:30 where a sign shows the direction.
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| Going up a steep stepped trail |
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| A view from the small shrine |
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| A head of Fayunsi trail |
The trail passes by a large metal water tank and keeps going up. It reaches a small shrine with a few benches at tis front yard. This is supposed to be a vantage point, but we only can see the valley bottom. Mountains from the middle up are all in while mist. After a short rest we continue our way up again on a paved road. The short paved road connects to another trail paved with stone blocks. A new map board stands just by its head, which indicates the trail is called Fayun-si old trail (法雲寺古道). This is a second different name of the same trail.
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| A nice clean trail |
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| Highest point of the old trail, the right trail goes down to Fayun-si |
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| Junction to Jintong-shan (right) |
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| Climbing s steep section |
The stone paved trail is really in good shape except a newly fallen tree trunk or two, which reaches its highest point on the ridge line with a wooden observation deck at 10:55. Mist gets thicker at this height of 430 meters above the sea level and we cannot see any distant view. It is still pretty early to go down to the valley. We decide to make a round trip to the summit of Mt. Jintong-shan. The trail to left leads to a head of the path to Jintong-shan. This trail is in fact a maintenance path of Taiwan Power company and soon a high voltage tower shows up. In a few minutes we come to the junction and take a right path to go up. It passes over a couple of dummy peaks and climbs a final steep uphill. We reach the summit (elev. 506m) at 11:17.
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| A view from Jintong-shan summit north side |
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| An aged "jintong" at summit |
This peak is pretty pointing and all sides drop off steeply, Its north side reveals some view but thick mist hides view except the valley of Wenshui where some houses and streets are visible. We take the same route back to the junction of Chuyun trail, where we reach just before noon. Clouds break out and the sun shines through clouds, which makes the same place brighter and feels better. This gives us a time of leisurely lunch.
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| Back to the highest point of the old trail |
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| Vista over Chuhuangkeng under clear sky |
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| A nice maintenance path |
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| Traversing the mountain side |
After a half hour lunch break we take another direction of the maintenance path going over small humps. The sky is now clear and we can have a nice view over the valley and its surrounding hills. The community of Chuhuangkeng is just below our feet. The ridge path leads to a junction and we take left soon to meet a head of trail to Yunv-shan at 12:40. The path is narrower but obviously well traveled. It passes through bamboos and traverses a mountain side. It reaches the bottom of a steep climb in ten minutes. The trail surface is pretty slippery. Thankfully ropes are fixed at such points. We make it to the summit (elev. 580m) at 13:03. A tree encircled peak does not yield views around. A member takes our beer for us to share. It tastes good! The warm weather today and our climb to up here makes beer the best drink!
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| Summit of Yunv-shan |
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| Return to the junction |
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| Going over a debris |
We carefully trace back the same path to the junction, which takes us a little more than twenty minutes. The wide trail is in fact paved with concrete and gets very slippery at some points. It is obviously seldom maintained and we come across fallen tree trunks and a large debris of land slide. At 14:00 we come to a junction of Chuyun old trail, where a large explanatory board of the trail and two benches are placed.
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| Junction of Chuyun old trail (right) |
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| Disused toilet booths, steel gate at the end |
The trail to the temple soon comes to a long array of disused toilets on one side, which looks to be composed of dozen or more of individual toilet booths. It makes us wonder why so many of such toilets here and left decaying. We pass through a gate to enter a large temple complex of Fayun-si.
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| Stone monument of Dahu pionners |
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| Cherry in full bloom |
We take a right path at a small open space to a main hall of the temple. A stone monument of Dahu pioneers stands by the path. A large front yard of the main temple hall affords a good vantage point. Ranges of mountains and a valley of Dahu spread before our eyes. The peak of Mt. Yunv-shan that we placed our feet a while ago stands near on our right. Cherry trees by the hall are in full bloom. The sunny weather makes everything bright and cheerful.
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| Mt. Yunv-shan |
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| Valley of Dahu |
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| Spacious front yard and the main temple hall |
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| Temple main gate |
A narrow footstep path leads from the side of the yard down to a stone main gate of the temple. From there a paved road goes all the way down to the mountain foot. At a junction we take a right road, which goes parallel to Route 3 road (台三線公路) across Honglongxi river. The route 3 road is very busy while this country road is almost free of traffic, good for strolling. All around are strawberry fields. A pyramid shaped mountain stands over the fields. It is Mt. Jintong-shan we climbed.
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| Mt. Jintong-shan and strawberry field |
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| Tudigong shrine by the country road |
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| Getting back to the warehouse to buy fruits |
The road goes up a little on the hillside. It passes by old farm houses and a Tudigong shrine (土地公). A half hour walk bring us to a field where two women are picking up strawberries. Members negotiate with them for buying strawberries. One of the two who happens to be the owner tells us to go to a warehouse with her. We then go back a little to the house and everybody buys a pack or two of freshly picked strawberries.
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| Intersection of Route 3 road |
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| Aboard #5656 bus |
We leisurely walk further down on the country road for fifteen minutes to a bridge to cross the Houlongxi river, which soon joins the route 3 road at 16:10. In contrast to the road we have just come along, the route 3 is really busy with a lot of cars and trucks passing. A short walk on the busy road bring to a junction towards the town of Dahu, which is built on a hill. We climb to a corner of the town and go to the town hall where our No. 5656 bus leaves for Miaoli at 16:33. We have a dinner at an eatery shop near the train station and leave for Taipei by 18:39 train.
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| Flowers by the country road |
An easy hike combined with a nice weather made this trip very enjoyable. The distance was 14.8 kilometers, which looks rather long but a large part of it is easy paved roads. The total ascent was 829 meters and descent 679 meters. The total time inclusive of breaks was 6 hours and 40 minutes, which amounts to 25 of the route physical index. It is worth visiting Dahu in late winter and early spring when all fields are full of strawberries. Finding local histories like crude oil production is very interesting and educational while you enjoy fun of hiking.
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