Yangmingshan (陽明山) - Part II (Juansi Waterfall)

In the first weekend of November, we decided to go back to Yangmingshan to hike again.
We found on the internet a trail called Juansi Waterfall 絹絲瀑布 Trail and we wanted to check if the waterfall was impressive or not. Beforehand, we learnt that this trail is quite easy, almost only downhill. Compared to hiking to Mt Qixing, this should be a "walk in the park".

We took Bus No 260 north exit 2 of Taipei Main Station and reached to Yangmingshan terminal station. From there, there is a special queue for Bus 108, which is a small bus, that loops around Yangmingshan. Our target was Lengshuikeng 冷水坑 where we could to start hiking from there to Juansi Waterfall.

There were a lot of people around lunch time and suddenly they used a bigger bus (still Bus No 108) with end station Xiaoyoukeng 小油坑. We didn't know if Lengshuikeng was included in this bus line, so we jumped on the bus together with almost all the other people. It turned out that we were on the wrong bus. The bus reached Xiaoyoukeng and turned back to terminal station. I asked the driver how we should go to Juansi Waterfall and he then stopped at Qixing bus stop so that we could catch the real 108 instead.

I read a forum that we should start from Lengshuikeng Visitor Center, but there was no such bus stop. We passed Lengshuikeng and arrived to Qingtiangang 擎天崗, which was the other end station, not far from Lengshuikeng. It turned out that Lengshuikeng stop was the one we were supposed to go to, not a stop called Lengshuikeng Visitor Center, because that doesn't exist. This was explained by a guy in the Qingtiangang Visitor Center who was kind enough to bring us to a trail so we could hike to Juansi Waterfall anyway. This was not what we planned, but anything goes if we only could reach our target.

Qingtiangang is a nice and quite flat grassland with cows and people go there for picnicking or just to relax. Here used to be a lava terrace! Yes, we passed by a few cows and some cute calves and the visitor center guy told us they are Japanese cows and the farmers don't milk them.

We started hiking from here and arrived to the waterfall after just 1.7km. It took around 1h. The waterfall itself was not very impressive. It was quite small actually. However, a waterfall is a waterfall and it always brings some "magic" to it. It began raining when we reached the waterfall. We stopped here for a small sandwich lunch before hiking 1km for 30min to the end of Juansi Waterfall trail. We arrived to a road with a bus stop for Bus No S15 to Shilin MRT. All the buses which passed by were too crowded. It was nearly 16:00 and we expected to catch a bus sooner or later. However, after 30min with buses that were crowded or didn't come regularly, we decided to take S15 on the other side instead, ie back to the end station on the mountain so that we could remain in the bus which will turn back and go to Shilin MRT. However, the driver told us that we needed to get off the bus at Qingtiangang and line up again. Most of us were pissed. I was already so frustrated about waiting too long for the bus back to the city. It was raining and I was freezing and I just wanted to go back to watch a football game.

Qingtiangang

Qingtiangang

Qingtiangang

 Juansi Waterfall.

We lined up for 1h in Qingtiangang in the rain and the fog before we could catch the bus back to the city. It was a nightmare and I can't believe that they didn't organize to have bigger buses when they knew that everyone wanted to go home in the rain.

Waiting for the bus back to Taipei.

However, all in all, the Juansi Waterfall Trail was quite nice and was not tough at all.

Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園) - Part I (Mt Qixing)

Yangmingshan National Park 陽明山國家公園 is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan. It is located in the north of Taipei and is one of the most popular mountains in Taiwan, both for foreigners and for locals.

We can actually see Yangmingshan every day from our bedroom window. If the sky is clear, we can see the mountain tops. When airplanes land in Songshan Airport, the view is fantastic from where we stand.

Yangmingshan view from our bedroom window.

The national park offers great hiking, hot springs, lakes, flower blossoms, (stinking) sulfur deposits and several nice sceneries. Since there are so many trails, one must go there several times, because you really can't make them all within one day.

In the mid of October, we took Bus No 260 on the north side of the Taipei Main Station, North Exit 2. You can also consider it as just behind the Main Station opposite to Qsquare Mall. It is in front of a statue called Ai Fu with a kid and a father.
The bus trip took nearly 50min and cost 15NTD + 15NTD and it will pass by for example Jiantan Station (Shilin Night Market). We arrived to the Yangmingshan terminal station which is a big parking lot with lots of other buses and people.

 Yangmingshan terminal station.

The map of Yangmingshan.

 The Mt Qixing trail starts from this point.

From here, we walked a short trail of about 700m to the visitor center. Already on this short trail I thought it was quite tough. After we asked a couple of questions at the visitor center, we started our hiking on the Mt Qixing 七星山 trail. It says it is 2.4km to the top and takes about 2h. The trail was quite demanding, I must say.

We saw lots of funny things on our way: We met a man carrying an ubike around his neck when he was on his way down from the main peak. That's really impressive, because those bikes, which people can rent for free the first 30min, are not light. We also saw one guy wearing leather shoes, suit pants and a shirt. Furthermore, we saw people with other casual leather shoes, two men without shoes and very small kids hiking with grandparents. What surprised me and impressed me the most are all the old people being so active. Hiking and enjoying the nature is something they really like!

Mt Qixing is a dormant volcano and the main peak is 1120m above sea level. There are two peaks; East and Main. They are only about 300-400m from each other. The main peak is the highest in the whole Yangmingshan National Park. Even though it is just 1120m above sea level, it really took 2h to hike from the visitor center. We didn't even take a break.

On the east peak, there was a small stone indicating the top. We sat down and had some sandwiches that we bought before taking the bus. For two very hungry and weak persons lacking energy, they were very delicious. A lot of other people also took a lunch break there. Although it was not so high up, it was quite chilly up there, just around 18C. We were standing right in the middle of the clouds. Too bad it was too cloudy, because we couldn't really see any nice view from here.

After a short lunch break around 14.00, we walked to the main peak where we saw a big wood pole indicating its height and other stuff. There were a lot of people taking a break on the big benches. I bet most of them felt satisfaction and relief in their bodies after reaching the mountain top. For some of them, maybe it's their first time too. Like us.

After just a short break, we walked the Xiaoyoukeng 小油坑 trail down to the point where we could catch a bus. Our plan was first to walk from that point to Zhuzihu 竹子湖, which should be a nice place in the spring time when flowers blossom. Don't be fooled by the character 湖 (which stands for lake) in the name, because there is no lake there.

East peak of Mt Qixing.

Main peak of Mt Qixing.

 East peak.

Main peak.

Walking down is much easier than walking up of course and this 1.7km went faster. However, we stopped a few times along the road. There is a nice view point here and we could both see the city of Taipei and some other mountain tops. Also, we passed a couple of stinking sulfur deposits on the way down. They really smelled like a bad fart. Not only did they smell like rotten eggs, but they also looked like smashed eggs. It is cool learning that the volcano is still "spitting" out these kinds of stuff. Or rather, these are actually post-volcanic activities.

One of many sulfur deposits.

When we finally came down to Xiaoyoukeng, it was nearly 16.00 and the mini bus (No 108) was just there and about to leave. We didn't even have time for a small recovery, but needed to jump on the overcrowded bus. It was more like a roller coaster than a bus ride. It was basically throwing us from left to right and right to left if you don't hold on too well. We passed a few stops and saw interesting places like a foot hot spring (Lengshuikeng), the Suspension bridge (Lengshuikeng) and some other trails.

View from Xiaoyoukeng view point.

Panorama view from Xiaoyoukeng view point.

We just wanted to go back to the Yangmingshan terminal station to take Bus No 260 back to Taipei Main Station. We didn't want to stop to see the other places at all since we felt exhausted.

Reaching the peaks of Mt Qixing made us feel very satisfied. I believe we will come back to hike some other trails before going back to Sweden.

Nanya Rocks (南雅奇岩)

Nanya rock formation 南雅奇岩 is located in the northeast of Taiwan. You can reach there by several options from Taipei. In any case, it includes a bus ride.

We went there by taking the train to Keelung 基隆 and then changed to Bus No 791 towards Fulong 福隆.
The bus departs from Family Mart a short walk from the train station. I'm not sure how frequent this bus goes, but we waited quite a long time.

The bus ride took about 30min and we got off at Nanya bus station and walked a bit east before reaching the strange but beautiful rock formation eroded by the sea, rain and wind. You can especially see two spirals which people say look like ice cream.
It was a hot day in the beginning of September and there were lots of visitors there.

 Our nice Gore-Tex Merrell shoes.

 Not so much for a trail.

 Giant spider!

After spending some time here, we tried to find a trail to the mountain starting from the parking lot, but we could just walk a few hundred meters before we were forced to turn back. One very bad thing here is that there is no special walkway for people to get to the next point even though there are quite many interesting places to visit. We needed to walk back west to the bus station on the dangerous road. We just saw the bus passing by and needed to wait another hour for the next one. So, plan your trip well!
Our plan was to go further east, somewhere in Longdong 龍洞, to find somewhere to hike. We didn't understand the map much so we just took a chance and got off at a random stop, which happened to be Longdong Bay Ocean Park.
We saw a place where people took a swim in the sea. There was also a pool for dogs. From there, we walked up on the mountain and saw the Longdong Cape Trail, which is not very long. Almost in the end of this trail, there is a really nice and steep cliff to view.

 Longdong Bay Ocean Park.

Pool for dogs.

 Longdong Cape Trail.

 Nice cliff.

Around 17:30, it began to darken and we couldn't find a good trail to go back west to catch the bus. Instead, we walked on the dangerous road again when suddenly a woman, standing on a parking spot 20m from us, waved at us to come over to her. We really wanted a ride to any bus station so we crossed the road to see how they could help us. There were 3 young girls in the back of the car and her husband was driving. "This is harmless", we judged, and we got into their car. These kindhearted people then took us back to Keelung and even treated us a nice dinner before we separated and headed home. They even offered us a ride back to Taipei, but we didn't want to bother them so much. We really appreciated their help and kindness.

The scenic area in the northeast was great and it was a pleasant day trip.