Mt Da-Xiao-Jian (大小剑山)

Mt DaJian (Big Sword, 3594m)

Mt JiaYang (3314m)

It has been long overdue to write about my last trekking trip in Taiwan.  It was a successful climb with some members of our group making this their first Taiwan’s hundred peaks.  Very ironic as their first mountain is a very difficult one compared to the others scattering over Taiwan’s mountain range. 

The typical touristy peaks of the famous Yushan and Xueshan would be like a walk in the park for them in the future. The above mountain summits form the Dajian Ridgeline that is part of the Shei-Pa National Park that extends west from the main peak of Xueshan,  and southwards . You can trek down from Xueshan main peak to Chui-Chi (翠池 ) and continue from there to Xueshan South-West Peak and then to the main peak of Mt DaJian (大剑山, 3594m) which forms part of the DaJian Ridgeline. There are no lodges along the entire Da-Jian ridgeline and camping out is the only way. There is no water supply except a water spring source near the Mt Dajian foothills but requires a trek down to the valley below and back up the same path so as to be able to proceed to where the campsite at YouPoLan (油婆蘭山, 3308m) is. The campsite is around 3200m and it is like camping under the stars at night on a cloudless day. But do expect the full rays of the sun during midday and exposure to the harsh weather. Preparation is needed but if all is planned out, there should not be any worries to bring along for this trek.

Gathering a few friends from our last failed attempt of the O-shaped Holy Ridgeline Trek, we wanted to reattempt the difficult climb but as the mountain lodges were overbooked and even we applied for the mountain lodges based on the official release date, we didn’t get to secure the bunk bed bookings which will allow us to secure other mountain and park permit for the climb. How the internal process works is officially on a first come first serve basis and some unofficial process which we will never know but yet other big groups of 20+ people can easily get their permits. With air tickets pre-booked, we searched around for other alternatives and landed on the DaXiaoJian-Shan (大小剑山) (The Big & Small Sword Mountain, if you translate directly from Chinese to English).

Da-Xiao-Jian-Shan, is notoriously know as being a “Niaoshan, 鸟山” (rotten), meaning something that is obviously tough,  difficult , inconvenient and at not terrain friendly. One of the Xiao-Jian Shan (小剑山, 3253m) does not even have a view for trekkers to claim their summit victory reward of an unblock view, but surrounded by trees like in the middle of the forest and it is the signboard marker that tells you that you have reach the summit.  The route is difficult with no mountain lodge and trekkers have to carry their heavy tent equipment with their food and water in full heavy gear all the way to their campsite. Even with porters to carry our rations, each of our bags weighed an average of 13-15kg. The route is not the longest within the National Park, but its sheer vertical climbs and drops easily demoralize the avid trekkers and with no water along the way, this route is often reserved as the last to do for those mountain trekkers wanting to complete the 100-peaks climb of Taiwan. From the trail head to the ridge takes about 2 days. And if you look at all these conditions, you will know why they called in鸟山 (rotten route, no disrespect to the mountain). Yes it is tough and challenging, but this is a route that is very less crowded unlike the overly crowded Yushan and Xueshan.

It was still rewarding able to reach the other peaks like the Da-Jian-Shan( 3594m) and the Jia-Yang-Shan (3000m) which offers 360 view of the surrounding mountain range, which is the Xue-Pai National Park  (霸国家公园)mountain range. Luckily weather was good for us and we were able to see the other mountain face of the popular Xueshan Main Peak, which many has climbed but very few will take the arduous trek to Da-Jian-Shan to be able to Xueshan from another perspective.

Day 0: Departing from Taipei

Our hiking group of friends comes from different countries, Malaysians working in Singapore, true Malaysians flying in from Kuala Lumpur. But for this round, it was a smaller group with just the 5 of us. We met up with our usual mountain guide friend at the railway station at Taipei Railway Station and off into the mountain village of Nan-Shan (南山村)for the night accommodation. This is a typical stay over to get acclimatize to the mountain altitude before the climb. Well the village is just about 800m if I remember correctly,  and so the effect may not be that effective but it is a very strategic location for climbers wanting to trek around the Shei-Pa National Park. Again we made a stop in the town of Yilan to stock up on snacks and drinks at a 7-eleven, walked around the night market of Yilan and 

Day 1: The Fun Begins

Morning wakeup call was about 6am, we all of us were up packing our packs for the climb, leaving our non-essential travelling items in another bag to be dumped inside the van. After our breakfast at the MinSu (home stay), off we went on the winding road higher into the mountains. The starting point of this climb is not within the Wuling Farm Tourist Park, but is along a mountain road near Lishan, and somewhere out of nowhere we turned into a very small narrow path going down into a valley with a wide roaring river below. Every time during my trek, as long as we were going lower in altitude, I would sigh on the need to recover those drop in altitude with more leg power to ascend to the summit. It is a valley no doubt with the mountain on both side. 

Bus stop at Nanshan Village.

Our accomodation at NanShan Village

Driving up the mountain road Lishan

Starting our 4D trek leaving our van behind

There wasn’t much space for parking and so our van, like the rest of a few cars there parked by climbers, had to park as close to the side as possible so as not to obstruct traffic.  Downhill we followed the car-wide dirt road to a concrete bridge that cross over the DaJia River (大甲溪)below. The view was stunning and it was a great feeling getting into the open again with nature all surrounding us. This huge concrete bridge across the river was built for road vehicles in the past, but now left unused as the forest road is no more accessible to the trailhead further into the forest.

Crossing the DaJia River below us

In about 30mins we reach an old abandoned small house (松茂水文站). Heard from the local guide that the place was meant to be a worker quarters. It was once  a place with electricity and water as can be seen from the overhead power pole with some damaged cables dangling above. We took a 10mins break from the warm weather before moving uphill walking along the side of the mountain forest with the raging river on our left. 

松茂水文站

Another 20mins uphill we reached the damaged LeShan Bridge (樂山橋). The bridge span across a beautiful river with pure clean water from the upstream flowing through. The porter and local guide went down to replenish their water supply and crossed the river at the swallow area. For us to keep our feet dry, we climbed onto the damaged bridge with care. Taiwan is a country that is constantly ravaged by yearly typhoons damaging roads and infrastructure in the mountain regions and at times became too costly to maintain, esp. when no one lives on the other side of the damaged bridge and so they just lay there to be a remembrance of the power of Mother Nature.

Me at the damaged LeShan Bridge

Makeshift ladder to get onto the bridge

Another 30mins hike we reach the trailhead (防火巷登山口) that would bring us into the mountain ridgeline of DaJian. This is the notorious sky ladder (天梯) which is actually created as a fire line to prevent forest fires from spreading should one side catches fire. This is the beginning on the tough and dreaded part of the route which will just be more and more further up; just that we couldn’t see from where we were. We had our on-the-trail lunch with our own snacks (lunch not provided ). It was a steep 2 hr climb before our next rest point under some shady trees. Fire is something that happens during hot summer points when the weather is dry and windy. We could see at certain section of the climb the lower trunk of many trees were charred like charcoal and the stench of burnt wood was still lingering in the air. 

Arriving at the trailhead, up the fire wall route

Rest point on the slope of the fire wall route

Charred trunks of the trees indicated a past fire

Looking back at what we climbed till now

Taking a break. The strong ones are those that dont need to rest.

It was about 2pm and it was again up and up and finally we reached the campsite for the night around 4:30pm. It was not the intended campsite at Tui-Lun-Shan (推論山) which was another hour of steep climbing. This alternate campsite offers better wind protection and has a readied made canvas shelter which the porters could ‘comfortably’ prepare our dinner.  The sheltered area was big enough to house the “kitchen” area and the sleeping area.  In the middle of the night, we could hear owls hooting and the light wind rustling in the night. We were the only group in the campsite area and during the entire climb did not come across any hikers coming from the same path. It could be that we were the only group on this mountain route. Well this is a route not many would like to climb unless they are going for Taiwan’s Hundred Peaks target.

Day 2: To The 1^st Summit & Back

Good morning everyone. All stretched and ready to go

Everyone taking their photos of the uphill task.

And here the climbing starts again.

It was 6am, and we were all packed and ready to our next campsite and also to reach our 1^st summit for the climb, Mt Dajian which offers a very good 360 view of the Xue-Shan Main Peak and the surrounding Shei-Pa Mountain range. Before the climb, my research told me that out of the 3 peaks on this route, Dajian is the must go and Xiao-Jian is of the last priority since it is the farthest, toughest and smack in the forest without a clear view.  We were taking pictures of the beautiful morning and the steep trail in front of us when we saw 2 climbers descending. They were the first climbers we saw since we started our trek, and it was good to see others on the trail. The weather was great, blue skies, cloudless, but also very warm and sunny and we would be like toasted once we cleared the forest vegetation.

A beautiful morning to welcome us. Burn you dry later..

Arriving at Tui-Lun-Shan (2801m)

Really really warm.

After 1 hour of climbing from our campsite, we reach the clearing which is Mt Tui-Lun-Shan (推論山,2801m). The stone marker can be easily missed as it is just a small little rectangular block near the edge of the trail that lead into a flat clear open ground (look for the weather monitoring station). The sun was great to warm up some of the cold clothing and to dry our sweat also from the tethering heat.. Some of us went under the shade near the trees to rest but were inviting bees that were swarming around us. In the end , most of us just tanned ourselves out in the sun.

Looking ahead of where we are going towards

Getting some shade from the trees.

Our porter enjoying the mountain view

Weather station. it says Do Not Enter

A small stone marker for Tui-Lun-Shan (Mt TuiLun, 2801m)

Sun-tanning in progress

All strapped up and the climb continues

From this rest point, it was another 3 hrs of continuous climbing under the cloudless skies to reach the campsite of You-Po-Lan (油婆蘭營地), which is near to the Mt YouPoLan (油婆蘭山, 3308m), Along the way, we had clear unblocked view of the collapse mountain face of Mt JiaYang (佳陽山,3314m). It looked near but getting there can take 5 hrs from our YouPoLan campsite. Although the sun and steepness of the hills were getting over me, but being in the wide open and be able to walk among this openness of hill pushed me to move on.

Looking back at the mountain view where we climb up from

Collapsed face of Mt JiaYang.

Me and Mt JiaYang & packs all around

Taking a short rest point and a photo shot.

Mt Da-Jian (where we would go in the afternoon)

At around 11:30am, we reach the campsite and yes, it was just us, the entire campsite to ourselves, no trees to hide from the sun, and our porter and guide had already setup a small shelter for us to hide from the sun. It was shoes off for everyone to rest the legs after the hours of hike with a heavy backpack. Lunch was self provide and it was again bread that we brought along. Kind of sick of the bread and after few days in the cold mountain, it tends to drop in taste and quality. But any food is previous food in the mountain.

Hiding from the sweatering sun.

Tanning my wet soaked back pack. Nice to walk on the warm dry grass

Climbing up again into the blue skies towards Mt Da-Jian.

Nice to walk in the open vastness. Minus the heavy back packs.

At 12:30pm, off we start with a small light pack to the first summit, the Mt Dajian, the legs felt a lot lighter without the big backpack and it was much enjoyable on this part of the climb to the summit. This trail to Mt Dajian also passes the way to the spring water source near the foothill of Mt Dajian. From the trekking map, it was about 20mins descent and 40mins ascent from where the water source is back to the foothill of Mt Dajian.  The trail split to Mt DaJian and the water source about 30mins from our campsite at the place called 鞍部水愿岔路 .  

View of Mt Da-Jian. (lots to climb)

Looking back at how much we have climbed. Campsite is behind the mountain ridge.

Prominent rock  formation, Must have experienced some dramatic changes

My shadow and the rock

Nearing the summit. The others are waiting for me.

It was another 2hrs from this point to reach the summit. According to trekking time mapping, we were quite fast . Well we have some super fit climbers in our group and the way they were climbing was like flying.  Around 3pm, I finally reached the summit of Mt DaJian, still within the climbing time of the trekking map estimated duration but my group members were already celebrating at the summit. The view up there was simply amazing. First time I got to see the north east face of Xueshan, the sheer drop on this side that make it a mountain by itself. Normally if one climbs the standard route to the summit, they would be climbing on the other side from where we stood at Mt Dajian, entering via the rounded valley above the black forest before reaching the top.  From Mt Dajian, it is possible to reach the Xueshan Main Peak that and that will take an extra day to reach.

Mt DaJian Summit

Mt Xueshan (Taiwan second highest peak)

Me and Mt Xueshan at the back

Another peak to add into my Taiwan Hundred Peak count (+1)

All packed and ready to leave the summit

We weren’t in a hurry to get back and so since the weather was good, we stayed at the summit for quite some time before returning back to our campsite before sunset. When the sun sets, temperature will drop drastically up in the mountains esp. on where we were above 3000m. We started off at 3:30pm, and downhill was more easy but it took me quite a fair bit of time to return to campsite as I was still low on energy, maybe from the loss of appetite and food. And so me and the guide had our slow walk back stopping at various point along the way to chit chat while looking out into the vastness of the mountains.. Very relaxing….

Back at YouPoLan Campsite awaiting dinner

Around 6pm,  I was backed at the campsite and everyone was standing around outside the tent sharing their experiences , and sense of accomplishment, forgetting about the cold chill wind.  Dinner was served with a good mix of rice, meat and vegetables. The skies turn dark quickly after 7pm and it was a good night rest for everyone in their tents. The night was peaceful and quiet, weather was good with occasionally moderate wind.

Day 3: Yet Another Tiring Day

Morning 4am at the campsite

Dawning up at 3000m 

It was 4am and the night skies were starting to brighten up. For me still feeling the lack of energy as for the past 2 days, I did not have much appetite for food and the vicious cycle begins as the less you eat, the more you would not be able to eat, and less energetic to do multi-day hikes. I was still having some reservations on whether should I stay in my cozy tent or take the challenge for another day of tough trekking and see how far I could go.  Since there were 2 summits and I made my mind to reach the 1^st summit of Mt JiaYang and called it a day unless I became super-charged after reach there.  A trek to Mt JiaYang and back could take a total of 8hrs, and an extra 3 hrs to reach Mt Xiao-Jian from JiaYang. A total of possibly 14hr both way and many groups had to start super early if not being risk to return to their campsite in darkness.  Some of the rock formation areas were quite difficult to maneuver in darkness even with proper headlamps.

 Breakfast was served around 4:15am, and around 4:30am, we started with just a light pack to begin the long day hike to Mt JiaYang and possibly for the stronger group members to proceed on to Xiao-Jian-Shan. So I forced myself to take some chocolate bar and energy snacks,  and convinced myself to just take the challenge and go. Not my best form during this climb but not to the extent of system shutdown.

The start to many more these careful maneuvering.

We started up the hill again from the vast openness walking into the dense forest again in the dawning if the morning. It was quite a nice feeling to be up there in the morning with the sun rising over the horizon. After clearing a short path of vegetation, we were greeted by the 1^st rock formation to overcome. It looked more like a ridgeline that we were using to transverse to get to Mt JiaYang, which both sides dropping steeply.  Considering the small amount of walking space, spiraling roots of trees were guarding the path and going around them was the only way.

Dense tree trunks. Can you spot someone ?

Taking a rest and taking some photographs

After going up and down, clearing one hilltop, going down and up again to another higher hilltop along the narrow ridgeline, it seemed the end would never be there. It was about 8am after climbing for 3 hrs continuously and Mt Jiayang seemed to be running away from me.  I wasn’t in full recovery from my last few days of over exhaustion,  depletion of energy was faster than I expected. So I took more breaks in between with our guide waiting and chatting with me. 

Finally arriving at the collapse face of Mt JiaYang

At about 10am, finally I reached the collapse face of Mt JiaYang.  Seeing it so close gave the assurance that my objective for the day was met.  Another 10mins was all it took for me to be standing on the summit of Mt JiaYang. One of our group members, was waiting there for us. The other 2 has left with the front guide to proceed on to Mt Xiao-Jian.  I knew my limit at that point and was happy to end my hike there at Mt JiaYang. The tiredness went away with the 360 view of the surrounding. The sun was beating hard on us, the area was totally exposed but yet we did lie down and rest out sore feet for 20mins maybe. It was scorching hot and actually wasn’t that comfortable to rest longer than that.  Water supply was running short as well due to the tough climb and hot weather. The guide offered us some canned corn and left some for our group climbers who went ahead to Mt Xiao-Jian who would be returning back the same route.

Mt JiaYang ( 3313m)

Looking down at the collapsed rock face, Stone marker down at the bottom due to the big earthquake 921.

Yes, it is a detachable steel plate marker.

Me, XiaoFei(guide) & Joe

Mt Xiao-Jian in the distant. (me not going)

Our guide Xiao-Fei Coach.

After enjoying our own photo session buffet (using timer on the DSLR on a rock), we left the summit at 11am and start our slow hike back to campsite. The objective was to make it back campsite before sunset for safety reasons and also to have a good rest for the day. Me and Roy (one of our climb mates), together with our guide slowly made our way back.  Progress was slow and actually it took us longer to get back. Well we weren’t in a hurry and so took numerous rest points, esp. after clearing a very steep hilltop. It was payback time for those easy descend we took to get to Mt JiaYang. The two of us spent most of the time together climbing over rocks and tree trunks, sometimes taking breaks away from our guide at the front who thought that we continued on but we were chit-chatting under some shady fallen tree trunk. 

Happy to be back at campsite YouPoLan

Sunset rays on the mountain tops

It was around 5pm, that we returned to the open plains of Mt YouPoLan, and saw our cozy campsite welcoming us back. We had one member who did not make the day hike with us as he wasn’t feeling too well.  His name was Alvin , and he was waving to us from very far at a small pond just beside our campsite. At the same time, we also saw from very far distance,  our 2 strong climbers were making their way back as way, at the top of one of the hilltops that they need to clear before reaching our campsite. It was good to see everyone has managed to return safely. 

Me alone, braving the cold wind on a mountain top above the campsite to get mobile signal. Lishan village in front & below

Looking at Mt Da-Jian for the last time before going down to campsite

While the porter and guide was busy preparing dinner, I took my camera and phone and walk up the hill top to get mobile signal and it was in good reception as the Lishan village just opposite side of the mountain. Braving the cold wind as the sun was setting and managed to send some Whatsapp messages to family back home. For me give me a while and my body battery would come back, but supply is short though. But at least the day was done.. It was after that dinner and back to my tent and sleep away. The temperature was dropping fast and everyone was tired from the day hike and all huddled back into their tent for the night rest.

Day 4: Getting Back

Catching the sunrise up in the mountain near our campsite

It was 4:30am and we were up packing, more things to pack after 2 nights at the YouPoLan campsite. The weather was good and we were greeted by a warm morning sunrise rising from the mountains surrounding us. Could not ask for any better weather for a descend. Picking up any trash around us and leaving the place as it was , we started the climb again just to descend. Well we were shelter in a small depression of land space surrounded by walls of the hilltop. A good place to be sheltered from the mountain winds and that is why it is a designated campsite.

1st group photo finally (Porter, Karen, Alvin, Xiaofei, Me, Joe, CK taking the picture for us)

We started the descend around 5am and it was long long way to go as the distance covered 2 days of ascend. The toll on the knees and feet was there and after 5 hrs of downhill, my legs started to wobble a bit. Not a fan of descend, but is it less strenuous on cardio but reverse onto the legs. The day was sunny and warm and at every rest point we were all soaked in sweat. Well going back is sometime very motivation with the street food of civilization enticing us.

Around 10am, we finally reach the LeShan bridge where the river flows. It was very comforting to see the river as some us got down to bottle some clean clear river water upstream, but some removed our shoes to soak our tired feet into the cool water. Of course the one that was bottling his water was doing that was slightly upstream. It was walk and walk without further stopping until we reached the VAN around 12:30pm Seeing the van parked there marked the end of our 4 day trek. Our first stop was at a nearby family run provision store for a run at the drinks laden refrigerator. It was a really warm day and seeing an iced cold display refrigerator with ice cold beer and gassy COKE would be doing an injustice to our desire not to stop for that.

Great food and companion at a Yilan restaurant.

The journey down from the mountains onto the plains of Yilan took a few hours and it was around 3pm when we were driving around the town of Yilan looking for lunch. It was way beyond lunch time and many restaurants were closed for the rest period. After a fruitless hunt for those stir fry restaurant of better standard ( well the guide wanted us to have something better and so we drive around looking for one), we decided to proceed back to Taipei on the Xueshan tunnel which would have a a lot more choices and it would be dinner time. But upon getting on the main road leading to the tunnel, there was a massive jam and getting back to Taipei will be very late and would be wasting our hunger time in the van. So again we drove back into the town of Yilan and stumbled onto an entire street of local restaurant selling roasted chicken. Everything smelled great for us, but the food was yummy, and tearing apart the roasted chicken was a first time experience for me in Taiwan on how to eat the roasted chicken. We really had a wonderful and enjoyable time having our “lunch-ner”. Seeing the pictures of the food that we ordered make me hungry while I am writing this blog.