Taiwan Part 1 - 南湖大山登山行 Mt Nanhu (14 - 19 March 2009)

14 March 09, I arrived at Taoyuan International Airport at 2.20pm. My hiking friends were in Taipei a day earlier than me. I was told to meet them up at Taipei train station. So, I took the GuoKuang bus (国光客运) to Taipei Train Station (台北车站). Bus fare from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei Train Station is NTB 125. The bus is operated at 15-20 min frequency. The bus journey took about 50 minutes. After I met up with Hai Poh, Man Tack, Ai Yen and Wan Ming at Taipei train station, we took the train(自强号) to YiLan(宜兰). At there, I met up with the rest of the friends which arrived earlier at YiLan. There were 11 of us that would be joining Mt Nanhu hiking trip. We stayed at Yilan Youth Hostel (宜兰救国团学苑).

15 March 09, we met up with our trekking guide - Lim Wen Yi. He is already 50 years old, but looks younger than his age. He told us that we can call his nickname "YaZi"(鸭子) . Trekking permit of Mt Nanhu had been applied couple of months before with the help of a Taiwan friend - ChunChun (纯纯). 7.00am, we took bus from YiLan to SiYuanYaKou(思源埡口), the entrance of Mt Nanhu trekking trail. The bus journey was about 2 hours.


A week ago, it was snowing in the mountain. We waited at the entrance for other trekkers to come out to find out the snow situation in the mountain. Around 9.30am, we met some trekkers that came out from mountain. They told us there was still some snow left in the mountain but equipment like ice axe and crampons are not required. We were so glad to hear that as we could offload some weights. We started on the trek around 10.30am. It was 6.7km trek to reach the real starting point of Mt Nanhu trek. It took me 2.5 hours to reach this real starting point. To reach our destination of the day - YunLing Cabin (云稜山庄) at 2580m, it's another 5km trek. You may think that the total 11.7km is short, but when carrying the heavy backpack and trek on the trail that consists of ascents and descents, the journey became very long (at least for me). For guys, their backpack were even heavier as they have to carry the all the foods. When we reached YunLing Cabin, it's already 5.15pm.

This mountain hut is new and nicely built. I heard there is an old mountain hut that located not far away. There is a water tank that filled with rain water. Trekkers will use the water from the tank for cooking and drinking. To keep the hut clean, trekkers are prohibited from leaving the garbage including the leftover food at the hut. There are 2 toilets not far away from the hut. One is built nicely with the door, but it's very smelly. Another one is open toilet which there is no door/wall, but it's less smelly.

16 March 09, Wan Ming falls sick yesterday. He rest at YunLing Cabin whereas 10 of us continue our journey to Nanhu Cabin at 8am. After 2.5 hours trekking, we had slowly left the forest behind and ShenMaZhen grassland (审马阵草原) came into sight. The weather was good. Clear blue sky and beautiful mountains scenery. About 11.30am, we had made it to summit of Mt ShenMaZhen (审马阵山) at 3141m. We spent about half an hour resting and taking photographs before continue our journey under the hot sun. We passed by ShenMaZhen mountain hut(审马阵山屋) and moving uphill. There is a pond beside the ShenMaZhen mountain hut. I went down to the pond and tried to shoot some pictures of Mt Nanhu reflection but I was not successful. We reached at a junction, took the left trail and lead up to the north peak of Mt Nanhu. Mt Nanhu North Peak or NanhuBeiShan(南湖北山) at 3535m is one of the hundreds highest mountains in Taiwan (台湾百岳) . It offered 360-degree paranoma view, Mt Snow(雪山) ，Mt DaBaJian(大坝尖山) , Mt ZhongYangJian (中央尖山), ShengLinXian (圣陵线) or Holy Ridge can be clearly seen. It's windy at north peak. I felt very cold after awhile, quickly descended after took some pictures.

It was about 2.30pm when we left Mt Nanhu North Peak and moving towards WuYanFeng (五岩峰) or Five Rocky Peaks. As it named, there are 5 hills that we need to climb over. Both side of the path are the steep valley. I think WuYanFeng trail should be the most dangerous part of Mt Nanhu trekking, especially if there is snow or strong wind. The ascents and descents seem like never ending. I was very tired. 3.45pm, I had climbed up the 5th hills, saw a signboard indicate that Nanhu Cabin(南湖山庄) is 1km away. I can see the mountain hut down the deep slope. I thought I should be able to reach there very soon but I was wrong. The path down is more difficult than I thought. Slowly and carefully, I descended on the steep loose rocky slope. The cold wind blow strongly. Stress had been put on my knees and I started to felt pain. I was very cold and tiring, wondering why the 1km route was so far away. Finally, at 5.15pm, I checked in Nanhu Cabin.

Nanhu Cabin was located at the lower cirque glacier of Mt Nanhu (南湖下圈谷). At that day, it was fully occupied by 3 hiking teams including us. One of the team was the HuaLian(花莲) police team. The policeman is a nice guy. He gave us advice on our tour itinerary and offered his help if we plan to be in HuaLian. When we were at HuaLian 5 days later to take the train back to Taipei, he met us at the train station and bought us some local foods. All we can do is only say "thanks".

17 March 09, we started our trekking to Mt Nanhu main peak (南湖主峰) around 6.30am. Our guide purposely brought us to the trail that still has snow. Step by step, we were approaching Mt Nanhu main peak. 9.00am, I had reached the summit of Mt Nanhu main peak. There is a marker of 22.9km at the summit, indicate that we had trekked 22.9km to reach the peak at 3742m above sea level. We are busy photographing with different jumping pose. Mt Nanhu East Peak can be seen here. That's our next destination.

40 minutes later, we left Mt Nanhu main peak, heading towards the East Peak. Just before we reached the mountain foot of East Peak, Peng Meng found that he lost his camera. He suspect that he must be left it at the first resting point after we went down from the main peak. So, he went back to search for his camera while the rest of us wait for him there. Under the hot sun, we had waited for almost 1.5 hours. This place is shadeless. We felt the strong UV, at the same time, felt the cold air. That's why I had to wear the jacket, at the same time kept on apply the sun block. Peng Meng came back around 12.oopm, without his camera. He told us that he couldn't find it. He will follow us to hike up the East Peak, then go back once again to search the camera.

The summit of Mt Nanhu East Peak(南湖东峰) is different from the main peak. The summit of east peak is at the slope. The highest point of the slope stands a monument denotes an elevation of 3632m above sea level. Unlike at the main peak, we couldn't took the photos with the jumping pose. It will be too dangerous to do that. However, the rock formation at the east peak is very unique and pretty. After we descended from the summit, Peng Meng and our guide went to search for the camera while the rest of us follow the trail from the upper circque glacier back to the Nanhu Cabin at lower circque glacier. I back to Nanhu Cabin around 2.15pm. Surprisingly, we saw Wan Ming's belongings at the Nanhu Cabin. So we knew that he had recovered and probably on his way up to the main peak. Not bad, he recovered in 1 day and then able to cope with the journey. No wonder Hai Poh will say "he is as strong as an eagle". hehehe....:p

Finally, Peng Meng came back, with his camera on his hand. We were teasing him that he's the one that gain most from this trip - paid guide fee for 1 time, but went up to summit for 3 times, really worth for value. ;)

18 March 09, we were leaving Nanhu Cabin at 8.00am. Once again, we were on the steep rocky slope that rises up to the WuYanFeng(五岩峰). Bit by bit, step by step, we climbed up the slope. Suprisingly, all of us had climbed up the slope within 35 minutes. On this particular trail, ascent is actually easier than descent. We followed the same route, climbed up the five rocky peaks of WuYangFeng, reached the junction to Mt Nanhu North Peak. Our trekking pace became faster, we reached YunLing Cabin at 1.30pm. We rest and refill the water at YunLing Cabin before continue our journey to DuoJiaTun (多加屯) . Around 5pm, we reached DuoJiaTun.

The mountain hut of DuoJiaTun is very small, can only fit in 6 persons. Man Tack and Wan Ying helped to clean the dirty floor. DuoJiaTun is at 2795m. It's still very cold at night. 11 of us need to fit ourselves inside this mountain hut to spend the night. Each of us can only lie down in 1 pose and not able to move. I only slept for 2 hours and couldn't sleep again after that. I kept on watching my watch, counting down the time for the sunrise. At that time, I felt that the time was crawling like snails. I was so glad that finally it's 5am, time to wake up.

19 March 09, we packed our things and left DuoJiaTun around 6.30am. We had to rush for the bus at 9.30am, thus there was no time for us to take the leisure walk. By 9am, we had reached SiYuanYaKou, marked the completion of the Mt Nanhu hiking trip.



Below is our hiking route:

SiYuanYaKou,1930m (思源埡口) -> Main Entrance, 2300m(登山口) -> YunLing Cabin, 2580m(云稜山庄) -> Mt ShenMaZhen, 3141m(审马阵山) -> Mt Nanhu North Peak,3535m (南湖北山) -> Nanhu Cabin, 3592m (南湖山庄) -> Mt Nanhu Main Peak, 3742m(南湖主峰)-> Mt Nanhu East Peak, 3632m(南湖东峰)-> TuoJiaTun,2795m (多加屯) -> SiYuanYaKou(思源埡口).



Other Info:
1) In taiwan, trekking permit has to be applied at least 3 weeks in advance. With the trekking permit that obtained from national park, go to the police station to apply for the mountain entrance permit. For Mt Nanhu trekking permit application, refer to the website http://permits2.taroko.gov.tw/welcome/index.aspx.

2) For train info, refer http://www.railway.gov.tw/index/index.aspx

3) Yilan Youth Hostel (宜兰救国团学苑), refer http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/yilanstudenthostel

4) To reach SiYuanYaKou (思源埡口), take the GuoGuang bus (国光客运) of route Yilan(宜兰)-LiShan(梨山), take off from Yilan at 7am and 12.40pm daily.
For bus info, refer to http://www.kingbus.com.tw/time&price.php