Here’s another awesome hike in the Shifen area.
Start at the Shifen train station. Head back toward Ruifang (east) along the road to the left of the tracks. In about 100 yards or so you will see a road to the left. take it. if you reach the police station or entrance to the coal museum you have gone too far.
Follow the road as it winds toward the mountains for just over a km. When the road splits take the lower road. (You will see a sign in Chinese at this junction telling you that the lower road goes to the coal museum - this is the back part of the museum. It’s a big place, 200 hectares I think.)
A 100 yards down this road you will see the museum. It is surrounded by a rough bamboo fence. keep to the left and pass the museum. You will see the start of a cement trail at the back. This is your trail.
In 200 yards you will cross a bridge. Underneath is a nice place to cool off on the way back. The water is very clean as it flows down from the ridge above and there is no construction up there.
Instead of heading up the cement trail turn left just over the bridge and down (following the bank of the river) and then quickly turn right on a dirty path. In 50 yards you will see to the right a massive tunnel. It seems they were goign to build a tunnel through the area once but abandoned it. You can walk in and explore freely however. We just went in about 50 yards today (it seems to go on and on) and planned to explore more on the way back but didn’t have time. Next time.
After exploring the tunnel head back to the cement steps. Head up. After 10 minutes you’ll see an old blue cloth on the right lookign like it was once a shelter of sorts. Look up and right and you’ll see something yellow. Head into the bush on a rough trail, cross the stream and head up. You’ll come to a giant machine whose purpose I do not know. In any case there are two tunnels there. One is closed but the other is open. You’ll need a flashlight as it’s pitch black. I have no idea how far in it goes. Again, planned to explore today but no time.
Get back on the cement trail and continue. It’s lovely here, the forest is fresh, keeps you in the shade and a super clean stream flows beside you. If you are lucky you will like I did, see a 3 meter beauty snake sunning itself just off the side of the trail. (Damn thing wouldn’t stop for a pic though.)
In 1.5-2 hours you will reach a tudigong temple at the beginning of the ridge walk. Stop for the views but save your lunch if you can.
To the left of the temple there is a natural trail. It looks like it runs along the back side of the ridge and connect with other peaks in the area. Will have to explore another time.
Continue up the cement path. It just gets better and better from here on up. Wide open views that are compeltely unspoiled. I mean no sign up houses, villages, highways, etc. Just nature all around you.
The topography in this area is fantastic. Craggy peaks, and low slung saddles. There is one spot that looks like a tropical interpetation of the mountains the Grinch lives in.
Lots of grass up here and forests of differing hues of green. A lot like the slopes of Yangmingshan but craggier.
Continue up the path for two kilometres till you reach a weather station and a pavilion. You are now on Wufenshan. about 750 metres up.
The view is 360 degrees perfect. You can see the ocean in front, with clear shots of Keelung Island. Directly in front, about 5km away rises the back of Jilongshan (near Jiufen). To the left, you can see Yangmingshan, behind the Pingxi peaks, and to the right the rolling range of mountains near Pinglin.
It is possible to drive to this point on a road in front so you may see people there. But even today, we saw only a half dozen.
It should have taken you 2-3 hours to get to this point.
You now have several choices. 1. You can retrace your steps back to Shifen. I did this today and it was great. Walking back you get to revel in all the mountains and ridges you had to turn around to appreciate on the way up. Also, if you save the tunnels for the return trip you have something to look forward to at the end.
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You can walk down from the pavilion to the road and follow the road down to Ruifang and there catch a train back to taipei. (When the road splits head left. Right will take you back to Shifen. It’s pretty obvious.)
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About halfway between the tudigong temple and the weather station lookout you will see a natural path heading to the left (a number of tags mark the start). This path will take you down to Badu, or somewhere around Shizhi, Keelung. I can’t say exactly where but you can’t get lost. When you are on the ridge you can see clearly down to the pockets of development below.
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Just to the right of the tudigong temple is a trail heading down. Again, don’t know exactly where it ends up but if you follow your nose you’ll end up on a road taking you back to Shizhi or Keelung.
Anyway, that is the trail. If you retrace your steps give yourself around 4-5 hours. Longer if you want to have a lengthy rest at the pavilion.
It’s windy up on the ridge so take a sweater. Also, don’t leave too late as it can get foggy up here in the late afternoon.
