I’m going to Lishan tomorrow and have been looking for some hiking trails in the area without much luck. Looking for something fairly tough but doable in a day. Or anything really just not a 100m walk along a wooden path. Any ideas?
You’ve got all the hikes at Hehuanshan which is not to far away. There are also some paths up to Syueshan that start just north of there. You wouldn’t be able to go all the way but enough for a good workout.
If anyone is interested we found an excellent hiking trail nearby wuling farm. The mountain is called taoshan and is 3325m high (i think) if you are in pretty good shape you can make it up and down in a day (it took us 6 hours, but we were going at a hefty pace. i’d suggest 8 hours) there is a cabin at the top that you could stay at or camp too if you wanted to break it down into two days.
From inside wuling farm head to the taoshan waterfall trail, after about 1km you will see a road leading off to the right with a sign in english for taoshan.
The trail is amazing and views are fantastic all the way up.
You need a permit to climb that (and especially to stay in the cabin)even if there is no one to collect it at the trailhead. It’s part of the 4-5 day Holy Ridge walk.
That’s strange because we didn’t have permits. The trail to Taoshan has a fork with a sign pointing to the entrance on taoshan trail with a big board explaining the route and things. There was no mention of any permits on the board and certainly noone there to check if we had permits.
That’s interesting. I passed that way on the way to Mt. Kalehu just north of TaoShan three weeks ago. That’s probably one of the best views of Snow Mountain and the ‘Holy Ridge’. A very nice trip is to go up via the path to ChihYou Shan and walk over to TaoShan (staying at the hut there) and then come down on the other path down from TaoShan.
I imagine that has gotten you fired up to explore some more peaks!!
If you are looking for hikes to do in the LiShan area, you should get the Sun River map No.6 and those hikes that are (relatively)well-used and tagged are in the yellow and red dashes, the HoHuanShan peaks being the most accessible.
That’s why I said no one may be there to collect it. When I did the week long Batonguan in the spring there was no one to collect permits either, which in no way argues that such permits are not needed.
The park may be able to issue you day permits if you just want to go up to Taoshan and back, but for staying in the cabin you probably need to book in advance. If you just hiked up and planned to stay the night and a group came along who had booked bed space they would have every right to ask you to leave. This could be potentially dangerous if it was at night. Assume as a general rule anytime you go above 3000m you are going to need a permit of some sort and most cabins are going to need advanced booking. I just want to make this point clear in case you have told others about this.
That’s a good point about the permits for staying in the huts, MM. That’s more necessary than ever especially as in some areas it is possible to do a whole route march with huts at every night stop.(The Holy Ridge, ChilaiShan, DungPu to Yuli as well as the main route to Snow and Jade Mtns.) Like now, in the summer, this has caused an increase in the number of people willing to get up into the heights. Since it’s not necessary to beg, borrow or buy a tent or haul one around, more and more people are booking the huts and visiting the more accessible peaks.Without that permit, if a big party arrived (and they can be) a hiker with no permit could be ousted and without a tent, that would be a chilly night!
MM, I’d be interested to know if the National Park have built any huts between the one near ChiaMing Lake and PatungKuan. When I was there in 1999, it was camping all the way between those places.If you do that hike, will you be taking a tent?
I bought a map for the xueba national park from page one just yesterday. It’s called 國家公園地圖系列 no. 10-02 (no English though) and it costs $150
It has details of itineraries with typical times that it would take to get from one place to another. It also gives you information on the trails such water sources, permits that are needed, where and how to apply, camping areas, huts, dangers… etc.
For the 武陵四秀線 hike (Taoshan, Kaleyeshan, Chiyoushan and Pintianshan) you definitely need a permit if you intend to do the whole thing and spend a few nights up there but as far as going up and down in one day i don’t know. Don’t think there’s much harm in going up and down in a day without a permit.
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go there soon.
[quote=“Jah Lynnie”]That’s a good point about the permits for staying in the huts, MM. That’s more necessary than ever especially as in some areas it is possible to do a whole route march with huts at every night stop.(The Holy Ridge, ChilaiShan, DungPu to Yuli as well as the main route to Snow and Jade Mtns.) Like now, in the summer, this has caused an increase in the number of people willing to get up into the heights. Since it’s not necessary to beg, borrow or buy a tent or haul one around, more and more people are booking the huts and visiting the more accessible peaks.Without that permit, if a big party arrived (and they can be) a hiker with no permit could be ousted and without a tent, that would be a chilly night!
MM, I’d be interested to know if the National Park have built any huts between the one near ChiaMing Lake and PatungKuan. When I was there in 1999, it was camping all the way between those places.If you do that hike, will you be taking a tent?[/quote]
I will be doing that hike next week and won’t be taking a tent to save weight (we plan on a 10 day trip). We were supposed to start tomorrow but of course had to cancel because of the typhoon. There are cabins all along the way according to all our maps, talks with the national park, and research on blogs. Certainly from Dashuiku to Batonguan there are cabins and according to our schedule:
7/18(Friday)開車到向陽工作站–向陽山屋–嘉明湖山屋: Parking lot to Jiaming Lake Hut: 7 hours
7/19(Saturday)嘉明湖山屋–拉庫音溪山屋: Jiaming Lake Hut to Lakuyin River Basin Cabin: 5.5 hours
7/20(Sunday)拉庫音溪山屋—南雙頭山—雲峰—轆轆谷山屋: Lakuyin to Nanshuangtou Mt to Yunfong to Luluku Cabin: 8.5 hours
7/21(Monday)轆轆谷山屋—轆轆山—塔分山—塔分谷山屋: Luluku Cabin to Luluku Mt to Tafengu Cabin: 6 hours
7/22(Tuesday)塔分谷山屋—達分尖山—南大水窟山—大水窟山屋: Tafengu Cabin to Dafenjian Mt to Nandashuiku to Dashuiku Cabin: 8 hours
So the longest day is 8 hours or so of hiking. Much better than the Batonguan Trail as that one day there is a 12 hour gap between cabins.
Here, no need for a tent then, unless you want one for safety.
But I’ll post a full blog report when I am done.
As for groups and cabins, yeah it is important. Our second night at Guangao was very crowded as the one group decided not to push on because of the weather but stay the night. Obviously you have to allow for this. I read that the national park last year lowered the number of people who could stay each night in cabins to avoid overcrowding and to allow for the fact that on a week logn trek you might have to change your schedule a bit.