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| misty forest, huge moss-covered boulders and stumps of old growth trees on day 2 of the Ah-Xi trail | |
An abandoned scenic railway, a 2557 meter peak, a 4000 year old god tree and an earthquake lake filled with ghostly dead trees. The Ah-Xi thru-hike is a challenging and rewarding three day trip. Day 1 follows the Mian Yue Line trail where thru-hikers usually camp near the old Hsihou station. Day 2, is the most challenging. The trail goes up and over a peak through rugged and remote country and passes the Mian Yue Sacred Tree before ending for the day at Shuiyang Forest Lake. Day 3 takes hikers to the end in Shanlinxi. There is bus service at both ends.
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| crossing a railway bridge on the Mian Yue Line |
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| Shuiyang Forest Lake |
Distance/duration: I walked 29.8 km over 3 days.
Day 1: 4h 21min/ 10.2 km
Day 2: 6h 56 min/ 7.6 km
Day 3: 4h 53min/ 12 km
More details as well as a maps can be found on my ramblr account. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Trail Overview:
I would rate this a hard hike. I don't mean to exaggerate but it's best to be prepared. This trip is suitable for hikers with some experience backpacking and even though I did not follow my own advice, it's probably better not to go alone. (I told my wife my exact plan and when I would be back and updated her from the trail when I could.) Day 1 and 3 are relatively easy but day 2 is a tough, slippery hike, particularly with a heavy pack. After the first day there is no internet or phone service and it is at least a half day's hike or more from a road. The weather can change at any time (as it did on the last day of my trip), turning a pleasant hike into potential misery. But that is just a caveat. If properly prepared, it's a great trip. I'm very glad I did it.
The walk begins in the Alishan Forest Recreation Area in Chiayi and ends in the Shanlinxi Forest Recreation Area in Nantou. Years ago there was another Ah-Xi route but it was abandoned after earthquake damage and this is considered the new Ah-Xi route.
The Mian Yue Line section of the hike is a breeze and a lot of fun. It is a popular out-and-back day hike and there were lots of hikers on the trail. You need a permit to enter because it passes through the Taiwan Orchid Nature Preserve. See the permit section below for how to apply. It follows an abandoned railway line, crossing 24 rail bridges and going through 14 tunnels.
On social media people post photos and videos that emphasize the height of the railway bridges and make them look scary. But actually there are wide-wooden planks in the middle that are easy to walk on. I think only two of the bridges are particularly long or high. In the past it seems walkers had to step on the individual railway ties which I'm sure made it a harder. It's best to take a light for the tunnels but I only really needed it for two. One is long enough that you can't see light from the other end and one has a collapsed section in the middle where you have to traipse up a pile of rubble and through a small opening. There is one collapsed section of the railway line early in the hike. It looks very dramatic but it is actually very easy and there are metal loops in the rock to hold onto.
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| looking back at the collapsed section on the Mian Yue Line |
The Mian Yue Line was originally built by the Japanese in 1913 to facilitate logging. In 1983 it was turned into a tourist railway. But in 1999 it was damaged in the big 921 earthquake and it was decided not to repair it. Eventually it was discovered by hikers. I love the English translation of Mian Yue, "Sleeping Moon," a name which was coined by a Japanese forester.
Most day hikers turn around at Shihou (monkey rock). I guess there used to be a rock that looked like a monkey here but I heard it too was damaged in an earthquake and I didn't see anything matching that description. I camped next to the old Shihou Station. There is a shelter with a concrete platform. In theory it is off limits to hikers and has been enclosed all around with wire fencing and warning signs. In practice, it's obvious that people still use it because a section of the fence had been pulled back and it was easy to enter. A sign says that the foundation is subsiding and it is unstable.
There are also old derelict toilets. They really looked like they were in bad shape and I did not investigate. Just up the trail there are "eco-toilets" which are basically a box over a hole in a ground. After you have done your business you shovel some leaves or dirt on top. There is a water source that is passed before reaching Shihou. It was just a trickle when I was there but must be reliable because it is marked on the map. There was a small PVC pipe that channeled water flowing down the stone and using that I filled up a big Nalgene canteen and took it back to camp for cooking and drinking.
Day 2 is the most rugged, remote and difficult. and in my opinion, the most beautiful. It continues along the remains of the Mian Yue Line but soon climbs steeply to the summit of 2557 meter Songshan. There is no view but it feel like an accomplishment. The trail is in pine forest and passes enormous moss covered boulders and the stumps of huge old trees that were logged in the past. After the summit there is a very long descent and the trail also passes through some stream beds and climbs up the other sides. When I hiked it the trail was very slippery. There are few level areas which makes it very slow going. There is also some clambering over boulders and logs. The trail is usually well-marked but there were 2-3 places where for a few moments I was a bit unsure which way to go. I just had to look around carefully and consult the map on my phone. Before finally reaching Shuiyang Forest Lake there is a 750 meter side trail to the over 4000 year old Mian Yue Sacred Tree which is the third largest god tree in Taiwan.
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| Me posing next to the Mian Yue Sacred Tree on a previous trip |
Shuiyang Forest Lake is an "earthquake lake" that was created when an earthquake triggered a landslide damming the flow of a stream. The flooded trees died. Someone told me that some of the trees fell during the big earthquake in Hualien in 2024 and it did seem to me that there were less trees than when I visited two years ago. The lake is a popular trip from Shanlinxi. There are two routes from Shanlinxi--an easier route that follows the route of an old logging road and a harder one that goes up and over Luqushan 鹿屈山 (2293 m). The harder route takes about 6 hours and the easier one about 5. In January 2023 I came to the lake and also hiked to Qian Ren Dong or Thousand People Cave which is the largest cave in Taiwan. It is a 5 hour round-trip hike from the lake. Here is my post from that trip: Three Days, Two Nights at Shuiyang Forest 水漾森林 and Qian Ren Dong (Thousand People Cave) 千人洞
There are also eco-toilets at the lake. They had been moved since my last visit which was a good thing. They used to be upstream which meant they could contaminate the water but now they have been moved further downstream. I took water from the stream that flows into the lake. I did see tissue paper in random places which annoyed me since there is a designated bathroom area. I was sure to boil the water thoroughly before using it and once in a spell of paranoia boiled the water and treated it with iodine.
The last day I took the easier trail to Shanlinxi. It starts out with some steep climbing and one long steep descent. It is easier but there are some rough, slippery parts and I saw several relatively fresh looking rock slides.
What to bring: I carried food for three days, a tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad as well as the usual things I take backpacking. Here are some things that I consider essential but this is by no mean an exhaustive list:
a stove, warm non-cotton clothing, rain gear. Extra dry clothes in a
dry bag. An offline map. A headlamp. I
boil water or purify it with iodine. (I had a filter but found it was
unreliable because it often clogged).
It
is not essential but I took a small bottle of
Dr. Bronner's 18 in 1 Castile soap on this trip for the first time. It
is biodegradable so I don't need to worry about it polluting the
environment. On this trip I used it mainly to brush my teeth.
On this trip I was reading The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt (it has nothing to do with the Tom Cruise movie) and I was listening to the Human Nature Odyssey podcast.
Permit:
A permit is required for the first day because the trail passes through the Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve. The number of daily visitors is capped at 350. You can apply for the permit at this website: https://pa.forest.gov.tw/ You can apply from 60 to 5 days prior to your entry. The permit once approved can be printed 5 days before entry. The site is only in Chinese but it is easy to use translating it with Google Chrome.
- Choose the Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve from the pull down menu above the calendar.
- Then select the date of entry on the calendar. It is all pretty self-explanatory.
- However, pay attention to the entry point which is Mian Yue Railway -Tashan Station
- And exit point for thru-hikers which is Mianyue Station (Xitou End).
- For reason for Application Purpose or Project choose: People's need for environmental education.
I received an email confirming my application and within a couple of days another saying my application had been approved. The emails were in Chinese but again Google translate is your friend. My advice is to keep the email saying your application is approved which includes a link to the permit--though you can also access it by entering your application number into the website.
You can check your status and see how many people have applied on a given day by clicking on the calendar on the site. When I did this I was confused because even though the email said my application had been approved it still said "standby" next to my name. To double check I called them and they told me, "Chenggongle" --my application was successful.
Transportation:
I took a train to Chiayi the afternoon before and stayed in a hostel overnight. Then I took bus 7322 from Chiayi to Alishan the next morning which took 2.5 hours. The buses leave at 5:55, 7:55, 9:55, 13:55. The buses originate at the Daya Stop and arrive at the Chiayi Train Station about 5 minutes later. The bus stop is directly in front of the train station. At the time I took it, there was a giant, cartoonish, white bear wearing a red scarf by the bus stop.
It pays to get there about 30 minutes early. I took the 5:55 bus and even at that time of the morning people were lining up. I got a seat but some people behind me had to stand the whole way. You can pay with an Easycard as you board. You may want to consider buying a ticket ahead of time. It seemed like most people had not but those who had tickets were allowed to board first. This website explains how to book tickets ahead: https://www.taiwanobsessed.com/chiayi-to-alishan-bus-schedule/
At the end of the hike I took bus 6883B from Shanlinxi to the Taichung HSR station. It also took about 2.5 hours. This bus leaves Shanlinxi at 11:00, 14:50, 15:35. It also goes to the Taichung Train Station. Here is a link to the bus schedule: https://www.taiwanbus.tw/eBUSPage/Query/QueryResult.aspx?rno=6883B&rn=1710120433108&lan=E From the Taichung HSR Station I bought a non-reserved ticket for a train back to Taipei which takes a little over an hour.
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The Hike Day 1
The night before the hike I took a train to Chiayi city. The famous thing to eat in Chiayi is Chiayi chicken rice. I fueled up with a dish of it along with vegetables and soup at a place near the station.
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| Chiayi is known for it's chicken rice | | |
I stayed in a dormitory room at the Orange Hotel/Hostel. I'm glad I did. It was about a 15 minute walk from the station but it was incredibly clean and had a really nice common area and the bed was really comfortable. On a previous trip I had stayed at the Yoyo Hotel mainly because it's just across the road from the Alishan bus stop. However, it was not very clean and even though I'm not that picky, the bed was so uncomfortable that I ended up putting the blankets on the floor and sleeping on the floor. In the morning I took the bus to Alishan. The bus lets you off next to convenience stores and then you come to the gate.
The general entrance fee is $300 but it is only $150 if arriving by bus. The driver gives you a paper when you get off the bus to present at the ticket booth. When I got off the bus I was shocked at how cold it was. I thermometer at the ticket booth read 2 degrees C.
I walked through the park at Alishan passing a station on the Alishan Forest Railway. There is more than one way to go but I followed signs for Zhaoping Park and Sister's Pond and came to Sister's Pond after about 40 minutes.
The sun was out and it was starting to warm up. Just before Sister's Pond there is a map board next to a trail entrance with a sign that reads Mian Yue Line.
From here the trail entered forest and became really beautiful. The trail sometimes ran right next to the railroad but this section is still in operation and it's forbidden to walk on it. Not long ago, there were some people on the news because they were fined for taking a short cut by walking on the railway.
I reached a structure with a wooden deck around it and some benches. Here the trail forks. The right fork is the Tashan Trail. The left fork is the beginning of the Mian Yue Line trail.
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| beginning of the Mian Yue Line |
I had wanted to come here for so long and was excited to have finally made it. It wasn't long till I reached the notorious collapsed section. There is a tunnel- open on one side-- and a section of it was taken out by a landslide.
There was a slow down as people negotiated the collapse one by one. It's a good place for picture taking.
Shortly the trail entered the first enclosed tunnel.
When I came to the tunnel with the collapse in the middle it was completely dark and at first I couldn't see how to get through but as I got closer to the rubble the way became clear.
The trail was constantly interesting, passing over bridges and through tunnels. At one point I stopped for a snack next to a wooden platform. I had an apple and some tortillas with sharp cheese. Some very bold birds kept trying to sneak up and steal my food.
I did not reach the permit box until well into the hike.  |
I put one copy of my permit into this box and carried another with me.
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I reached Shihou sooner than I expected. There was a rest area before the station where a lot of people were having lunch and the old station was a bit further. It was only 2:30 in the afternoon but it was still too late to start the long hike up and over Songshan. Before setting up camp I walked back to the the water source to check it out because I had walked by it without paying attention. It was about 400 meters back the way I came.
I filled my canteen then went back to camp and set up my tent next to the old station.
I was surprised that I was the only one camping there and doing the thru-hike. It seemed that even most day hikers did not come this far. I spent the afternoon in camp reading, listening to podcasts, cooking and messaging my wife and some friends. There was good internet access there. There had been numerous earthquakes around Chiayi in the previous days and when I was hiking that day I got two earthquake notifications on my phone but didn't feel anything. My wife told me that some rocks had fallen temporarily blocking the Alishan highway that afternoon and telling me I needed to be careful. In any case, it was too late for me to hike out and I felt pretty safe where I was.
I only saw three groups of people all afternoon. They were all day hikers except for one group who said they were camping in another spot and going back to Alishan the next day.
That night it was windy and very cold but I was comfortable in my sleeping bag. I woke up once because I thought I heard an animal walking near the tent but I think it was just the tent flapping in the wind. I got out of the tent once in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and started shivering right away. Toward early morning it started raining which I had not expected because the forecast had only predicted rain on the third morning.
The Hike Day 2
I got up around 6. Because it was raining, I ignored the sign saying not to enter the structure. I cooked breakfast and packed up inside. Because of the change in the weather, the earthquakes and because I was alone, I considered heading back to Alishan. But in the end I decided to proceed and I am really glad I did.
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| DIY rainskirt. Not very fashionable but effective. |
When I set out there was still light rain. It stopped later but whenever the wind blew I got doused by water blowing off the trees and the path was very slippery. The trail beyond Shitou was really beautiful. It was clear a lot less people came this far. I passed another campsite and continued to follow the railway for a while.
The trail turned to the right and started to climb up a steep narrow trail. Later it reached a ridge where it was wider and went up and down and sometimes over boulders covered with moss and roots and through tall pine forest.
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| Songshan Summit |
I didn't linger long on the summit because it was windy and cold. I was hoping it would get easier on the way down but it never did. It was a long, steep, meandering descent. It didn't rain for the rest of the day and the sun even broke through the mist a few times.
In the afternoon the trail dropped down into a valley and crossed several, mostly dry streams climbing down into the stream beds and back up the other sides. It was really picturesque and wild. There were slippery rocks and it was slow going. I passed a clearing that I guessed was a hunter's camp. There was a big pile of empty bottles of booze in the middle and shattered glass spread around. I noticed some bottles of pretty high quality scotch in the pile. After this I passed another campsite on a flat tongue of land above the streams. Right after this the trail dropped into a narrow stream bed of rounded slippery boulders. The trail turned left and followed the stream for a while. It was rough going and there was a lot of brush. I was glad when the trail exited the stream on the other side and started climbing above the bank.
After this I finally reached a nice level trail and came to the junction for the side trail to the Mian Yue Sacred Tree. I had been here two years ago and it was nice to tread familiar ground again.
I was tired but was not going to pass up the chance be in the presence of the tree again. I dropped my pack at the junction and walked to the tree which is just 750 meters away. The trail starts out level and is later steep but it was so much easier walking without a pack.
I went back to the junction picked up my pack and then headed down toward the Shuiyang Forest Lake which is about another 750 meters steeply downhill.As I was walking downhill the trees starting swaying back and forth and groaning and some of them knocked together high in the canopy. At first I was alarmed and thought it was another earthquake but I didn't feel any shaking so I think it was just a strong gust of wind.
When I got to the lake I was really tired but so happy to finally arrive.
There was a hiking guide setting up tents for his clients. I was glad to see another person since I had not seen anyone all day. He offered me a small cup of whiskey which I gladly accepted. As I was talking to him, I thought he seemed familiar and realized it was the same guy I had met two years ago when I had come to the lake!
I set up my tent and tried to update my wife but there was no signal. The guide told me to walk 5 minutes uphill toward Shanlinxi to get a signal. When I did I found I could get a connection but it was very slow. Anyway I was able to send a message to my wife to let her know I had made it safely.
The guide had seven clients who soon started to arrive. They were so lucky! They didn't need to set up their own tents and the guide had hot water ready for them and cooked their dinner. Later a couple in their 60's hiked in and set up a tent. They had all come from the Shanlinxi side.
That night it started to rain heavily and almost constantly all night. I was happy to be warm, dry and comfortable in my tent. I kept waking up calculating how many hours there were until dawn and thinking surely it would stop raining by then.
The Hike Day 3
I again got up around 6 and almost everyone else in the camp started to stir around the same time. It was raining a little bit on and off but it was light rain and the day looked promising.
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| Morning coffee in the rain |
However by the time I had packed and was ready to set off it was raining a lot and it kept raining all day. Because of the rain and because I was wet and cold I did not take many pictures that day or even stop to rest. The trail started out very steep as it climbed away from the lake, sometimes using ropes on almost vertical sections. The group of seven hikers had set off ahead of me but I soon passed them.
At the top it was level for a little while through stunning forest with some good views and a glimpse of the lake below.
At a junction, I kept to the right. The trail on the left is the harder route which goes over Luqushan.
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The trail on the left goes over Luqushan. The easier route is on the right.
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I came to a very, steep but short downhill section where I had to go slow. At the bottom of the hill the trail turned left and was level.
From here the trail was about the same all the way to Shanlinxi. There were still plenty of ups and downs and rough sections but it wasn't very steep. There were many relatively recent looking rock slides. The constant rain turned the trail into a soupy, wet mess and I often had to walk through standing or flowing water or sucking mud. Worse there was lots of tall grass heavy with rain that I had to push through. I had an umbrella but it was useless because I needed one hand for my hiking pole and wanted to keep the other hand free and in any case it would have got caught in the tunnels of grass. Despite gore-tex boots and rain gear I became thoroughly soaked.
I didn't rest all day and tried to pick up the pace whenever I came to a flat section. I used a sort of psychological carrot and stick approach to motivate myself to keep moving at a good clip. I really wanted to be sure I got to the bus stop in time to change into dry clothes before the bus came. The carrot was the thought of dry clothes and food and the stick was the thought of what it would be like if I had to get on the bus right away in wet clothes. Near the end the trail became wide and level and eventually reached a course, paved road.
There were several short cuts cutting out bends on the road but I had had enough of hiking on steep, slippery trails and I stuck to the road where I could keep up my pace. Finally, I emerged by straight rows of trees next to a rushing stream with stepped weirs and then came to the road through Shanlinxi. Given the weather I was surprised at the number of people in the park.
I turned left on the road and walked about 2 km to the bus stop. There are shuttle buses in the park but I just decided to walk. I made one stop along the way. When I passed between two brick buildings I saw a sign for a bathroom and since there were not many people around I ducked into the bathroom to change into the clothes in my dry bag. I regret to say I made a mess in the bathroom, leaving mud and twigs and leaves on the floor. I only had one pair of shoes, so even though I put on dry socks they were soon wet but there was nothing I could do about it. Finally, I arrived at the bus stop in front of the visitor's center. I had about 50 mins to wait. I retreated under a roof. There was a hot water machine there which seemed luxurious and I refreshed myself with some more tortillas with cheese and fritos and hot water while I waited for the bus.
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| arriving in at the end in Shanlinxi |
Further Reading:
Taipei Times: Alishan's Back Door
Nearby Hikes:
Three Days, Two Nights at Shuiyang Forest 水漾森林 and Qian Ren Dong (Thousand People Cave) 千人洞
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