Hiking part of the Su Hua Historical Trail: Great Nan-Ao Mountain Crossing in Yilan County.
Distance/Time: 7.44 km/4 hours and 7 minutes but I did not complete the whole trail. I had read that the trail was about 8 km and took about 5 hours round trip.
Trail Conditions: This is a there-and-back trail. Its a hard hike mainly because it all uphill on the way there and all downhill on the way back. My altitude gain was 787 meters and altitude loss 787 meters. Time uphill: 02:20:56 and time going downhill: 01:24:56. At the top the trail also became messier and grown over with grass and thorns. Of course, going downhill was easier but I still had to watch my step.
What to take: Near the top the trail goes through long grass and also there are some thorns so long pants would be best. I wish that I had taken a hiking pole. It would have been very useful, especially on the descent.
Transportation: We camped overnight the night before in Dong-Ao. I took a Kamalan bus from the Taipei Main Station bus station to Luodong and then transferred to a local train to Dong-Ao. The bus took about an hour and 45 minutes. The train ride only took 20 minutes.
In the morning, my friends and I drove from Dong-Ao to the trail head in Nan-Ao.
However, the trailhead can be reached by taking a train to Nan-Ao Station and then walking to the trail head. Its about 1 kilometer from the train station to the trail.
Accommodation:
Normally if I am going to camp near Nan-Ao I stay at the Nan-Ao Recreational Farm. https://travel.yilan.tw/en/attraction/details/51 It is a big, free campground provided by the Yilan County Government. It's about a 30 minute walk from the Nan-Ao Train Station. I've stayed there a number of times and have good memories of that place--plus its free. Though they do charge $500 on holiday weekends.
But as we were planning this trip, it was closed because of the COVID-19 situation and we did not know for sure when it would open again. So we booked a site at this private campground near Dong-Ao: https://www.google.com/maps/place/%E5%85%AB%E7%A6%8F%E5
The campground is a 15 minute walk from the Dong-Ao Train Station and near the Dong Yue Cold Spring--a great spot with a long shallow pool of clean, cold water. Unfortunately, the cold spring was also closed because of COVID restrictions.
It was NT$1000 per tent which I at first thought was a bit expensive but in the end I was happy that we stayed there. The owner was very helpful and accommodating and he was ready at almost a moment's notice to drive anyone from or to the train station. We had 5 tents and were given a back area of the campground that we pretty much had to ourselves. The toilets and showers were clean and well lit. There was plenty of drinking water. There was some karaoke coming from neighboring campgrounds but it was not too loud and we were also playing our own music.
The Hike:
About a month previously my friend had suggested we combine a night camping with a hike in the morning sometime soon. I ran across this web site https://recreation.forest.gov.tw/lang/EN/Trail/RT?typ=3&tr_id=001 with information about the trail and suggested we check it out.
Nine of us camped overnight and hiked the next day, including my two teenage sons. The night before the hike I made sure to drink plenty of beer and whiskey--just because I like to do things the hard way.
We got a little bit of a late start the next day.
We drove to the trail head in two cars and parked in a large, free parking lot. We started hiking around 10 am. From the parking lot we turned right and walked down a narrow road until we came to a temple. We turned right at the temple.
A small lane next to the temple goes straight to the trail in just a few minutes.
At first the trail was very steep but got a little gentler later. However, the trail climbed consistently all the way to the top.
At first it was wide with wooden steps and a wide dirt path. As the trail climbed higher it got narrower and the steps became stone.
The trail was in forest with plenty of shade but no views.
The trail was very easy to follow. There were no turnings, occasional distance markers and signs pointing to the South Entrance and the North Entrance.
After about 30 minutes we came to a clearing with a stone bench, next to some underground bunkers. A sign explained that during the Qing dynasty the bunkers were used for "observation and for storing munitions."
Most of the people in our group did not want to hike the entire trail so at this point I went ahead faster so that I could try to make it to the top and back without my friends having to wait too long for me at the parking lot.
I kept in touch with them by messenger. Later everyone turned back except for two other hikers who went further but later also decided to turn back.
I continued, going faster than normal, so I could try to catch up to my friends or at least not make them wait too long. As I climbed higher I could see the blue of the ocean through the trees but could not really see a view.
As I got to the top, the trail emerged into the sun and tall grass. There were areas that were covered in grass and it was hard to see the trail.
Eventually I came around a bend and came upon two hikers having lunch. They said to me that the trail ahead was "Bu hao zou" and that they were not going on.
Just ahead the trail was covered with grass and some thorns. I went on and down just a bit to where I could see the blue of the ocean stretching to the horizon and cliffs and coastline ahead.
I kind of wish that I had pushed on and got to the end of the trail because I was almost there. But at this point the trail was not nice to walk and I was thinking about my friends and sons waiting for me at the parking lot. If I had continued I might have come to some stunning views but I decided it was enough and turned back. Coming back out of the grass, I found three leeches on my socks. Disgusting but harmless.
I headed back down right away. The hike down was faster but I had to take care on the steep stone steps. I turned around at about 2 hours 30 minutes and it took me about 1 hour and and 30 minutes to get back down. I caught up with two hikers from our group on the way down and we went back together to join the others at the parking lot who had gone to see the beach while waiting for us.
GPS coordinates and map:
Trailhead GPS: 24.462447, 121.815739
https://my.viewranger.com/track/details/MjA5NjMwOTY=
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