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| Alibang Waterfall |
Alibang Waterfall is a 45 meter falls in a relatively remote and less visited part of Yangmingshan National Park. The trail to the falls is quiet and feels very wild. It is a rough trail but not too hard. I took a long route using public transportation but it is possible to shorten the route by driving to the trail head.
Distance/Time: About 16 km/ 7 hours.
Trail Conditions: I walked from the bus stop to the actual trail head by a combination of shorter trails and road walking. The first part of the trail near the bus stop was recently repaired and in good condition but later the trail was in disrepair and I walked on the road to save time. There were lots of barking dogs on the road. Mostly they were just an annoyance but its best to keep an eye out for them.
The trail to the waterfall was muddy with plenty of slippery sections but generally in good shape. It was clear it gets enough traffic to keep it from becoming overgrown. The trail climbs steadily and there are ups and downs but not many steep sections. The steepest part is the decent to the base of the waterfall.
I saw 11 other hikers the day I was there. One group was leaving the waterfall just as I got there. Two more arrived after me. But while walking I didn't see anyone else.
What to take: There is no place to buy anything so pack all of your food and water ahead of time. I found a hiking pole really useful for keeping my balance on the trail and also for threatening barking dogs.
Transportation: I took bus 1717 from near the M8 exit at Taipei Main Station. It goes to Jinshan via Yangmingshan Park. I got the first bus at 7:00 am and got off at the Chongguang stop. It takes about an hour and half and costs over $100 NT so I topped up my Easy Card before leaving.
On weekends and holidays, there are also buses at 8:00, 9:00, 10:30 etc..but because of the length of the walk I would not want to leave later than 7:00.
It was New Year's Eve day and the bus was packed even at 7:00 am. But most people go off at the Xiaoyoukeng fumeroles 小油坑 near Qixingshan.
On the way back I caught the 3:30 bus coming back from Jinshan at about 3:40. There are return buses departing from Jinshan at 3:30, 4:30, 5:30 and the last is at 6:45.
The hike:
Getting off the bus I walked in the same direction a short distance to the next intersection and turned left. This is the beginning of county road 25.
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| Chongguang bus stop |
At the top I rejoined county road 25 and looking right I could see the entrance to the Jinshan Jhonghe Village Dalukan Trail.
The trail was being repaired and the first section was churned up mud. Just around the corner there were three workers and an excavator but they said I could pass through. After the initial section the trail was in good shape.
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| The trail passes a large concrete water tank at the top of this short section. |
Shortly after passing a concrete water tank I took the right fork which was overgrown and the less obvious trail.
I passed over a bridge and joined a section of trail that had been recently repaired. At the top was a trail repair crew that asked me if the trail was good to walk on. I told them it was and thanked them. Looking at that section of trail and how much effort it took to repair it I am really thankful for the work they put into it.
The trail crossed the road and went straight on.
However this section was in really bad shape. It was overgrown, the wooden crossties were rotted and there was lots of leaf litter and fallen limbs.
The trail came to a farm. I saw a farmer and asked him if I could pass through since the trail cut right through his farm. He was very friendly. We talked about the condition of the trail and he agreed that it was faster to walk on the road.
As the trail came to the farm house I went right and back out to county road 25 or as I mentally dubbed it, "The Road of Barking Dogs."
At first the road passed fancy looking walled compounds but as it went higher there were less affluent looking houses and farms. And lots of barking dogs.
These were not the cuddly sort of dogs you see pushed around in strollers in Taipei City. They were big, mean looking farm dogs. Most of them were on chains or just barked from inside the yards and didn't bother me. At one house there was a large dog chained in the courtyard and four more canine heads popped up over a low wall on the roof.
At one point two dogs came out to the road from driveways on opposite sides of the road. The one on the left just stood there and barked but the other came tearing down the driveway right at me. I waved my hiking pole, hit the ground with it and shouted and he backed off. He had defended his territory and his job was done.
I made quick progress on the road and there were good views whenever I looked back. I followed it ignoring side turnings till I came to a t-intersection. This was county road 22.
It was about 4 km/1.5 hours from the bus stop to the trail entrance.
The trail started just around the wall on the right next to an irrigation canal. A new section of trail had been laid with new concrete slabs.
I walked for about 50 minutes until I came to a clearing and an Earth God (Tudigong) shrine.
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| I turned right at the Earth God shrine |
I turned right at the shrine and took the trail that climbed up to a windy wooded ridge.
I followed this trail for about 25 minutes and came to the first view of Alibang Waterfall across a valley.
From this point the trail starts to descend to the waterfall and this is the steepest and most rough section.
At a fork the trail to the waterfall is the one on the right going downhill. The trail on the left carries on to Zhuzishan but I have never been that way.
It took me 30 minutes to walk from the viewpoint to the base of the waterfall. At the last part just before the waterfall there is a little bit of scrambling over rocks.
Just upstream and across the water is another trail that was marked with a yellow flag. About a year before this a friend and I had walked this trail to Alibang which comes from Qingshan waterfall in the north not far from the village of Laomei. I am glad we did that walk once but it was a tough walk that involved pushing through wet tunnels of bamboo with lots of cursing, barley able to see where we were putting our feet and descending a really treacherous rocky ravine in the rain. Going that way once was probably enough.
Its relatively easy to climb up to the base of the falls on the left side of the stream and there is a nice pool of water there.
I cooked some lunch and had a rest and then took the same route back to the bus stop.
The return trip only took me 2.5 hours. I enjoyed the road walk on the way back. It was nice to open my stride up and walk along checking out the views of the farms in the valley and of the ocean and Keelung Island beyond. When I got to the house with the aggressive dog I tried to go quietly and I sneaked by without incident. Maybe he was sleeping.
Just before getting back to the bus stop I stopped to check out the Chao Tian Temple.
Map and GPS:
Gongguang bus stop: 25.216901, 121.604337
Zhuzishan Old Trail entrance: 25.234961, 121.588184
Alibang Waterfall: 25.226554, 121.573081
https://my.viewranger.com/track/details/MjE2MDY3ODk=
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