Taiwan Hiking Journal: Nuandong Valley Park 暖東峽谷 and Zhong Yao Jian 中窯尖 Loop Trail


Keep an eye out for the signs in Chinese pointing the way to Zhong Yao Jian

Dense, quiet forest, narrow rocky trails, a summit with a clearing and several stream crossings. This was a long, challenging but fun hike that felt very wild and isolated. We had the trail to ourselves the day we were there. The route climbs to the summit of Zhong Yao Jian, drops down to the Xishi Stream, follows it-- crossing several times--, then climbs back up and finishes at the starting point at Nuandong Valley Park.

Distance/Time: 9 km/ 7 hours and 22 mins including rests. It was very wet and we had sort of a big group. It might take less time with a smaller group and under different conditions but at least 6-7 hours.

The Trail: The route makes a big loop starting in Nuandong Valley Park, goes to the summit of Zhong Yao Jian (605 meters), drops down to follow the Xi Shi Stream and then climbs up and finishes at the starting point.

This is not an easy trail. It climbs up to 631 meters, then goes down to 247 meters (along the stream) then climbs back up to 440 meters and then steeply down to around 170 meters at the parking lot at the end.

Parts of the trail are not in good shape. It was very slippery and there were lots of difficult sections to negotiate--climbing up and down and over rocks and tree roots. I think just about every one in our group slipped at some point and several fell. It's not a good idea to do this trail alone. After the park at the beginning we didn't see any other hikers all day.

There were several very wet muddy sections and several stream crossings where the water was over the top of my boots. It had been raining a lot before our visit so the water level was high.

Route finding was challenging especially in the beginning. Once we got onto the right path I was able to find the way with no problems but it is possible to get lost on this route. I used a maps app on my phone but also tried to familiarize myself with the route before we went.

What to bring: I packed the usual things (plenty of water, lunch, snacks) but since I was pretty sure we would get our feet wet I brought extra socks. In retrospect, since we drove to the trail, I could have brought a dry pair of shoes and left them in the car.

The trail was very slippery so shoes with good tread are important. Some members of our group were wearing trainers and I was concerned they might fall and get hurt.

Transportation: This hike is easy to get to. We had three drivers in our group and went there by car but you can easily take a train to Nuannuan Station which takes about 40 minutes and costs NT$38.

From Nuannuan Station take a taxi. It's about a ten minute ride and only costs NT$150.

The hike: About a month before two friends and I had done a trail nearby and enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back and explore a different trail in the same area. At the end this route overlaps with the one that we did back in March.

https://taiwanhikingjournal.blogspot.com/2022/03/nuandong-valley-park-xishikeng-old.html

I didn't know anything about the trail. I had just planned a loop route by looking at the map. We had 8 people in our group. Everyone arrived in three cars at the parking lot and we got ready to set out. We got a later start than usual, starting to hike around 10:30. It was a cool, overcast day but with very little chance of rain.

The last time we had been here the park was closed because of construction and we had had to climb over the fence. This time construction was still going on but the gate was open.

We entered the park via a wide path crossing over a stream. Immediately we turned left over a small arched bridge and then after the bridge went right on a stone path with a wooden railing.

The arched bridge still showing evidence of construction.

We went left up wide steps next to a sort of camouflage archway.

This path continued to the right at the top. There was a railing on the right and a later a high rock wall on the left.

When we came to a dirt path going straight ahead with a sign board next to it, we went straight ahead and soon up narrow stone steps and onto a wide dirt path. The path on the left rejoined the one that we took after a while.

There were signs indicating that we were on part of the Tamsui-Kavalan Historical Trail

In the beginning the route was frustratingly difficult to follow because there were so many other trails.

We came out to an open terraced area. There was a trail going across the terraced area and apparently continuing on the other side but our path was straight ahead keeping the terraces on our left.


In this photo some members of our group can be seen mistakenly turning left here but our route was straight ahead.

The path straight ahead reentered the forest and became more narrow.

As we were climbing I could hear a dog barking. Surprisingly we emerged at a farm house. The dog was in the front yard barking and unchained but he was not aggressive. The farmer assumed that we were looking for the Tamsui-Kavalan trail and pointed straight past the house. We told him we were going to Zhong Yao Jian and he said you could get there from there but that it was not easy. (Bu hao zou)

Facing the farm house we turned right and went along a wide path until we came to stone steps on the left. We went up the steps which is the only way to go because the way forward is blocked by a railing and a stream.

Here began a longer section with no turns for a while and it became a little easier to be confident we were going the right way.

After about a kilometer (though that is a very rough estimate) we came to one last confusing junction.

There were two paths both sign posted in Chinese to Zhong Yao Jian. They both rejoin later but the one on the right looked shorter on the map. We tried and failed to find the path on the right so it probably would have been better to just take the left fork.

We went right but the way was unclear. We came to a path going down on the right but it seemed to be going the wrong way (thinking back this was probably the right way and it probably turned soon in the direction we wanted to go but I can't be sure). Looking up to the left we saw flags through the trees at the top of a slide area. We climbed carefully up the side of the slide on lose rocks and joined a clear trail but this turned out to be the left fork that we could have taken back at the junction. In any case we had already climbed up to get here and we were on the path so we just stayed on it.

When taking the left fork at the junction its easy to tell you are on the right path by looking out for this huge stone. We took a short break here.


This huge rock is a good landmark to look out for. In this photo I'm looking back at it.

From here to the summit was one of the easiest and straightest sections of the whole walk and we made good time. The path climbed but not too steeply and went almost straight.

About 600 meters after the junction the two paths rejoined and we went left and up-- toward the summit. We reached this point about two hours after we started hiking.

It's 1.3 km from where the paths rejoin to the summit. Along the way there is a path to the right and then another to the left but we continued straight following signs for Zhong Yao Jian 中窯尖. There were a few views along the way. This was one of my favorite sections because of the lush forest and tall straight trees.

Just before the summit there is a small clearing with a path to the right but the summit is to the left and a sign says one minute to the summit. We came out to a small clearing (with no view) at the summit of Zhong Yao Jian (605 m) and stopped for lunch. It took us approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes to get here from the parking lot.

Turn left and its one minute to the summit

The summit of Zhong Yao Jian. There is no view but there is a nice flat clearing.

We rested for about 45 minutes and then went back down to the clearing at the base of the summit. We went straight to take the path to the Xi Shi stream. The path that we had taken on the way up was now of course on our right.

The path passed through more forest and some high grass.

Less than 400 meters from the summit we came to a four way junction. The path on the left goes steeply down and eventually to a road. The path straight ahead eventually climbs to Mount Jiangziliao 姜子寮山 which is one of the one hundred small peaks (Xiao Bai Yue) and which I wrote about in September of 2021: https://taiwanhikingjournal.blogspot.com/2021/09/jiangziliao-mountain.html

We turned right to take the path to the Xi Shi Stream.

In 230 meters we came to another fork and bore left.

The trail crossed a grassy clearing

We bore left at this fork

From here the trail made its way down to the stream becoming wetter and trickier later on. Occasional signs indicated the way to the Xi Shi Historical Trail 西勢坑古道.

We rounded a corner and I was surprised to see a long man-made stone wall and a clearing. A sign said that this was once the site of a house.

There were more steep sections to negotiate and places where we had to climb or scramble over obstacles. We had to watch our footing here and take care not to slip into holes between rocks.

We reached the stream at 3:25. Five hours into the hike. I lost track of how many times that we had to cross the stream--maybe four to six--but we crossed several times in quick succession. A couple crossings were just an easy step over but the water was about calf high in some places and we all got our feet wet. I always prefer to just get wet than to try to balance on slippery rocks and maybe end up falling anyway.

The last crossing was familiar to me because it was where we had stopped for lunch on our hike the month before. It is a right turn across some large boulders. Take care not to miss it because another trail continues straight along the stream to the Xi Shi Reservoir which is several hours away. Once across the route starts to climb up from the stream right away. We took a very short rest here but not for long because we were worried it might get dark before we finished. It was four o'clock when we left the stream.

The trail goes up very steeply crossing back and forth across a rocky wet ravine and sometimes in it. The trail is at times unclear but there are plenty of flags in the trees.

In just over 600 meters there is a four way junction. The path on the left is a short steep climb to the summit of Dong Shi Da Lun (455 m) and worth a look but I had just been here a month ago and it was getting late and we were tired. So we continued straight ahead. As I was asking if anyone wanted to go up and looking for the name of the summit on my map my friend joked that its called "Nobody wants to go there."

From here the path back to the park is easier and easy to follow. Though the descent was steep and hard on tired legs.

We passed large circular holes in the ground (which are the remains of indigo extraction pits), had another easy crossing of the stream and just after the stream crossing turned left at fork.

At the next intersection we went left and downhill.

The route had one more slippery stream crossing for us (though the month before with less rain this crossing had been very easy) and then we followed the path out to the park and back to the parking lot.