Taiwan Hiking Journal: January 2023


Shuiyang Forest Lake

Qian Ren Dong (Thousand People Cave)

Starkly placid Shuiyang Forest Lake is a uniquely beautiful destination. The lake was formed during the 921 earthquake when a landslide caused the forest to flood-- killing the trees. Qian Ren Dong or Thousand People Cave is the largest cave in Taiwan. The trail to Shuiyang Forest starts in Nantou in the Shanlinxi Forest Recreation Area but the lake and cave are in Chiayi. Other destinations in the area include: Luqushan 鹿屈山 (2293 m) and the Mianyue Sacred Tree: a massive cypress tree which is over 4,000 years old and the third largest "god tree" in Taiwan.

Mianyue Sacred Tree

Distance/Time: 31.6 km/3 days, 2 nights

Day 1: We walked 6 hours/11km from Shanlinxi to Shuiyang Lake via the more strenuous route over Luqushan 鹿屈山 (2293 m).

Day 2: We took day packs and did two side trips. First we walked 5 hours/5.3km from Shuiyang Forest to Qian Ren Dong and back. We rested at the cave for over an hour. The actual hiking only took about 4 hours.

Second we walked from Shuiyang Forest to the Minyue Sacred Tree and back. That walk was only 1.5 hours/ 3.1 km.

Day 3: We hiked back out to Shanlinxi along the longer (12.2 km) but easier route which took just under 5 hours.

The Trail:

There are two routes from Shanlinxi to the lake. The route over Luqushan front peak and main peak is more interesting and more strenuous. It's very steep on the way up and I found it tough with a full, heavy backpack. The lower route is longer but easier. It is relatively flat, though it does have it's ups and downs--especially when crossing streams. It follows the route of an old road but after the beginning is very narrow. Both routes rejoin before reaching Shuiyang forest and then the trail drops down very steeply before finally arriving at a clearing in front of the lake.

The clearing is a good place to camp and has the best view of the lake, particularly at sunset, sunrise and moon rise. There is another large campsite upstream, past the toilets.

You are unlikely to have the lake to yourself but on the two nights that we stayed during the Chinese New Year holiday, there were never more than 13 tents and our neighbors were courteous and friendly. If possible I would avoid going on a weekend and especially on holiday weekends. A guide we spoke to said he had seen as many as 200 people camping there .

Clear signs point to the designated toilets. Men to the left. Women to the right. The toilets are simple "eco toilets" which consist of a wooden box with a hole and a shovel. I was disappointed to see toilet paper in other areas when there is a clearly designated bathroom area.

The trail to Qian Ren Dong is not too hard. It starts out going around the lake but the middle section passes through a riverbed that involves climbing over boulders and over and under logs. After that it climbs out of the river and passes through thick forest. It's not too hard after the riverbed but there are very steep sections with fixed ropes. I would avoid attempting this trail after or during heavy rain. Qian Ren Dong can also be reached from the other side from the village of Fenshang 豐山.

The path to Mian Yue Sacred Tree is pretty straightforward though steep at first.

Another nearby trail is the Mianyue Line Trail which follows the abandoned logging railway. The trail starts in Alishan but since it passes through a nature preserve a permit is necessary. We met two hikers who hiked the trail from Shuiyang as far as Shihou 石猴 and back (11 hours return). A permit is not needed for this section.

All the trails in this area are in absolutely stunning, peaceful coniferous forest.

Even though this is a well known destination we saw no one else on the trail over Luqushan or the trail to Qian Ren Dong. So potentially you are on your own and people have gotten lost here before. As always, it's important to have an offline map of the area and tell someone where you are going.

What to bring: Bring all of the usual things for backpacking but there are a couple of things to pay attention to. The lake is at 1825 meters and it was cold at night and in the morning. On the last morning there was frost on the grass. A good sleeping pad and bag as well as warm clothes are important.

Also I would be careful of the water here. Filter, treat the water with iodine or thoroughly boil before drinking. I took a filter but also had a small bottle of iodine and my stove as a backup.

I strongly advise against drinking the water from the lake. It looked stagnant and it is downstream from the toilets. I went upstream but even there the water was not moving and I saw toilet paper. I went further upstream past the bathrooms and the other campsite and found a pool that looked safer.

Transportation: We took a train from Taipei to Taichung the night before and stayed overnight with a friend. In the morning we took bus 6871 at 6:45. The bus stop is north of the train station on Shuangshi Road Section 1. Shanlinxi is the last stop and tickets, which can only be bought from the driver are $281. The ride to Shanlinxi takes about three hours.

The bus only runs four times a day. At the time of this writing the schedule was as follows:

Taichung to Shanlinxi: 6:45, 8:00, 9:30, 12:00

Shanlinxi to Taichung: 11:00, 13:10, 13:50, 16:25

There is a $250 entrance fee to Shanlinxi. A staff person conveniently comes onto the bus to collect it.

On the way home we took the 13:50 bus back to Taichung, a taxi to the HSR station and bought a non-reserved ticket back to Taipei.

The Trip:

My friend, Sean, and I arrived at Shanlinxi just before 10 a.m. The bus stopped next to a parking lot and gift shop.

We still had 2.1 kilometers to walk along the main road till we reached the trail. This was a touristy area full of day trippers but it was already very beautiful and I could see why it draws crowds.

In about 30 minutes we passed the Kindness Pavilion and came to an unassuming little heart shaped sign tacked to a tree on the right that pointed toward Shuiyang Forest.

We took the path, went around a metal gate and started up a wide road. There was a short cut that cuts off a big bend in the road but we did not take it.

Thirty minutes more of walking brought us to the split in the trail. We took the steeper path to Luqushan, which was on the right, up a rickety ladder and soon climbing steeply. It was an exhausting climb with heavy backpacks.

It took us an hour to reach Luqushan Qian Feng (2213m).

Just after the peak there was dense silver grass over our heads that we had to push through. It started raining so we donned rain gear and put on our pack covers.

Later there were wider sections then more narrow sections with more wet grass. We passed what looked like good view points but it had grown misty.

It took another hour and a half to reach Luqushan. Just before the peak there is a fork, the peak us on the right, a short way off the main path.

It was still raining and was very cold and windy so we did not linger long. We went back to the main path and headed down. We passed what looked like the remains of a shrine and later a brick building. At the brick building we talked about stopping for lunch but decided to push on to the lake.

A little while later the two paths to the lake rejoined. From here it's 1.8 kilometers to the lake. The last part dropped down very steeply and seemed to go on forever because I was tired and hungry. As we arrived at the lake the sun came out and white tendrils of mist were rising from the forest around the lake. A few tents were already set up.

We set up our tents, cooked dinner and settled in for the night. I read for a while in my tent but I was exhausted from the day and we had also not slept much the night before. I went to sleep around 7:30 and slept straight through till 6:30 am.

On the morning of Day 2 the sun came out and we took our time since we did not have far to walk. We started out at 9:27. The trail first went around the right side of the lake and later reached the outlet stream.

At 10:10 we climbed down to the boulder strewn stream bed and passed a waterfall. At first the path seemed unclear but we soon made out cairns and plastic flags.

This part of the trail was rough and we had to take care. It would be hard to do it with a heavy pack but not impossible. Sometimes we had to duck under logs. With a big pack you might have to take it off and pass it through first in some places. In one place we had to cross over a gap on slippery logs. I chose the cowardly but safe method of sitting and scooting across. I guess that this part of the trail potentially changes every time the stream is flooded.

After about 25 minutes we climbed out of the stream, up a steep slope with fixed ropes.

After this the path was through thick forest and we passed the remains of a logged tree that still smelled like camphor.

As we got close we could hear the waterfall at the cave. The trail passed over the top of the cave and came down a rock face on the other side.

It was good to be back at the cave. Both Sean and I had been here before with a hiking group but we had come up from the Fengshan side and camped for a night in the cave.

We stayed for about an hour and 15 minutes. We collected water from the waterfall, had some lunch and talked with two day hikers, a man and woman, who arrived from the Fengshan side. Then we took the trail back to Shuiyang. Sean stopped and had a wash in the stream but it was a chilly day so I decided to stay dirty.

Back at camp ten identical orange tents had been set up and a guide who had arrived ahead of his clients was cooking their dinner. We took a short rest and then set off for the Mianyue Sacred Tree. The path starts to the right of the bathroom area just before reaching the second camping clearing. The trail climbs up steeply until it comes to a fork signposted in Chinese. The right fork continues to Shihou, the left to the tree.

We met a family, a couple and two teenage boys, who also went to the tree. They had come from Alishan and were camping at Shuiyang that night.

The tree, which is over 4000 year old, is a truly impressive sight. There are metal rungs hammered into the trunk that lead to the first fork and a metal cable running down the trunk. I read that the cable may be connected to a lighting rod to protect the tree.

We got back to camp around 5, had some tea and dinner and settled in for our second night. I spent some time lying in my tent listening to podcasts. Around 9:00 some people arrived shouting and someone came out and yelled at them to be quiet because people were sleeping. They apologized and were quiet afterwards. It was a clear night and the moon and stars were even more stunning than the first night.

Day three we packed up and set out at about 8:30. Our packs were lighter and the climb up from the lake went more quickly than I expected.

I did not take many pictures on the last day. We walked along a wide path with huge trees on either side. Later the trail goes down a long, very steep slope. After this it's pretty much a flat narrow trail all the way back to Shanlinxi though there are a few ups and downs. The path is occasionally wide but usually narrow and lined with silver grass. We saw several hikers on the their way to Shuiyang and near the end a few who were just out for a short walk. It took us almost 5 hours to hike back to the bus stop.