Eighteen Peaks Mountain 十八尖山, Hsinchu City God Temple 新竹都城隍廟 and Hsinchu Guandi Temple 新竹關帝廟

 

Eighteen Peaks Mountain or Shibajianshan is a hilly, forested urban park.  There are both paved and dirt paths, and a pond. There are numerous sculptures and shrines scattered around the mountain as well as the remains of old air-raid shelters.  This is urban forest bathing with a dose of history and culture. The walk can be made into a very easy family-friendly outing or can be made slightly more difficult. Shibahjianshan is no. 26 on the list of the 100 Small Mountains of Taiwan (Xiao Bai Yue). I walked to the park from North Hsinchu Train Station. This walk also includes a visit to two famous temples: the Hsinchu City God Temple and the Hsinchu Guandi Temple and then finishes at the picturesque main Hsinchu Train Station. 

 

Distance/Time: 10.5 km/ 3 hours 53 mins.  More information as well as a map can be found here   

 

The Trail:  

This is an easy to moderate hike.  I did not see everything but I tried to walk a route that explored most of the park while minimizing backtracking and I walked paved as well as dirt paths. I really enjoyed this walk and found the atmosphere of the park very relaxing. I visited on a Wednesday. I supposed it would be more crowded on a weekend.

None of it is difficult. However, some of the dirt paths (though short) are rough. I also came across a highly venomous Chinese cobra right on one of the dirt paths so I would not recommend letting young children wander some of the relatively rougher paths without supervision. 

Eighteen Peaks Mountain (Shibajianshan 十八尖山) is next to National Hsing Hua University. There are also several other universities and schools near the mountain. According to Tony Huang's website, the area was set aside as a park in 1927 during the Japanese occupation. But during WWII the Japanese closed the park and built fortifications and air raid tunnels. Later Taiwan's Ministry of Defense took over administration of the park. Because it was a military area it remained in a relatively wild state. Eventually the park was taken over by the Hsinchu City government and opened as a recreation area for the public. 

Hsinchu City God Temple 新竹都城隍廟  is a large bustling temple next to a warren of food vendors, which has six halls. It was built in 1747 during the Qing Dynasty. The city god is thought to keep a record of the good and bad deeds of a city's citizens and help officials in the administration of the city. In the past it would have only been open to local officials and not to the general public. 

Hsinchu Guandi Temple 新竹關帝廟  is around the corner from the City God Temple next to a park.  On the day that I visited it was considerably more quiet. Guandi is the Chinese god of war. Construction of the temple was completed in 1777. During the Japanese occupation the temple became a police garrison and was not used as a temple again until 1898. 

Hsinchu Train Station is not far from the temples.  It was built during Japanese colonial rule in 1913. The architectural style is European.  It is in a large plaza across from a park.

I did not know until later that the Gaofeng Botanical Garden is next to 18 Peaks Mountain Park. If I visit again in the future I also want to go to the botanical garden.

What to bring: Nothing is really needed. There are convenience stores and grocery stores between the train station and the park and there are plenty of water machines in the park itself. There are also toilets.

I wore shorts and took a hat for the sun and wore hiking boots. It was a hot day and I sort of wished that I had worn sandals but after seeing a snake on the path I was glad that I had worn sturdy shoes.

Transportation:  I took a local train to North Hsinchu Station and then another local train back to Taipei from Hsinchu Station. Local trains between Taipei and Hsinchu take about and hour and a half to an hour and forty minutes.

The hike:  

I had had a lot of exercise in recent days and my legs were kind of fatigued. However, I had a Wednesday off work and wanted to take advantage of it to do some exploring. So I decided a nice train ride, a relatively gentle walk and a visit to some temples would be a great way to spend the day.

There are of course many routes you could take through the park and you could even just wander around exploring but I will describe the route that I took. 

I left North Hsinchu station via the Dongguang Road exit crossing over the tracks. 

Outside the station I turned right on Dongguang road. There was an elevated road above on the left. 

Soon the elevated road merged with the road I was on and had four lanes.

I stayed straight on the road, passing shops. At a 7-11 I stopped to buy some food for lunch. 

When I came to a pedestrian overpass I crossed over to the left because there was a sidewalk on the other side, but I continued straight. 

The next four way intersection after the pedestrian overpass was Bo 'ai Street. A sign next to the traffic light in Chinese and English pointed the way to the park. I turned left on Bo'ai Street and soon came to another sign in Chinese. 

I turned right onto Lane 5 Bo 'ai Street which led right to the park entrance where there was a red belvedere and stairs. It took 30 minutes to walk to the park from the train station. 

At the top of the stairs I came to the hexagonal Xingfu (Happiness) Pavilion. There was a glimpse of the city through the trees.

 

Xingfu Pavilion

Beyond it I came to another pavilion with red pillars (Jieshou Pavilion) on top of a hill. The path goes in both directions around the pavilion but I climbed the steps and took the middle path up the hill.
 

I went over the top of the hill and followed a narrower trail paved with bricks down the other side. 

At a fork I took the left fork, joined a wide paved path and went up steps just down the road.

I took the steps here.

I joined another wide paved path surrounded by greenery on both sides and went downhill. Shortly after that, when I came to steps leading down and back on the left, I took them. 

 

At the bottom of the steps I turned right.

There had been a lot of turns in quick succession but after this I got onto some longer stretches of trail.

I came to an intersection next to a toilet where the road continued around a bend and steps went down on the left. I took a dirt path in the middle which went along a ridge.

I came to Shibajianshan East Peak and then went down the other side.

I joined the road, turned right and walked back to the fork next to the toilet where I had just been. 

Behind the toilet was a dirt path that led down to a lower road/paved path.

This pathway roughly forms a big circle and goes around Xiang Xi Pond. I turned left in the direction of the pond. I really enjoyed this part of the park. There were sculptures with colorful tiles and whimsically decorated bird houses. 

When I got close to the pond I went off the main pathway and joined a trail with paving stones that skirted the edge of the pond. 

Later the trail cut through tall wildflowers and with every step butterflies erupted from the brush and fluttered around.

 After the pond I ran into a small obstacle. The path should have continued but there was construction surrounded by a metal fence. I was able to go around the fence, up a hill toward one of the university buildings and then up a some wooden steps to rejoin the path on the other side of the construction fence. 

Back on the path I retraced my steps: back to the path behind the toilet.

left and then back to the steps,

 

back up to the to of the steps-- and then left.

I came to a sink and a water machine and went down wood steps and started to explore some of the wilder paths.

At a fork either way led to the same place but I went right. 

 I joined a really beautiful beaten earth trail.

It soon became apparent that this trail would shortly lead out to the road so when I saw another trail going very steeply up the hill, I took it and headed back uphill. 

 Here there were lots of criss-crossing paths but basically I kept heading up and mostly to the right.

As I rounded a corner I was startled to see a fat snake sunning itself just to the side of the path. It was a highly venomous Chinese cobra. I took a picture, retreated and after a few moments it slowly crawled away. 

 At the last intersection I turned left and soon came back out onto a paved road. 

I went left and downhill. From here I just followed this road all the way out of the park ignoring side turnings. I passed some shrines and the remains of air raid shelters. 

 

A collapsed air-raid shelter

I exited the park, came to Baoshan Road and turned right. This was a busy road and I can't say it was nice to walk on it but it wasn't that bad.

I followed Baoshan road for about 30 minutes. When the middle section of the road went underground (just next to a park) I followed a pedestrian underpass next to it.

I enjoyed checking out all of the shops including this creepy wig shop.

I walked until I came to Zhongshan Road where I turned right and at the next intersection immediately saw the roofs of the Hsinchu City God Temple. The temple was bustling. Many people were praying and one woman was repeatedly throwing the red crescent shaped divination blocks worshipers use when they are seeking an answer from the god. Outside the temple there were a lot of students who seemed to have just got out of school.

Exiting the temple I went around the next corner onto Zhongyang Road. At the end of the street on the other side of a park was the Hsinchu Guandi Temple which was considerably more quiet than the City God Temple. 

For the last part of the walk I exited the temple and turned right, then left on Linsen Road which I followed all the way to the Hsinchu Train Station. 

There was a raucous group of drunks with dirty clothes and sun burned faces in the park across from the station who were having a great time shouting and laughing and teasing one another. I did not mind them because they were obviously enjoying themselves immensely. However, some pedestrians waiting to cross the street seemed, judging by their body language, to be made very nervous by them.

Similar walks:

Guandu Nature Park and Guandu Temple  

Hemei Hill 和美山步道 

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 Map and GPS coordinates:

18 Peaks Mountain Park entrance at Bo 'ai Road: 24.795113, 120.986651

Hsinchu City God Temple: 24.804437, 120.966144

Hsinchu Guandi Temple: 24.802876, 120.966499

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