Taiwan Hiking Journal: Xinliaodacuo 新寮大厝 to Sandiaoling Station 三貂嶺車站 Waterfall Walk

Yinmeng Waterfall

A point to point hike in the Pingxi district that passes six waterfalls and climbs one small peak. The walk starts in a village at the Xinliaodacuo bus stop, passes Jinxia Waterfall and cave, Yinmeng Waterfall, Tianyun Waterfall and Cuigu Waterfall. It passes through the ruins of an abandoned theme park, crosses the Keelung River and the famed Dahua Potholes, follows the railway for a short distance and then continues to two more waterfalls: Youkeng Waterfall and Cukeng Waterfall. It goes over a small peak (Youkeng Shan) and fin ishes at Sandiaoling station. The waterfalls are in an area not easily accessible to most day trippers, so there is a good chance of having them to yourself. The combination of waterfalls, ruins and quaint railway towns makes this an amazing hike for those up for an adventurous walk.

Tianyun Waterfall

Distance/Time: 7.6 km/ 4 hours 12 mins. More information as well as a map can be found here .

I did not stop to rest much because there was a chance of late afternoon thunderstorms and I did not want to get caught in them. In retrospect, I wish that I had lingered at some of the falls for longer.

The Trail:

There are two distinct parts to this trail: the part from Xinliaodacuo which follows a stream down to the Keelung River, passing the first four waterfalls and a second part, which climbs up from the river, passing two more waterfalls and at times, runs close to the Pingxi railway and even follows it for a short distance.

This is a moderate trail. It is not strenuous and there is not much elevation gain. But there are a few things to be aware of.

There are plenty of slippery and narrow parts and finding the way can be confusing. I would not recommend going without taking an offline map. As usual let someone know where you are going.

There are two short railroad tunnels to pass through and a trestle to cross. You should be able to hear if a train is approaching and you can see the other end of both tunnels-- but Its definitely not a good idea to linger. In addition , I encountered an aggressive dog. I missed the turn for a trail and as I got close to a house it charged out. Hopefully, if you don't stray too close it's territory, as I did, it won't bother you.

But the waterfalls are absolutely stunning, especially after rain and it felt like I was visiting an area not many people know about. I saw a few hikers near the abandoned park but otherwise I only saw one other hiker all day. There are two other waterfalls s in the area that I missed (Guanyin Waterfall and Xinliao Waterfall) so if I return I will seek them out.

Tony Huang and Taiwan Trails and Tales have both visited this area. Tony Huang walked to the first two waterfalls on the Xinliaodacuo side and back. Taiwan Trails and Tales has a post describing a walk from the Sandiaoling side to Youkeng Waterfall and back. I will include links to both posts at the end, in a further reading/viewing section. I'm grateful for the information that I got from both of them.

What to bring: I packed snacks and plenty of water and, since it was a sticky hot day, a change of clothes. I found a hiking pole very useful for keeping balance on slippery rocks.

Transportation: I took the MRT to Muzha station. Exiting the station I crossed the street and took bus 795 to Pingxi/Shifen. On weekend mornings the schedule is as follows: 5:00, 6:00, 6:40, 7:20, 8:00, 9:00, etc... On weekdays the schedule is slightly different. Check the BusTracker Taiwan app. I caught the 9:00 bus and it took 55 minutes to get to Pingxi.

I got off at the Waidian stop which is just past Pingxi train station. Once you pass Jingtong keep a close eye on the upcoming stops on the digital display.

At Waidian I planned to transfer to the F821. This is a free mini-bus that only runs twice in the morning at 7:30 and 10:30. I arrived at ten and had about half an hour to wait so I walked up to the tiny Pingxi train station and around Pingxi Old Street.

The sun was bright and hot and I bought some Breer. I had seen the ads for this non-alcoholic drink on TV. In the ad a police officer pulls over a guy because he thinks he is drinking beer. He gives the guy a breathalyzer and big shock, he's not drunk! The ad is annoying but I guess it worked because I remembered it and bought two. I have to say, ice-cold on a hot day, these hit the spot.

Just before 10:30 I returned to Waidian. I was the only one on the bus. I rode to the terminal station, Xinliaodacuo, which took about 15 minutes.

On the return trip I took a local train from Sandiaoling station to Taipei Main station which takes an hour. Sandiaoling is on the main rail line so it is easy to get a train from there directly back to Taipei. If you take a train from the stations on the Pingxi line, you need to transfer.

The hike:

When I got off the bus at Xinliaodacuo it was getting cloudy. On one hand, this made me worried that it might rain, but on the other, it was not as hot as it had been in Pingxi. Afternoon thundershowers were forecast and all day the weather would alternate between ominous looking cloud cover and sun breaks but in the end it never rained.

The mini-bus turning around at the terminal stop

To the right of the bus stop behind a shed made from a shipping container there was a country lane.

I walked down the lane which very soon turned into a dirt path and then went up moss covered stone steps. After 12 minutes of walking, I reached the top of the steps and a small path on the right with trail flags in a tree.

Turn right here toward the waterfalls

The path went through what looked like a newly planted bamboo grove and then came to a T-junction in less than 5 minutes.

I turned left, crossed a small stream and came to the first and smallest waterfall, Jinxia Waterfall. It is a pretty water slide with a nice, shallow pool at the base next to a cave.

Jinxia Waterfall from inside the cave

I went back across the stream and took the other path. Very soon I came out next to the stream above Yinmeng Waterfall. A path going to the far side of the stream leads to the other side of the falls but I stayed on the right. I climbed up a slick rock and then took a very precipitous path down to the base of the falls. I had to take care but there were footholds and roots and ropes to hold onto.

Yinmeng Waterfall

The base of the waterfall was slick rock with "potholes" which is erosion caused by water grinding gravel against the rock.

At first I did not see a path going on but then I made it out. It continued downstream on the right side of the stream but I had to step into the water to get to it.

The stream became wide and gentle. Downstream there was a picturesque view of the waterfall.

Yinmeng Waterfall viewed from downstream

Less than 100 meters downstream I crossed the via a concrete bridge.

Now on the opposite side of the stream, I soon came to a steep trail on the right that went down to the next waterfall. There was water flowing down the path turning it into a rivulet feeding into the stream. I came to a weir and walked along the top of it for a view of Tianyun (Sky Cloud) Waterfall. I went down to the waterfall, sat on a rock and had a rest and something to eat.

Tianyun (Sky Cloud) Waterfall

I crossed back over to the right side of the stream by walking along the top of the weir. My map showed a trail on the left side of the stream but there was a clear, straight path on the right going the way I wanted to, so rather than cross back over, I followed it.

It widened and later curved right, high above the gorge of the Xinliao Xi (Xinliao Creek). I could hear the rushing water of Cuigu Waterfall. Just before reaching the top of the falls, there was a path with a rope leading down into the gorge but it looked almost vertical and I decided not to take it. (I now think this trail would have led to a view of Guanyin Waterfall but I'm not sure and can't comment on the condition of the path). I reached the top of Cuigu Waterfall and could see an abandoned building across the creek.

Seventy meters upstream the trail turned left and crossed the Xinliao Xi via a small arched bridge.

I was surprised to see a dead Reeves Muntjac deer right on the path. The carcass looked fresh and there was no smell. It looked so life-like that I irrationally thought it might move at any moment. I stepped over it and saw a gaping wound in its hindquarters.

I came out to a road and the ruins of Barbarian Valley. The park was a pay-for-admission scenic area but it was destroyed in a typhoon in 2003. My destination was left on the road but first I turned right and walked to what looked like the old park entrance.

There were bays with roll down metal doors that perhaps once housed vendors. There was a turnstile but it was wired shut. The main gate closed with a slide bolt but was unlocked. On the other side of the gate there was a parking lot and there were two mangy dogs next to the old ticket booth. The dogs barked at me desultorily. A man loading things into a car scolded them and they were quiet.

I knew that Xinliao Waterfall was upstream but I decided to not go through the gate. I guess I could have asked the man if it was okay to pass through and it probably would have been fine. But in the moment I decided to just continue with the hike.

I walked on the road back in the direction I had come from and went past a castellated building and through a tunnel.

On the other side of the tunnel was a deteriorating red temple.

I passed under the temple veranda and to the far side, where I could see there was a trail. Two people, a middle-aged woman and a younger man were sitting there. I greeted them and asked if I could get to the waterfall this way and they said I could.

I took the short trail all the way to the down to Cuigu Waterfall, at first down slippery stone steps and then a dirt trail.

Cuigu (Emerald Valley) Waterfall. This picture does not really do it justice. It is a towering cascade of thundering white water.

This was the most impressive to the waterfalls I had seen so far that day. There were two women also at the waterfall and while I was there a group crossed the river from the other side and passed through. One of the women pointed out to me the ruins of an old bridge downstream.

I took the trail back up to the road and turned left.

I walked on the road for about 15 minutes. I really enjoyed this part. Though of course many hikers pass through here, it was my first time, and it felt like a revelation finding this quasi-abandoned road.

Right after I passed a bridge I started looking out for the right turn down to the river and to the Dahau potholes. It was here that I had a sort of unpleasant encounter.

I realize now why I missed the turn. I was distracted because I had been thinking how nice this road was but then I started seeing trash, and barrels and farming detritus by the side of the road and was thinking it did not look so nice anymore.

Then I heard two dogs start barking, like an engine starting up--gradually louder and faster--and one dog came tearing around a curve in the road. I brandished my hiking pole and yelled at it. It kept coming but stayed out of reach of my pole. Usually dogs like this keep a bit of a distance but this one got uncomfortably close and kept making feints toward me. I thought for the first time I might actually have to stab a dog with my hiking pole. I made a controlled retreat keeping my eyes on him and as I was walking backward I could see the trail I should have taken through the trees. The dog followed me almost all the way back to the bridge before he gave up.

I retreated to the other side of the bridge and waited a few minutes before trying again. I have to admit that my heart was pumping pretty hard as I made a second attempt. I quietly made my way back to the trail. This time I made the right turn, downhill onto the trail without incident.

I passed under a high stone bluff and soon came out to the Keelung River and the Dahua potholes. The river was frothy and blue-green and white as it squeezed through the narrow rocky area. Here there are many of the unique eroded holes known as "potholes" and many people come here just to see them.

I crossed the river over a concrete and metal walkway, went up some steps and came out to the railroad.

I turned left on the railway, went through a short tunnel, walked on the tracks for a while and then through another short tunnel. When I was at the potholes I had heard a train passing. Since one had just passed, I thought it would most likely be a while before another came by.

Just after the second tunnel I crossed a trestle. There was a walkway on the side but still I preferred not to meet a train here so I crossed quickly.

Very shortly I came to the turn off for the trail that I planned to take over Youkeng Shan and back to Sandiaoling. The entrance was wide and obvious and someone had placed a cheap, red, plastic stool, of the kind sold in most ten-dollar stores, there.

But first I walked five minutes further along the tracks to see Youkeng Waterfall. There are places here where you could step to the side if a train came but again I thought it preferable not to meet one on the tracks.

Youkeng Waterfall is a many layered ribbon of water surrounded by emerald green moss and plants. The path is just before a small bridge under which the water from the falls flows.


Youkeng Waterfall

I walked back to the trail I had passed, sat on the red, plastic stool and had a snack. As I was eating a train passed. I heard it long before it arrived.

As I started up the trail, I passed the ravine formed by another stream descending to the river and I got a glimpse, but not a very good one, of Cukeng Waterfall below.

I followed a stone walkway next to the stream for about 170 meters, came to a fork and then crossed the stream and went back downhlll on the other side of the stream.

This was a slightly elevated stone walkway. Part of it had collapsed but I made my way around the collapse by walking through the ruins of what looked like an old stone house. I came to a short steep trail leading down to Cukeng Waterfall. This was another impressive falls with separate sprays of water falling into a pool.

Cukeng Waterfall

I had now seen all the waterfalls so from this point I picked up the pace a bit. It would take me just an hour and 20 minutes to walk from Cukeng Waterfall to Sandiaoling Station.

I walked back up to the fork and headed up narrow steps through sparse forest and an underlayer of ferns and brown leaf litter.

I came to a farmhouse in a large clearing. I saw a farmer who was working near an outbuilding and saw three dogs. After my earlier experience, I braced myself to fend off more dogs. However, these dogs seemed shy. They dispersed and disappeared as I approached.

Opposite the farmhouse I took a smooth dirt path on the left marked with a wooden sign post and lots of plastic flags.

The path went down for a short ways, over a metal footbridge and then started climbing. The trail was now wide and dotted with rounded stones.

At the next fork I kept to the left.

Then came out to a clearing with a massive clump of bamboo in the middle.

Instead of the wider path going left I took a narrow path directly across the clearing going up. This is the path up and over Youkeng Shan--which is really more of a hill.

At the next intersection I bore left (in any case, it doesn't look like the right fork goes very far).

Then I came to a false summit (230 m) and the main summit (240m)

Then it was down the other side of the hill, not too steeply. In a little more than ten minutes I crossed another footbridge and joined a wide path that goes around the side of Youkeng Shan and turned right.

Less than 100 meters later the trail lay parallel to the train tracks and I came to a now unused train platform next to a tunnel entrance.

There was a clock and under it a train schedule taped to the wall. According to Taiwan Trails and Tales (see the further reading section at the end of this post), some walkers cut through the long tunnel here. That is risky to say the least. If caught in the tunnel when a train is passing through there is a risk of death. Furthermore, I don't understand why anyone would want to walk in a dark tunnel rather than on a trail. From this point it took me only 30 more minutes to reach Sandiaoling station anyway.

Just after the platform and tunnel, I took a dirt trail leading up on the left. The right fork goes to a farmhouse. As I climbed I passed right next to and above the roof of the farm house. There was a large dog but he just barked from down the path and did not get close.