Taiwan Hiking Journal: Ridge Walking and Swimming in Xizhi: Xinshan 新山 and Kezilin 柯子林

A pond, a peak with a 360 degree view, bare-rock ridges, forest and an outdoor stream-fed swimming pool.This exhilarating loop hike in the Xizhi district of New Taipei City is not a bad way to spend a half-day. The rocky ridge route to 499 meter Xinshan never disappoints and the route to Kezilin, considering it is a lesser-popular route, is also surprisingly exciting and well-maintained, with lots more exposed rock and fun, rocky scrambles. Eventually the trail drops into forest and crosses two streams before ending near Kezilin. There are expansive views throughout the hike and for a perfect ending, you can cool off at the Kezelin pool.

Distance/duration: 5 hours 27 mins / 8.8 km.

More details as well as a map can be found here on my ramblr account.

Trail Overview: I have hiked Xinshan several times and had just been there in June of 2025. It's such a great hike that I wanted to do it again but this time finish by way of the trail to Kezelin which I had never explored--ending at an outdoor swimming area.

The route we walked started with a road walk in the village of Hong Nei, led to Dream Lake (Meng Hu) and then climbed to Xinshan (499 m) by way of the East Crest route. After that, instead of returning to Dream Lake, as I have in the past, we took the fork trail down to Kezilin.

The trail to Kezilin exceeded my expectations! It was similar to the East Ridge route, following a ridge with lots of exposed rock and incredible views. There were a surprising number of pine trees given the elevation. The trail was sometimes carpeted with springy pine needles. We were often near a sheer drop but it never felt risky. The stone was dry, textured and grippy and there were thick fixed ropes bolted into the rock. Later the trail dropped into forest and crossed two streams. The second stream might be difficult to cross after heavy rain but it was mostly dry when we were there.

Near the end we stopped at the Kezlin Swimming Pool. It's a long narrow pool created by damming the stream. It is 3 meters deep near the end but shallower towards the middle and top. There is a simple changing room. At the end we walked on the road for 2km back to the bus stop in Hongnei.

Meng Hu or Dream Lake is a calm, medium-sized body of water surrounded by steep green hills. Many people come just to visit the lake. There is a trail all the way around and there are tables and seats and a shelter house. There used to be a cafe. It is now closed but hikers still use the tables of the former cafe. It had not rained for a long time and on this visit the water level was lower than I have ever seen it.

Xinshan (499 m) is a rocky peak with a sweeping view. There are two ways to the peak but the easier and shorter way cuts out some of the most fun and beautiful parts of the hike. We took the longer and slightly harder "East Crest" route which follows a rocky ridge with lots of great views and then joins up with the shorter route.

The East Crest trail starts at the lower end of a rocky ridge and climbs all the way to Xinshan with the view getting progressively better. Taipei can be seen on one side and on the other: the ocean, Keelung Island and the distinctive pyramid shape of Keelung Mountain. The path is exciting and close to an edge but safe in good weather. It's fun and not too hard even for inexperienced hikers.

This post continues my love affair with hiking in Xizhi. This is the fifth in a series of posts exploring hikes around Xizhi. The other four are:

Xizhi Gongbeidian 汐止拱北殿, and Beigang Hill 北港山

Neigoushan 內溝山 , Cuei Lake 翠湖, and Laojiujian 老鷲尖

Dream Lake 夢湖 and Mt. Xin 新山

Xiufeng Waterfall, Dajianshan, Sifenweishan and Qiedong Waterfall

What to bring: We took snacks, lunch and plenty of water. Sun protection is important.

Get anything you need before leaving Xizhi station. There are no stores except for a very small shop with a few drinks near the parking area for the lake.

Transportation: We took a train from Taipei Main Station to Xizhi. It takes less than 20 minutes.

At Xizhi station, we exited through the main hall by way of the Xinyi Road exit and crossed to the row of bus stops across the street from the station. We took bus 587 at 8:00 am to the Hongnei bus stop. Be sure not to get off at the Hongnei Police Station stop.

I purposely got to Xizhi early because the last time I took this bus, there was a long queue and we barely squeezed on. However, this time there were empty seats.

For the most up to date information you can check the BusTracker Taiwan app but at the time of this writing the bus comes at 7:30, 8:00 and 10:30 on the weekends. There are later buses and it comes more frequently during the week.

At the end of the hike we took the 587 around 2:00 from the same bus stop.

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The Hike

Since I have described the route to Xinshan and back to Dream Lake in another post I will just write a minimal description here. For a more thorough summary of that route, see my earlier post Dream Lake 夢湖 and Mt. Xin 新山 .

The bus dropped my wife and I off at 8:20 am. Just before reaching the bus stop the bus makes a right turn. We walked back to the intersection and turned right and uphill on Xiwan Road, Section 3. The walk to Dream Lake is a little over 3 km on the road--uphill-- and takes about an hour.

In just 500 meters we reached Menghu road and turned right again. It is clearly signposted.

Straight to Kezilin, right to Dream Lake (Meng Hu)

The road is mostly shady and surrounded by greenery and there was very little traffic. We followed the road until we came to a T-intersection and turned left. Again there was a clear sign showing the direction.

We reached the main entrance for Dream Lake and followed stone steps to the lake. Just before reaching the lake we passed the uphill trail that we would later take to the peak.

I have visited Dream Lake a number of times and had never seen it so dry. The water level was shockingly low which was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. As I write this a typhoon has just passed by. As it was raining over the last two days, I imagined the lake, out there, filling up again and being restored to its former beauty.

We backtracked to the trail to Xinshan and started uphill. At the first fork we turned right for the East Crest trail. Going straight is the more direct route to the top but it is less interesting.

The right fork leads to the East Crest route

After that we turned left almost right away and followed a wide trail to a viewpoint. Just before the viewpoint there is a steep trail with ropes on the left that climbs up to the ridge.

Every time I do this hike I kind of lose track of time at this point because the ridge trail is so much fun. There are lots of rocky view points. It's totally unnecessary to climb most of them but its so much fun that I can never resist. On this trip there was a big hiking group in matching shirts strung out along the ridge. They were having such a good time that their excitement was infectious. After we had moved on to the summit they were still on the ridge taking pictures.

A hiker posing on top of King Kong Rock.

The trail runs to the side of these rocky viewpoints

Summit of Xinshan seen from the ridge

After the last viewpoint on the ridge the trail drops down and comes to an intersection where the easier trail and the East Crest route trail join up. We turned right and then very soon, turned left, going up a steep trail.

The trail to the summit is covered with exposed roots and is rocky and steep but it's not far to the top.

We came out onto the bare rocky summit and enjoyed the view for a while. It was cloudy and windy and very pleasant. The last time I had been there it had been blazing hot and we weren't able to stay for long.

When it was time to go we took the trail on the far side of the summit. The trail descends into the trees and in just a few meters comes to a junction. We took the right fork which at first climbed up along the side of the rocky ridge. (The left fork descends back to Dream Lake).

Soon after this we came to another junction. It doesn't matter which way you go since both ways soon join up again, but we took the side closest to the ridge. We went along more rock and then dropped into forest.

I had expected this trail to follow the ridge for a short distance and then drop into the forest for the rest of it's length. But in fact we were treated to quite a few more sections of exposed rock with stunning views. We now were heading down the ridge. It took about an hour and a half to walk from the summit to the swimming pool at Kezelin.

You can't really go wrong from here, as there is only one fork along the way. I enjoyed this trail just as much as the one to Xinshan even though it is far less popular. We saw only three other (human) hikers. A man who was with his dog was doing trail maintenance and we passed a couple going the opposite way.

We came to a huge boulder with ropes leading to the top. The trail went under the side of it so this was another totally unnecessary but fun scramble. The view from the top was worth it.

After the huge boulder we pretty much left the ridge behind and entered deep forest. The trail was not difficult but it was slow going. It was consistently downhill and we had to watch our step.

We crossed a small stream and then the larger Bei Gang Stream.

At a junction we turned left. It was signposted "Kezilin Trail Entrance." We followed a wide path for just a short distance to the Kezilin Swimming Pool.

Just before we reached the pool I noticed a small snake by the side of the path. It was making it's get away, climbing up the side of the steep path.

We sat and had some lunch. I went for a swim but my wife didn't since she had not brought a change of clothes. After a while we checked the BusTracker app and decided to head back to the bus stop in Hong Nei.

Leaving the pool we turned left and followed a gravel track out to the road. At the road we went left, uphill at first, but later downhill. It was 2 kilometers back to Hong Nei.