Mt. Dawulun 大武崙山 and Dawulun Fort 大武崙砲台

 

Two ancient trails, a peak, a historic fort, and a lake. This very enjoyable walk starts on the coast at the Zhongshan Xiagu Historic Trail, goes along a ridge trail to Mt. Dawulun, then on to Dawulun Fort and Lover's Lake before descending the Haixing Historic Trail. Dawulun Shan (number 3 on the list of the 100 small mountains of Taiwan) is only 231 meters but commands a great view of the surrounding coast. Dawulun Fort is well-preserved historical monument and a good place for a picnic lunch in nice weather. Lover's Lake, a pleasant green lake, has a surfaced path all the way around.  Both old trails date from a time when there were no roads connecting the coast to other areas. 

Distance/duration: 6 km/ 3 hours which includes time checking out the fort and having a picnic lunch. 

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

What to bring: Bring food and drink or buy it before leaving Keelung. Just about any sturdy shoes will do for this trail. Shorts are fine. On sunny days a hat is a good idea.

The Trail: This is an easy to moderate walk. There is some uphill climbing but it is not strenuous. Most of the paths are in very good shape though there are a few parts that could be slippery.  It's a mix of earth, stone and surfaced paths. The ridge path between Zhongshan Xiagu Historic Trail and Mt. Dawulun is kind of messy. But it's possible avoid it by walking on the parallel road instead and then backtracking a short way to the peak. Overall, I loved this walk and thought it was fascinating. I found myself wondering why I had never visited before.

The Zhongshan Xiagu Historic Trail has an interesting history. There was a trail here long ago but it fell into disuse after the paved road was built. It was cleared again 22 years ago by a 78 year old veteran, Zhou Lizheng. Mr. Zhou spent 3 years clearing the trail using hand tools. It again became overgrown and recently was cleared again by volunteers. Mr. Zhou has sort of a tragic history. When he was young he was a soldier serving under General Sun Liren. There was a plot to replace Chiang-Kai-Shek with General Sun. When Chiang Kai-Shek found out about it General Sun was put under house arrest. The soldiers who served under him were also punished and Mr. Zhou was forced to leave the army. After that he had a hard life. He was poor and did mainly menial labor. This is my summary of an excellent, more-detailed article by Tony Huang which can be found here: http://www.tonyhuang39.com/tony0126.html

Photo from a newspaper showing Mr. Zhou clearing the trail 22 years ago

Dawulunshan has a small clearing with a nice view. It can be reached by the ridge trail or by instead walking on the road to the fort and then backtracking a few minutes along the dirt path. 

Dawulun Fort was first established as a defensive site in the Qing Dynasty during the First Opium War. It was rebuilt from 1900 to 1902 during the Japanese colonial period. It was opened to the public in 1989. There is a command post, barracks, ammunition storage and former cannon mounts. These days it is a pleasant park with walking paths and tall shade trees. There is a flat area with stone benches that overlooks the sea cliffs, Keelung Island and Yeliu.

Lovers Lake is kind of touristy but nice never-the-less. There is a surfaced path all around it and a suspension bridge in the middle. It's a popular place for families, birdwatchers and picture taking.There are two paths--the short loop around the lake and a longer one and there is a whimsical observation tower that looks like a castle turret.

The Haixing Historic Trail is a short remnant of an ancient trail fisherman once used to transport their catch to market. It is an easy walk but there are some slippery stone steps to watch out for.

Transportation: I took a local trail from Taipei to Keelung Station which took about 50 minutes. Trains to Keelung are frequent. On the train I was reading Infinite Country by Patricia Engel which is about a Colombian family separated by immigration.

Bus 305 and 310 run along the coast and there is a bus stop at the trailhead but I could not figure out the bus schedule and never saw a bus when I was there. I took a taxi from Keelung Station which took about ten minutes and cost NT$250. 

On the way back I used the Uber app to call a taxi and took it back to the train station. 

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The Hike

My wife says that it always rains in Keelung, so I was lucky to go on a sunny, unseasonably, warm winter's day. The day before it had been chilly and I had felt cold all day in my apartment but this day it was warm enough in the sun to just wear a t-shirt. I packed a sweater and a rain shell that remained in my bag all day. 

The taxi driver passed the Zhongshan Xiagu trail and dropped me off at the more well known Haixing Historic Trail. There is a temple, a kuai chao restaurant and toilets. However, it was only about a ten minute walk from one trail to another.  Facing the road, I turned right (east) along a nice seaside pedestrian path next to the road. There were a few morning joggers on the path. Grassy hills rose up on the right, the ocean was on the left and Keelung Island in the distance.

The Zhongshan Xiagu Historic Trail starts across from the Huhai Road 2.5 KM bus stop. 

The trail starts out in grass, goes into the forest and reaches the top of the ridge in about 15 minutes. It's a very nice trail, well-maintained with good shade under the trees and lots of bird life.

Looking to the right I could see the ridge trail that leads to Dawulunshan.

You can take the ridge trail here or the road

But first I stopped to check out the view. There were four colorful seats placed in exactly the right spot. 

 I took the ridge trail. There was lots of debris on the ground but it was not too bad. It kept away from the cliff and there were no views until it got to the peak. Sometimes it was so close to the road I could see people walking on the road below. There are several places where you can get off the trail and join the road but I kept to the trail. 

I came to a clearing with bamboo. It looked like it had been cleared for farming but not used in a while. A fork went to left but there was debris piled in front of it to show it was the wrong way and a flag on the right fork showed the way.
 

The trail went back into the woods, parallel to the coast and then arrived at the summit of Dawulunshan. It took less than 40 minutes to hike the ridge trail.

From the summit it is just a few minutes to the fort entrance. The fort is reached by walking up a wide gravel path.
 

I spent some time walking around Dawulun Fort.

barracks

former latrine with a sink outside for handwashing

ammunition storage

After making a circuit I want back to the beginning to have lunch at a flat spot with stone benches with a view of the coast. 

I was joined by a couple and their grand kids. The kids at first tried to speak English but soon lost interest. They were eating McDonalds out of a big, paper McDonalds bag. I chatted for a while with the grandfather. After I finished eating, I went on. 

At the far end of the fort there was a stone path that went down steeply and had a view of the observatory tower near Lover's Lake.
 

It didn't take long to reach the bottom. Haixing Trail is to the right but first I went left to see Lover's Lake. 

A wide concrete path between trees brought me to the lake.

When I arrived I heard some young people asking an older man how long it took to walk around the lake. He told them 30 minutes which turned out to be about right. It took me 24 minutes to walk all the way around. The path is paved and follows the contours of the lake. There were lots of other people including families with young children in strollers. I saw some ducks and lots of fish and turtles. There is a suspension bridge over the lake at roughly the halfway point but I walked all the way around. There is a longer loop that goes into the forest around the lake but I didn't take it or go to the observatory.

After my circuit of the lake I want back the way I had come but at the trail that climbs to the fort I went straight. I walked until I came to a fork and bore right. I fingerpost indicated it was the Haixing Historical Trail.

Immediately there was another fork. Both ways lead to the coast but I took the trail on the right because it was dirt and just looked nicer. 

This trail was pure pleasure to walk on. It took about 30 minutes to walk down to the road where I had started.

Earth God temple at the Haixing Historical Trail entrance

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 Map and coordinates:

Zhongshang Xiagu Trailhead: 25.164747, 121. 716768  This trail is not on Google Maps but it starts near this bus stop:  Google Maps link

Mt. Dawulun: 25.158501, 121.709744 Google Maps link

Dawulun Fort:  25.158852, 121.708387, Google Maps link

Lover's Lake: 25.158402, 121.704715, Google Maps link

Haixing Historical Trail trail entrance (at the bottom): 25.164027, 121.712224, Google Maps link

 

 http://rblr.co/ouEZA

 

 

Yuemei Cave Trail 月眉洞步道 and Xian Dong Hu Shan 仙洞湖山 Loop Hike

 

A cave, a peak and ruins in the forest. This walk in rural Keelung starts on a road, follows a trail to Yuemei Cave and then climbs to a small peak. After that it goes over the summit and back to the road by another route passing ruins of old buildings in woods brimming with butterflies and birds. Yuemei Cave is a large cave with water sprinkling from the top. There is a simple temple inside.  At only 298 meters, Xian Dong Hu Shan is not high but has a great view.

Distance/Time:  5.7 km / 3 hours 22 mins.  A map as well as more information can be found here

The Trail:  

This is moderate hike. It is not strenuous and only of medium length but it is not for beginners.  Some parts are very overgrown with brush and occasional thorns and littered with debris. I used my pole to probe ahead and kept an eye out for snakes. There were innumerable spiderwebs across the path that I tried to knock down with my hiking pole but I still ended up wiping webs off of my face. At one point I had to stop to flick dead bugs and spiders off my hat and clothes. 

The trail is not hard to follow but sometimes indistinct so it's important to watch out for the flags. On the way to and from the summit it nears the edge of a cliff. Not dangerous but it's important to be aware of where you are and where you are stepping. 

But despite all the above, I really enjoyed this one. If you push through the rougher sections there are rewards to be had. 

The cave is a unique destination but the hike to the cave alone is short and by itself would not be a satisfying day out for me.  At the peak and beyond there are good, open vistas. Once I got through the brushy sections there were really nice sections of forest. From beginning to end there were lots of insects, butterflies and birds. I could hear Taiwan barbets calling from the tree tops and several times saw groups of Formosan blue magpies. Toward the end I spotted a Reeves Muntjac deer.  I saw several of what looked like pangolin burrows but alas no pangolins. I also saw one snake and a few toads.

My favorite parts of the walk were the first section leading beside a stream to the cave and the part on the far side of the peak. Here there were open sections of forest with huge butterflies slowly flying amidst the trees, and unexpectedly. ruins of old brick buildings and a bridge emerged from the forest. I have no idea what the purpose of these old structures was but would love to find out. My guess is there was mining or some other extractive industry going on here in the past. 

I didn't see any other hikers the whole day.

Yuemei Cave 月眉洞  is a large cave surrounded by greenery with an altar and benches and chairs inside. A stream of water flows over the top into a round pool and then flows down hill feeding a stream.  It is said that it was once called "Thieves Cave" because thieves hid here but who knows if it is true. It was renamed with it's current name which means "moon brow" or "moon eyebrow" because the shape of the cave is thought to resemble a moon or the curve of an eye. 

Xian Dong Hu Shan 仙洞湖山 (298 m) has a clearing on top and a great view from the front.  The path beyond it drops down to the road north of where the hike started and comes out near the Keeling Fusing Elementary School.

What to bring:  Long pants and long sleeves to protect from brush and thorns are recommended. A hiking pole is very useful for knocking down spiderwebs and a hat with a wide brim helps keep them off the face and head.  Sun protection is important on a hot day because the route is sometimes exposed.   

Qidu is a bustling town with lots of restaurants, a market and shops for stocking up on provisions. There is a small store at the Yikeng bus stop.

Transportation:  I took a train to Qidu Station and then bus 702 to Yikeng. Trains to Qidu are frequent so I did not even look at the schedule. At Taipei Main Station I only had to wait about 12 minutes and the train ride itself was 30 minutes. 

To get to the 702 bus stop exit Qidu station on the Gaungming Road side. Outside the station turn left on Zizhi Street and walk until you come to Mingde First Road.  The bus stop is across the  road on the right. 

I couldn't find much information about the bus schedule but when I got there I asked some other people if the 702 stopped there. They were also taking the 702 and going hiking and told me it was coming in a few minutes--which it did. It seems this bus only runs about once every hour.

On the bus I watched the digital display on the bus carefully for the upcoming stops because some of them go by quickly and the bus did not stop frequently.  The ride took about 20 minutes and I got off at the Yikeng stop. 

On the return trip, I asked at the convenience store what time the bus was coming. I would have had to wait for about an hour and 20 minutes, so  instead, I used the Uber app to call a yellow cab which cost NT$285 and took 18 minutes to Qidu Station.

The hike:  

In the past year I have visited a few caves including the San Min Bat Cave and Guanyin Cave in Taoyuan, Thousand People Cave in Chiayi which is the largest cave in Taiwan and White Horse General Cave in Shenkeng where resistance fighters used to hide during the Japanese occupation. 

I read about Yuemei Cave in an article about caves in Taiwan by Richard Saunders and at about the same time saw a post on the Taiwan Trails and Tales blog about the cave. So I decided to visit as soon as I had an opportunity. I will list links to both posts at the end in a further reading section.

I visited on the next to last day in April and it was a sticky, hot day. At the train station in the morning the thermometer already read 32 C. 

Across from the bus stop at Yikeng there was a store. I crossed and bought a cold soda. Two friendly men were chatting outside and they asked where I was going and pointed out the way. 

The bus stop was next to a river and looking back the way from which I had just come on the bus was a bridge. So I walked back, turned left onto the bridge and started up a country lane. 

I passed some farmhouses. At one house there was a huge dog lying in the shade of a car but as I passed it got up and came out barking, snarling with teeth bared. It seemed old and I never felt it was going to really go after me but I walked backwards away from it keeping my hiking pole between us. There was a smaller, black dog at the house next door but it just watched. When it felt I was sufficiently far away it peed into the grass at the side of the road and went back home. 

Just after passing the house with the dog I came to a road with a red temple arch over it on the left. 

I continued straight for about three more minutes and came to the Yuemei Cave trail on the left. It took 25 minutes to walk from the bus stop to here. 

This started out as an old concrete track next to a stream. The water level was low but there were some deeper, clear pools. After the path crossed the stream, it became rough stone steps and then a narrow dirt track. In 15 minutes I arrived at the cave.

There was a structure built into the corner of the cave and a thin stream of water drizzling into a circular pool. The tung trees were in bloom and several tung blossom lie in and around the pool. 

I had the cave to myself. There was an altar and several chairs. In the corner was a weathered shelf with Buddhist texts in Chinese. There were also quite a few empty plastic bottles and some disorderly pots and pans and boxes and plastic bags scattered around the bottom of the book shelf. 

I availed myself of one of the chairs and had a snack and after a rest continued straight on the wide path heading out the other side of the cave. In just one or two minutes I came to the path leading up the hill toward Xian Dong Hu Shan. 

It was about 35 minutes from here to the peak. To be honest this was not my favorite part of the hike. The vegetation was very dry and I often had to push through it. As I said before there were lots and lots of spiderwebs. There were a few thorns but they were mostly easily avoided. Despite being dense, it was not hard to follow. 

There were some nice views into the valley below on the left with the white tung trees in bloom. I little less than half way up I  passed a junction with a trail on the right. This trail leads back down to the road.

At the summit clearing there was a tattered red flag on a bamboo pole. It was a mostly clear day and the views were great but it was very hot in the open and so I did not stay too long.

I continued straight past the summit. At first the trail was still very overgrown. I considered turning back but I am glad I pushed on because once I got out of the open, weedy area on top the trail became wider and nice again.  There were still a few messy areas but eventually the path was through humid woodland and very pleasant. 

At one point the path opened to a really beautiful view of the surrounding green hills and later I came to a huge rock covered in vegetation.

Thirty minutes after leaving the peak and just three minutes after passing the big rock I came to a clear path on the left heading down toward the road. 

The descent was gentle with just a few steep parts. 

I was surprised to see the remains of an old brick building. 

As I walked to the opening of the building and prepared to take a photo, I was looking up and was surprised by a snake.I cried out "Oh shit!" and then immediately started laughing at myself.  The snake was gone so quickly that I didn't get a good look at it. 

After the building the trail went on straight as an arrow for a little while and through a rutted path. 

I came to a fork. The right fork led to another brick building and ended. I went back and took the left fork. 

After this I came to three landmarks in quick succession: the remains of an old stone bridge (which the path passed under), a large empty pit, and a broken stone walkway over a stream. 

 Right after this a road materialized. 

I turned right and soon this road joined another, next to a farm house. I  joined the other road going in the same direction now beside the river (the Lu Liao Xi--which was the same one I had crossed in the beginning at the bus stop)

There were a few houses and garden plots. I came to a shelter house next to the stream and stopped to eat lunch. 

When I came to a bridge, I crossed it to rejoin the main road and turned left on the road.

I passed the Keelung Fusing Elementary school and a few stores. There was a bus stop here but I wanted to walk a full circle so I kept going about ten more minutes to the Yikeng bus stop where I had started. 

Yikeng bus stop 9:44 - Yuemei Cave Trailhead 10:08 - Yuemei Cave 10:22 - Xian Dong Hu Shan 11:14 - Rejoin the road 12:41 - Yikeng bus stop 13:10

Further Reading:

Here is an article by Richard Saunders about caves in Taiwan: https://taiwandiscovery.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/taiwans-bat-caves/

This is the Taiwan Trails and Tales post about their visit: https://taiwantrailsandtales.com/2022/12/10/xiandonghu-shan-and-yuemei-cave/ 

Here is an article by Tony Huang:
http://www.tonyhuang39.com/tony1070/tony1070.html

A blog post on hiking Biji:

 https://hiking.biji.co/index.php?q=news&act=info&id=16692

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 Map and GPS coordinates:

Yikeng bus stop: 25.102724, 121.665512

Yuemei Cave Trailhead: 25.107363, 121.673425

Yuemei Cave: 25.111031, 121.672118

Xian Dong Hu Shan: 25.116311, 121.672449

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