Taiwan Hikes

There’s no bus to the trailhead of Mt. Dabajian, so you have to arrange your own transportation or drive there. The closest tourist attraction is Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area 觀霧國家森林遊樂園, and you have to get inside Guanwu to get to the Mt. Dabajian Trailhead Service Station 大霸尖山登山服務站 or Checkpoint, 2,039 meters (6,690 feet), to submit your permit in the mailbox before hiking.

We stayed at Yuanshan B&B 雲山民宿, which was in the north of Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area, about 30-minute drive. The early morning views from Yuanshan B&B was amazing.

Mt. Dabajian 大霸尖山: 3,492 meters (11,456 feet), a Class 2 Triangulation Stone on the peak. It’s not allowed to climb the rock. Hikers can only stay at the base of the rock.
Mt. Xiaobajian 小霸尖山: 3,418 meters (11,214 feet)
Mt. Yizhe 伊澤山: 3,297 meters (10,817 feet), a Class 3 Triangulation Stone on the peak
Mt. Jiali 加利山: 3,112 meters (10,210 feet), a Class 3 Triangulation Stone on the peak

Other places you also need to reach:
Jiujiu Hut 九九山莊: 2,699 meters (8,855 feet)
Zhongba (or Jhongba) Cabin 中霸山屋: 3,280 meters (10,761 feet)
Note: to make life easier, I will use the spelling of Jhongba to refer Zhongba.

There are several ways to do this hike. We did the easiest one, the three-day hike:
Day 0: Taipei to Yuanshan B&B in the evening
Day 1: Yuanshan B&B to Mt. Dabajian Checkpoint to Madala River Entrance to Jiujiu Hut
Day 2: Jiujiu Hut to Jhongba Ground to Mt. Dabajian, Mt. Xiaobajian, Mt. Yizhe, and Mt. Jiali, and back to Jiujiu Hut
Day 3: Jiujiu Hut to Madala River entrance to Mt. Dabajian Checkpoint, and back to Taipei

If I do this hike again, I will change my itinerary and you can check out here first.

GPS Coordinates of Mt. Dabajian Checkpoint: 24.505037, 121.118944
We arrived at Guanwu around 6 am and submit our hiking permits at Mt. Dabajian Checkpoint. After everyone was ready, we went through the gate and started our hike on Dalu Forest Road 大鹿林道線.

But, In December 2020, the government hinted that they might consider allowing shuttle services for hikers on Dalu Forest Road so hikers can save a 38 km hike and start hiking at Madala River. By the time I post this, it hasn’t reached any conclusion yet.

It's disheartening to take such a long trail (38 km or 23.75 miles round trip hike) to get to the real trailhead near Madala River, but it seems to protect the trail to Mt. Dabajian and other peaks from being overcrowded, especially during the pandemic when local people don't feel safe traveling in other countries.

It was easy to hike on Dalu Forest Road. One of the reasons was it was slightly descending, and the second reason was we just got started with the full energy. The trees along with this road were tall and beautiful. We could see peaks through the tall trees.

But hiking here for a long time can be very boring, especially when you had to do it twice. We had three guides in this group, and two of them were very friendly. They shared their knowledge of the plants on this forest road , but I forgot to take photos of them.

There are many Biting Cats or Stinging Nettles 咬人貓 on this forest road. Please be careful if you need to find a place to relieve yourself.

I've seen many mushrooms on my previous hikes, but they weren’t as big as those I saw on Dalu Forest Road.

There were many wild kiwi trees and fruits or Chinese gooseberry 奇異果或獼猴桃, too, but I wasn’t brave enough to try them.

When you see a concrete bridge with a big beautiful Waterfall next to it, you've reached Dongxian Waterfall 東線瀑布, which means you get 3 km left to the shortcut. You will also find many clean water sources on this forest road. So, you don't have to carry too much water with you.

There were also many chairs on the side of the trail, and they looked very tempting when I was tired. Finally, we reached the mark of 17K with a big stone table and chairs.

We took a steep slope down to Madala River 馬達拉溪 and the real trailhead to Jiujiu Hut 九九山莊 and Mt. Dabajian. This steep slope was actually a shortcut, so we didn’t have to hike extra 2 km.

There was a tiny hut after you got to the bottom of the slope. Our guide told us that some hikers stay here one night and head directly to Mt. Dabajian the next day. But it’s not guarantee that you will get a place here because it’s like first come first serve.

We crossed the river on the red bridge, 1,815 meters (5,954.7 feet) above the sea level, and saw a collapsed building and a collapsed bridge on our right-hand side. The abandoned building was the old checkpoint, but it was destroyed by a typhoon.

My friend told me they could drive here and start hiking to Mt. Dabajian years ago (last century to be exact). But the government decided not to fix the forest road and the building because the typhoons destroy them from time to time.

We took our lunch under the bridge to hide under the shade. The view from the bridge was wonderful.

After lunch, we took the stairs next to the collapsed suspension bridge. From there, it was a hike with elevation gain of 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) all the way up to Jiujiu Hut and the distance was 4.1 km (2.54 miles).

The vegetation looked different now and there were many tall cypress trees. The trail terrain was more rugged than the forest road, but there were wooden stairs in several sections. It was a little bit tricky to navigate your way when passing through a section of rock rubbles underneath the trees.

Although my friend and I joined a group hike, my friend was already exhausted and became slow and I kept him company. We were left to go through the rock rubbles, but it wasn’t difficult to find our way out. Compared to the rock rubbles I encountered at Mt. Baigu, this one was very mild.

There were many timber posts with millage marks telling you how much you still had to go to get to Jiujiu Hut. As I said in my previous posts, those marks can be encouraging and depressing at the same time.

Eventually, we arrived at Jiujiu Hut. I could’t tell you how much we were so happy to see the gate of Jiujiu Hut.

The elevation of Jiujiu Hut is 2,699 meters (8,855 feet), and the pronunciation of 99 in Chinese is Jiujiu. It’s under the administration of Shie-Pa National Park. You get the idea why it’s called Jiujiu. It has 6 small dome huts and 3 big houses to accommodate up to 300 hikers, but the available bed is usually around 130.

When we stayed there in early September, I was told that you could get a better phone signals if you headed to the west for about 70 meters passing the solar panels. When I was trying to find the place to get the phone receptions, a very kind girl pointed the direction for me and told me the view was great.

It was about time for us to have dinner, so I was struggling whether I should get the hot meal or check out the views first. In a few seconds, I decided the hot meal could wait. And I was so thrilled to know that I’ve made the right decision. The sunset was stunning! Sorry for the blurred photos, but it still looks stunning.

I wasn’t the only one there to admire the epic sunset. Many hikers were already there to enjoy the amazing views (or the available phone signals). Lucky for future hikers, they can get the phone signals inside Jiujiu Hut by the end of 2020.

When I was about to leave, my friend came to the spot to tell me to get my dinner. I decided to come back later before going to bed, and I wasn’t let down. I saw the amazing starry sky and even caught a sight of a shooting star.

We got up around 2:30 am to have breakfast and got ready to head to Mt. Dabajian around 3:30 am with light backpacks. The trail was next to Jiujiu Hut and it was uphill again.

It was still dark when we reached the junction to Mt. Jiali around 4:26 am. By the time we reached 3050 Upland (or 3050 Highland), it was around 6 am and we could see Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Xiaobajian in the distance. Some hikers will go to Mt. Jiali before going to Mt. Dabajian, but our guide took us to Mt. Dabajian first.

Then, the line behind the ridgeline between Mt. Dabajian and Xiaobajian was the famous Holy Ridgeline 聖稜線, and Mt. Xue Main Peak was there. Here’s my other hike to see Holy Ridgeline.

The weather seemed okay with clouds when we reached to the fork to Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Yizhe at 6:14 am. The view of Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Xiaobajian was amazing, but the clouds seemed to get thicker.

We arrived at Jhongba Cabin around 6:29 am. This hut can accommodate 12 hikers but there was no stable water supply here. We took a small break and continued to climb up the small hill.

Very soon, we reached a very flat ground, which was Jhongba Ground 中霸坪, around 3,350 meters (10,990 feet). One of our guides told me that some hikers came here to see the sunrise. Standing here, I could almost imagine how stunning it could be to watch the sunrise here.

I took out my NT$500 banknote which had been sitting in my pocket since I got up, and took photos of Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Xiaobajian. It wasn’t easy to get a clear focus of the banknote and the mountains, but I was thrilled to see those epic mountains in person.

Finally, we reached the edge of Jhongba Ground, and were about to go downhill to the base of Mt. Dabajian.

The trail condition became more rugged from here, and you had to watch out the cliff on your right-hand side while admiring the magnificent Mt. Dabajian ahead. I could see the metal gate at the base of Mt. Dabajian, and I also started seeing more amazing wildflowers on the left side the trail.

Eventually, we reached the base of Mt. Dabajian, whose shape was more slander and pointed from this angle. We can’t climb up to Mt. Dabajian summit for safety reasons, but I was very thrilled to get so close to this amazing mountain, not just from our banknote.

As usual, we had to take the peak photos. The weather turned cloudy without any blue color in the sky like what we saw earlier, but I think we were still lucky because it didn’t rain. It was too windy here, so we resumed our hike to Mt. Xiaobajian.

Before our hike, our guides had told us to pay extra attention to the trail around Mt. Dabajian base, because it could by icy and slippery because of the dropping temperature at night. Moreover, you might bump your head to the rock wall. I saw the old trail cage decayed on the side of the trail. It did look scary.

I looked at the slope on my right-hand side, imaging how desperate it would be if someone lost their footing here made my palms sweat. Definitely not fun. I walked as soon as I could and reached to the ridge behind Mt. Dabajian. Mt. Xiaobajian was waiting for us.

While we walked on the ridge, one of our guides told us Mt. Zhongyangjian and Mt. Nanhu were on our left-hand side. This was one of the very few clear photos I could take before clouds covering up those beautiful peaks.

Within 30 minutes, we arrived at the rock platform before Mt. Xiaobajian and prepared to the biggest challenge for that day.

We took a break at the platform waiting for our hiking mates to arrive and other hikers who were still descending from Mt. Xiaobajian to finish. The rocky, barren and almost vertical rock of Xiaobajian did look terrifying from there.

Our guides had told us constantly how dangerous it could be to climb Mt. Xiaobajian, and I was so worried my weak spaghetti arms were too weak to hold my weight that I started doing pushups one month before our hike. I hoped it paid off.

Finally, it was our turn to climb Mt. Xiaobajian. We left our small backpacks and trekking poles on the platform to reduce more weight. There were ropes for us to hold, but I usually didn’t trust ropes on the trails. I tried to hold on the rocks with one of my arms instead of totally holding on the ropes. I didn’t dare to take any photo during my climb, and I just wanted to reach the summit as soon as I could.

They said you could see 360° view from the peak of Mt. Xiaobajian, but unfortunately the only thing I could see was clouds. This happens a lot when you do 100 Peaks in Taiwan.

It takes luck to hike 100 Peaks in Taiwan. If you are lucky enough, you win the draw to the beds of the cabins. If you get the beds, you start to pray for a good weather.

Since there was nothing much to see on the summit, I decided to get back to the platform. Thinking of descending the rock made my palms sweat again. Looking down from the rock was scarier than climbing up. Luckily, I didn’t panic and made it safely to the platform. By the time we reached the platform, it started drizzling.

Something worth mentioning was there were so many delicate beautiful wildflowers on the base of Mt. Dabajian and the ridge to Mt. Xiaobajian. As much as I wish I could take photos of those delicate flowers, I didn’t want to risk my and other hiking mates’ lives by kneeling on the narrow passages. Luckily, I found out more at safer locations and I was able to take photos of them.

This is one of the flowers I found on the trail, Cirsium kawakamii Hayata. At first, I thought this was the plant that printed on the back of our NT$1,000 banknote, but according to Foreigners in Taiwan, it was a different species, Cirsium tatakaense (Compositae). Even though it’s not the one printed on our banknote, this was still a very lovely flowers and I was very happy to see them on the trail.

When we returned from Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Xiaobajian, I saw many cute white fruits hanging in the bushes along with the trail. Our guide told us this was Taiwan Gaultheria 高山白珠樹, and those fruits were edible. Thus, I picked up those big ones and ate them. I told my friend some of them were pretty good and he gave me the look that I was nuts.

You can check out this page for more flowers I found on the trails.

The weather was getting cloudier after we left Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Xiaobajian. I was already tired, and the cloudy sky wasn’t able to boost my morale to finish the other two peaks, but I still managed to continue.

Unfortunately, our lead guide was foul-mouthed person, which made the rest of the trip even more unbearable. Since we took the same trail back to Jiujiu Hut and I had a GPX track, my friend and I decided to take our time.

From other hikers’ blogs, the view of Mt. Dabajian and Xiaobajian from Mt. Jiali and Mt. Yizhe were phenomenal. I definitely have to do this hike again.

It took us 9 hours and 21 minutes to finish the round trips on the second day.

Since it was raining, I didn’t go to the secret spot in the west of Jiujiu Hut to use the phone signals. I packed my backpack as much as I could because we were leaving in the next day. When I was packing my belongings, I got a feeling that it might be a great weather by the time we left. I was right. It was a sunny day with bright blue sky.

On the way back, the nicer guides told us that we could see Mt. Yizhe and Mt. Jiali on Dalu Forest Road. Looking at those peaks with the blue sky made me feel a little bit sad because we couldn’t see it yesterday.

Hiking 20+ km two days in a row already made us exhausted, and we still had 22 km to get back to the trailhead. Although 17 km was slightly uphill, it was more like a mental challenge than a physical one. I could feel my willpower was draining away. I felt like zombie walking on Dalu Forest Road.

The good thing was you know you would finish it, sooner or later, and called it a day.

This is definitely a hike that I will do it again. Most parts of the trail aren’t dangerous, and you can do it without going with a big group, if you are not afraid of height.

The most dangerous section is the climbing to the top of Mt. Xiaobajian and you have to be extremely careful when doing it. Wait till the passage cleared up when you go. It won’t be fun if you ran into someone when you are trying to get up and they trying to descend.

If I do it again and under the circumstance that we still have to hike Dalu Forest Road, I will do it in 4 days and stay at Jhongba Cabin for one day. If I’m lucky enough, I might be able to see sunrise and sunset at Jhongba Ground. The itinerary will be:

Day 0: Taipei to Yuanshan B&B in the evening
Day 1: Yuanshan B&B to Mt. Dabajian Checkpoint to Madala River Entrance to Jiujiu Hut
Day 2: Carry water from Jiujiu Hut to Jhongba Cabin. Head to Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Xiaobajian. Get back to Jhongba Ground and wait for the sunset. Stay one night at Jhongba Cabin.
Day 3: Get to Jhongba Ground to see the sunrise, and head to Mt. Yizhe and Mt. Jiali. Back to the cabin and head to Jiujiu Hut.
Day 4: Get up early and leave Jiujiu Hut to the trailhead, and back to Taipei.

Back to the peaks

I was thinking about staying one night at the hut near Madala River Entrance, but I was told it’s first come first serve, not sure you can get a bed. Since I don’t want to carry my tent, it’s better to hike all the way up to Jiujiu Hut.

Chinese only:
Hiking Biji: 大霸群峰登山步道(大鹿林道線)
第四次的大霸行
Hiking Biji: Five Ways to Hike Mt. Dabajian 爬大霸尖山的五種路線