Taiwan Hikes

There are two buses going to the trailhead:
1. Take Kingbus 1751 at Yilan Transfer Station 宜蘭轉運站 and get off at Siyuan Police Station 思源派出所.
2. Take Kingbus 1764 at Luodong Transfer Station 羅東轉運站 and get off at Siyuan Police Station 思源派出所.

Mt. Luoyewei: 羅葉尾山, 2,717 m (8,914 ft), Class 3 Triangulation Stone on the summit.
Mt. Mawuzuye: 馬武佐野郡山, 2,368 m (7,769 ft), Class 3 Triangulation Stone on the summit.
ROMA Hike means the ridgeline from Mt. Luoyewei to Mt. Mawuzuye. Hikers not only see the famous 100 Peaks like Mt. Nanhu, Mt. Zhongyanjian, Mt. Xue, but also can enjoy the old big trees on the trail. The total hike is only 12 km (7.45 miles), but it takes at least 9 hours to finish the hike.

See the map and itinerary first

We stayed at nearby B&B, but you can camp near the trail head. There’s a river so you can have access to draw water. But you have to get across Yousheng River 有勝溪 to start your hike, and you have to cross the same river to finish your hike. Therefore, prepare some extra socks or another pair of shoes to prevent your hiking boots from getting wet. I wore rainboots so it was easy for me.

GPS coordinates of the trailhead: 24.393902, 121.352493

Before we started our hike, it’d been raining and cold for days, but the weather forecast said we would have a good weather. To be honest, I didn’t believe it because when we got started, it was still cloudy and grey. We saw trees and branches covered by ice. It had been raining for days and the temperature dropped dramatically, and Mt. Xue started snowing a few days before our hike. When we were on the trail, it was icy and cold.

To my great delight, I was totally wrong. The sky gradually cleared up and the sunshine started breaking through the clouds. In the meanwhile, rime and clear ice on the trees started melting, too. It was like a drizzle and we had to stop to wear our raincoats.

Occasionally, I could hear my hiking mates’ happy shriek when they saw rime falling gracefully from the trees, like fairy dust. I managed to shoot a time-lapsed video, but it still doesn’t quite capture what we witnessed right on the spot.

Apart from the rime, the mist made the trail look so mysterious.

On a tropical island like Taiwan, it’s really difficult to image how it feels like to be hit by falling ice, but we were lucky to experience it. The melting ice not only made the trail sluggish and difficult to hike but also made us try very hard to avoid being hit. The shriek of seeing beautiful rimes started to mix with painful ‘Ouch, I got hit’.

We were joking that it was one in a million chance to be hit by falling ice in Taiwan. But to be honest, it wasn’t fun to be hit by falling ice, especially those from the tall trees. Luckily, we all survived by the attack, and we didn’t get serious injury.

The slope was still very steep, and I felt my legs as heavy as lead. I had to stop frequently to catch my breath. When I was taking a break and turned back to look where we were, I realized that the sky had been totally cleared up, we were already above the clouds and the peaks on the other side were very clear to be seen. Siyuan Yakou 思源啞口 was already covered by clouds. The fatigue was replaced by excitement, and I hurried to hike further, trying to get a better view.

When we reached a flat area to rest, our guides told us those peaks in front of us were Mt. Nanhu 南湖大山 3,742 m (12,277 ft), and we could see Mt. Zhongyangjian 中央尖山 3,705 m (12,155 ft), an almost perfect triangle shape with pointed peak, if we looked to the south through the trees. Like Mt. Nanhu, the summit of Mt. Zhongyangjian was covered by snow.

I'm not new to snow, but seeing snow in Taiwan is very rare, even in high attitudes, still made me thrilled. From time to time, we still got hit by ice, but it didn’t matter anymore.

We still had to head to our first peak, Mt. Luoyewei. When I hiked in Norway in August 2017, we hiked at the glacier national park and the snow was hard and about my knee deep. It wasn’t an easy hike because my hiking boots were soaking wet after a while.

Although there was no snow on this trail, hiking on the ice wasn’t easy, either. It was slippery, wet and easy to lose your footing, which is totally different from hiking on a muddy trail. I was glad that I had my faithful trekking poles to keep me company.

Finally, we reached Mt. Luoyewei, and there were already other hiking groups queueing up for pictures. Taking pictures with the summit signs or Triangulation Sones is a big thing in Taiwan, especially the one classified as Class 3 Triangulation Stone on Mt. Luoyewei. You can expect a long queue waiting if you are not the only hiking group.

The sun was already high up by now, and it was hot. I took this moment to take a rest and dried my raincoat and backpack. I sat there by myself and enjoyed the sea of clouds and the snow-capped peaks once more. The ice on the trees wasn’t totally melted, and rimes were still there to be seen, plus the bright blue sky, the cotton-like white clouds, and the green mountains circling us in the distance, which made my hiking experience upgrade to a whole new level.

After the summit, we were ready to our lunch place. We were told there were bamboo woods and it should be easy. It turned out to be a different story. When our guides made their first trip to scout the trail, there was no ice falling and the bamboo woods were intact, and they were able to pass through the woods very fast.

However, the unexpected cold weather and rain smashed the bamboo woods and the falling ice further bended the woods, which made traversing more difficult. At several points, our backpacks were caught up with the bamboos and it took some time to get ourselves free. Carrying a big heavy backpack and trying to bend down and hike wasn’t easy.

Many of us decided crawling might be the best tactic to tackle with the damaged bamboo woods. So, I can add the experience of crawling on the ice with my knees on my hiking adventures. As you can imagine, it felt hurt and cold by crawling on the ice.

This section took us much longer than expect to finish, and we finally arrived the place for lunch. We were cold, exhausted and very hungry, and ready to devour anything edible. Our guides boiled hot water to prepare ginger tea for us, which was a great delight to warm up our bodies.

Sitting in the woods and having my lunch, I could see the sunshine seeping through the trees leaves and the mountains in the distance. I still felt a little bit cold, but very content. I am not sure I have the ability or get a chance to hike Mt. Nanhu and Mt. Zhongyangjian, but being able to see the views like this made me very elated and grateful. It also felt like a dream.

After lunch, the section of the trail was easier than the previous ones. It was still steep, but the terrain was mostly covered by leaves and pine needles, and there were many majestic big trees with huge branches reaching out along the trail.

There were several old trees here. The ferns and moss on the branches and the trail were like little fairies dancing among twigs and seeping sunshine, and those made us easily to lose track of time. Our guides urged us to go faster, because nobody wanted to hike in the dark if we stayed too long, and they promised us that there would be a big surprise waiting for us.

More beautiful trees.

When we got out of the woods, the landscape opened up, and Mt. Nanhu reappeared in front of us. Everyone was excited and stopped to take photos, but our guides told us to keep moving.

Later, I realized they were right, because the landscape opened up further, we not only could see Mt. Nanhu on our left, but also Holy Ridge Trail 聖稜線 from our last summit on this trip, Mt. Mawuzuyejun 馬武佐野郡山, 2,368 m/ 7,769 ft. From here, we could see the summit of Mt. Xue, 3,886 m / 12,749 ft, the second highest mountain in Taiwan, was covered by snow. We were between two of the most famous mountain ridgelines now.

Panorama view of Holy Ridge Trail. Mt. Dabajian was behind those summits.

I hiked to Mt. Xue East Peak, 3,201 m / 10,502 ft, before, but I didn’t make it to Mt. Xue Main Peak. I planned to hike there again but haven’t got a chance yet. Seeing this and Holy Ridge Trail made me feel I was getting close the Mt. Xue again.

Silver grass is a very unique plant with a strong ability to survive, and you can see it almost everywhere in Taiwan. Finishing our last summit on this trail, we made a turn and hiked through the silver grass. Those views on this grassland made me stop here for a little bit longer to take as many photos as I could. When you hike here, please be aware of the big rocks hidden among the silver grass. It will hurt a lot or even break your toes if you accidentally kick them.

Looking up, I saw Mt. Nanhu in front of us. The closer look made the snow even more visible to us. More surprisingly, I got to see the sea of clouds. It’s been a while for my last sight of this amazing phenomenon, and I decided to take time-lapsed videos of the views, snow-capped Mt. Nanhu and the sea of the clouds, because I wasn’t sure when I will see this combination again.

A video clip of the sea of clouds.

While continuing my hike, I heard shriek being let out from hikers in front of me. It turned out they saw a rainbow out of somewhere. I still don’t understand what they had seen, but whatever they saw must be amazing, which add up an extra wonder we had on this hike.

After the silver grass fields, the trail turned into a very steep one, and we had to grab the ropes for several descending. If it were raining at that time, this part of trail would turn into a muddy nightmare, slippery and difficult to descend. This part is also challenging for knees, so please wear knee braces if necessary.

Finally, we reached our last challenge before finishing the hike, because we were back to Yousheng River, just like how we got started. Some of our hiking mate said their feet got wet even though they wore a pair of rainboots. I wore rainboots, too, but I also wore a pair of rain pants and I used my rain pants to cover the lower parts of my boots. So, my feet managed to maintain dry.

When you cross the river, it can be very slippery to step on the rocks in the river. Some of our hiking mates slipped here. Since this is the last part of the hike, it doesn’t matter if your feet get wet, because you are about to finish this delightful hike.

We had to climb over the fence to get back to our bus.

I think we were really lucky to see those amazing things on this trail, but it really depends on the weather condition. I think this hike is great to hike in all seasons, because the altitude is high enough for hikers to avoid the heat in summer. Some people say they won’t hike the same trail again because we have way too many trails to hike in Taiwan. I totally agree, but I do enjoy some trails very much and I definitely will visit this again. This one is also great for camping and solo hike. Highly recommend this one.

Chinese only:
Mark Choo: 羅馬縱走下武陵，羅葉尾山、武佐野群山、馬武佐野郡山
Hiking Biji: 羅馬縱走(羅葉尾山、馬武佐野郡山)