Taiwan Hikes

WARNING: This is a trail I will NOT recommend you hike by yourself, unless you just want to hike the easy path. If you want to go through the whole trail from Smangus to Qilan, Yilan, a 2-day hike, it’s better to go with an experiencecd hiking guide for your own safety. Some parts of the trail might even trigger your fear of height.
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Smangus, 1,620 meters (5,315 feet) above the sea level, belongs to indigenous Atayal People, and is located in Jianshih Township, Xinchu City in Taiwan. It was so remote that Smangus didn’t have electricity till 1979. Therefore, it was once called Dark or Black Village. Now, it’s called God’s Village after Smangus has become a tourist attraction, which suits Smangus way much better than the prejudiced one.

The majority of Smangus people choose a different lifestyle by adopting cooperative community to ensure all the members in this village are paid equally and well taken care of, when more and more tourists are visiting. If you are interested to know more about their liefstyle, please check out Erv’s post or Smangus' website (Chinese only) for more details.

I recommend you stay at Smangus village to have a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy the amazing surroundings before you start your hike. Smangus’ tranquility and grit reveal a special quality which is unique among most indigenous villages. Perhaps the disadvantaged location helps Smangus perverse her beauty and make their people one of a kind.

Please note that you might need to apply for permit during some high seasons, like cherry blossoms. Please check out Smangus' website for more information.

As to Qilan, you'll need to apply permit from National Police Agency at least 3 days in advance to enter Qilan Giant Trees area. The name of the destination is 100 林道 (宜蘭-大同鄉). The Google translation on the website is 100 Forest Road (Yilan County - Datong Township).

There is a Cilan (Qilan) Forest Recreation Area, which is famous for primeval forest, is not the one we hiked on this trail, but this is a great place to visit if you just want to have a relaxing trip.

Please note that hikers can only take the trailhead from Smangus to Qilan, not the other way around for safety reasons.

One thing worth mentioning is Yuanyang Lake Nature Reserve 鴛鴦湖自然保留區, loacated on Mt. Xue Range 雪山山脈 on the borders of Hsinchu 新竹, Taoyuan 桃園 and Yilan 宜蘭, and the area of this reserve is 374 hectares (924 acres). The maximum depth of Yuanyang Lake is 15 meters, the area of the lake is 3.6 hectares (8.9 acres), and is 1,670 meters (5,479 feet) above the sea level.

This place is NOT open to the public, only for academic research only. It's amain to protect the precious Sparganium fallax Graebner 東亞黑三稜, which was discovered in Taiwan in 1972. If you hike this trail, you might get a cance to see this lake from the distance from the trail.

Smangus is in a very remote part of Jianshih Township in Xinchu City. There is no public transportation to Smangus. You have to drive or hire a car to get there. There are some traffic controls on the way to Smangus. The car you hire must be familiar with the traffic to Smangus.

Mt. Xuebai: 雪白山, 2,444 meters (8,018 feet), no views
Mt. Shichushi: 西丘斯山, 2,427 meters (7,962 feet), a great place to see sunrise.
Xuebai Campsite: 雪白營地, 2,050 meters (6,725 feet), and the distance from Smangus trailhead to this camp is around 7.9 km (4.9 miles). There is a water source near the campsite and the round trip to the source is 20 minutes.

See the map and itinerary first

GPS coordinates of the trailhead: 24.577818, 121.337632

I joined Taiwan Mountain LOHAS Association for this hike in January 2020. We stayed at a nearby B&B and got up early to get to the trailhead. It was still early when we arrived in Smangus. The sky was blue like deep ocean without any cloud, but the early sun warmed us up in the cold weather.

After letting some of our hiking mates taking photos, our guide Acer led us pass through the arch to start the hike. The first things we saw was the photogenic valleys and beautiful slender bamboo woods, which tempted us to stop and take photos again.

It's very relaxing to stroll here.

The trail condition was surprisingly good. It was very flat and easy to hike. The trail from the entrance to the old tree area was taken care of by Smangus people, and you could tell they had done a tremendous job, not many annoying uneven stairs and the trail condition was kept very natural. It was such a delight to stroll here.

You will see the old tree area approaching when you get close. Those trees were so tall, huge, and handsome.

The oldest one in Smangus, Yaya Qparung, meaning Mama Big Tree in Atayal language, is said to be the second oldest tree in Taiwan, around 2,000 years old. It takes 20 people holding hand in hand to circle the tree. As you can imagine, Yaya Qparung is the most popular photo taking spot.

The distance from the trailhead to Yaya Qparung is 5.2 km (3.2 miles), and you take the same trail back if you don't plan to go to Qilan.

After Yaya Qparung, the easy hike was over, and the trail condition became more rugged as we started going uphill. The rugged terrains are very common on the trails in Taiwan, especially among Mid-level Mountain Trails 中級山.

By the way, if you have a better suggestion to translate 中級山, please kindly let me know.

The tree roots were intertwined with each other and we had to get a hold of the roots to lift ourselves up. I could almost hear my quadriceps muscles whining. Even though the trail was not easy, the beautiful woods and the great weather still gave me some comfort.

After one hour, we reached a creek and it was time for lunch. I sat on a big rock to boil water to make hot chocolate. While waiting for my drink, I scrutinized the surrounding, the calming creek flowing through the forests with mixed tall trees and bushes. We were very lucky to hike here with such a great weather.

Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea just sitting here all day.

The trail condition became steeper, and we had to climb several big slopes with fallen rocks scattered around the trail. Our guide Acer took some time to teach us how to recognize the ridges and what we should do if we get lost in the woods.

There were many big tall trees on this section of trail. Although those were not as famous as others in Alishan, I was still in awe, imaging all those years they have been there and all those sunshine and storms they have been trough.

Then we made a turn to a very narrow sidehill. Hiking on a narrow sidehill trail isn’t anything new to me, but what made me panic was it was on a very steep slope without many trees to grab. In July 2017, I fell off a sidehill trail and landed hard on the riverbank. I was lucky to get away from serious injuries only with nasty bruises and little scrape, but this experience has haunted me for a while.

While hiking on this sidehill, I leaned to the slope closer and closer and I could feel my heartbeat racing faster than normal. I was too scared to stand upright, so I gradually squatted down and used my left hand to keep my balance instead of my tracking poles.

I was so slow that I had to let my hiking mates pass me, and I ended up being the last hiker in the group. The guide who acted as a keeper was very nice and kept me company. I thought about taking more photos of this part of the trail, but I was too panic to do that.

Finally, we reached our campsite, Xuebai campsite 雪白營地, 2,139 meters, (7,017 feet), and we started to pitch our tents and tarps. This campsite probably could accommodate 40 people. There was a water source nearby, and the round trip took around 20 minutes. I didn’t go because I had brought enough water.

After some rest, we headed to Mt. Xuebai 雪白山, 2,444 meters (8,018 feet), which was in between Taoyuan and Hsinchu, and also the highest peak in Taoyuan. But I turned back after a few meters. I guess I was still in shock after the scary sidehill and nothing much to see on the peak also put me off. So, the keeper guide and I got back to the campsite to enjoy the quiet moment and got some rest.

We got up around 3:30 am and headed to Mt. Xiqiusi 西丘斯山, 2,427 meters, (7,962 feet) around 4:10 am to see the sunrise, only carrying the essentials, because we would return to the campsite later.

I guess we accidentally woke up bees and they weren’t very happy about that. As a result, several of us got stung. I got stung on my left cheek and it hurt so much that I could feel one teardrop rolling down on my cheek immediately. If you ask me, I will tell you leeches are way much cuter than bees and other bugs on the trails.

Some part of the trail shared the same one to Mt. Xuebai, which was a very steep, and I had to put up with the pain of the bee sting. By the time we almost got to the peak of Mt. Shichushi, I could see the sky was getting brighter through the trees. I was so nervous that we would miss the sunrise. Luckily, we arrived on time. When we reached the cliff, the most astonishing nature wonder was presented in front of us.

And the sea of clouds.

When I was soaking in and trying to enjoy this stunning view quietly, my excited hiking mates kept talking loudly and sharing food. This is one of the drawbacks to hike with a group. Looking on the bright side, at least, we were the only group on the peak, otherwise we would have to take turns to sit there.

I found a small trail in the bushes near the cliff so I decided to explore. Then, this was what I saw.

Please note that the location to see the sunrise wasn’t exact the peak of Mt. Shichushi. We had to move toward the cliff a little bit to enjoy the stunning views.

When I turned around, our guides told us the Holly Ridgeline Trail 聖稜線, including Mt. Xue Main Peak 雪山主峰, 3,886 meters (12,749 feet) and Mt. Dabajian 大霸尖山, 3,490 meters (11,450 feet), was on the other side. The morning sunshine casted an orange hue on Mt. Dabajian and nearby mountains, and it was so spectacular.

Mt. Dabajian was on my hiking list, and I finally did this hike in September, 2020.

The wonderful view made me want to stay here much longer, but we still had a long way to go. We got back to our campsite, took our gear, and continued the rest our hike. Then, the reality struck again. The rest part of the trail was more demanding than the previous ones.

Other than those tall standing trees, those fallen ones lying on the trail were so big and the number of them was so many in an astonishing way that I felt like crying whenever I had to climb over or crawl underneath them. From time to time, I was questioning myself why I put myself in this situation.

Our guide told us that this area was nicknamed as Taiwan Cypress Cemetery. From those fallen trees, it was indeed a tree cemetery.

Some fallen trees were very big and blocked the whole sidehill we had to pass. Some of them were very thick, I had to bear hug the tree trunk with my arms and legs stretching out as much as I could, let my toe of my right foot touch the other side of the trail, shifted my weight over there and landed myself safely. I thought about asking Fion, who was on the other side helping me, to take photos of me hugging the tree, but I changed my mind because it might be dangerous for her.

After the sidehill section, we turned up to an even much higher sidehill without much shade, but the scenery totally opened up with mountains circling the valley. Those mountains were the peaks on Holly Ridgeine Trail. Instead of the orange hue in the early morning, the Holly Ridgeline Trail stood there with the ocean blue sky in the background, hugging the valley and the sea of cotton-like white clouds above it. Our guide Acer knew that we wanted to savor this moment, so he let us take a break.

Although it was January and we were on high altitude, the sun still made us feel like it was summer.

After getting our feet back on the trail, we passed a junction, and the other trial would lead us to Yuanyang Lake 鴛鴦湖. However, I didn't take photos of the junction.

While being on the trail, I looked back at the spot where we were there to enjoy the views of the sea of clouds and Holy Ridgeline. It looked so far away.

After passing the junction to Yuanyang Lake, we turned into a totally different terrain which was covered by thick ferns, mosses and mud, and the weather became cloudy.

Some people say this area looks like the jungle scene in the movie Avatar. I can’t comment because I never saw that movie. Whether it’s like the scene in Avatar or not, to me, this is Taiwan. It doesn’t need to look like something else to prove its worth.

It might look dreamy to hike here, but this mushy and wet terrain also made my legs feel like lead. I was getting out of breath and hiking on the wet and slippery terrain wasn't making it better.

If I weren’t this tired, I would love to take more photos. During our previous break, I checked my feet and found a blister. I tended it with bandit hoping it would make it till the end of our hike. Obviously, I didn’t do a good job and I could feel the burning sensation.

One more photo about this amazing plant.

To make things worse, the downhill was steeper and more slippery, and my knees were not happy about that. By the time I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, we reached the trailhead. From that point, we just needed to walk on logging road to our hired bus, only extra 2 km left...

This trail isn’t labeled as mid-level trail for no reasons. Some of our hiking mates injured during the hike. The first slipped on one slope with the big tree blocking the sidehill. Luckily, she was stopped by trees below and managed to climb up.

The second incident was the young man in front of me. We were descending on some wooden stairs and for some unknown reason he lost his footing and tilted to the slope. I was shocked by his sudden losing balance and squatted down trying to grab his backpack. But the distance between him and me was longer than my arm length, I could only barely pinch his backpack raincover and dragged his raincover to the left as much as I could. Surprisingly, he moved back to the left and regained his balance. We continued our hike.

Later, I asked him what happened. He said he lost his footing. Then I asked him how he got his balance back. He told me “a move” in English. I asked again: Did you feel I was pinching your backpack raincover? He gave me a look mixed with realization and confusion. Anyway, he was safe, which is the most important thing.

The third incident was that a girl who wore a helmet and hiking boots slipped off a log when we were trying to pass a gutter. She fell off about one meter and landed on her right side. I think her helmet prevented her from possible head injury. She was shocked but suffered no visible harm. Most of us wore rainboots. There's nothing wrong with wearing hiking boots, of course, but it’s easier to hike in Taiwan with the rainboots. Luckily, she was doing okay.

If you can arrange a transportation, Smangus is a great delight to visit, whether you take the easy strolling or the challenging trail all the way to Qilan, Yilan. If I want to take the easy trail, I will stay at least 2 days to enjoy this peaceful indigenous village, taking my time and absorbing the fresh air.

If you opt for adventures, the trail from Smangus to Qilan will certainly not disappoint you. But there are many junctions on this trail, I don’t recommend you do it alone. It's better to hire an experienced local guide to take you there. Going with a group might be a good option because you don’t have to worry about driving or hiring a car.

Before you go, please remember this is a physically demanding trail. I know I tend to choose hikes that are beyond my ability, but I think this one really kicks my butt not just because of the scary slopes, but also the treacherous terrains. As I said, there are dangers on some parts of the trail. Please be cautious when you proceed.

Overall, we were very lucky to stay safe and enjoyed a lot. We saw the most amazing views and see the mystic virgin woods. I highly recommend people who are fit and not afraid of height to take on the point-to-point trail, and to hike it with experienced guides. If you ask me whether I want to hike it again, to be honest, the easy one to see the old trees? That’s for sure. The one from Smangus to Qilan? Uh... maybe once is enough. But who knows?

Have you been to Smangus? If you are interested in indigenous culture, Smangus will be the best place to explore. Please leave comments below. Don't forget to subscribe to newsletters to know more about the exciting trails in Taiwan.

Chinese only:
Hiking Biji: 司馬庫斯古道越嶺鴛鴦湖

English posts:
ERV Travels: SMANGUS – ABORIGINAL COMMUNAL VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF TAIWAN
Ryan Revern: Ancient Tree Groves of Smangus and Zhenxibao
Wandering Taiwan (bilingual post): Smangus

100 Peaks on Holy Ridgeline: Mt. Dabajian and Mt. Xiaobajian
Syakaro Trail
Hunters Trail in Wangxiang