Activities in East Bay Parks

Coyote Hills Park

Jogging

Total: 3.35 miles
Elevation gain: 550 ft

Biking

Total: 10.2 miles
Elevation gain: 600 ft

Coyote Hills





Mission Peak

Total: 5.92 miles
Elevation gain: 2,300 ft
Type: Out-and-back
Class 1 hike

Sunol Regional Wilderness

Garin Park

Sunol Wildlife Refugee

Racing with time - To Mt. Cising Main Peak (Highest point in Taipei city)

It all began about more than two years ago . In April of that year, 2003, Fred took me to this mountain, where he claimed the best place to ease the pressure, to give my life a different look. This mountain is Mt. Cising which is the highest mountain in the Yang Ming Shan Natiaonal Park as well as in the Taipei City. With the height of 1,120m, it provides the hikers the great view of nearby areas. Gladly I accompanied him to explore this new landmark in my life and found it difficult but worthy after reaching the summit.

Guided Map

Panoramic view from Mt. Cising Main Peak

Total: 4.54 km
Elevation gain: 600 m
Type: out-and-back
Class 1 hike

The trailhead (565m - 51 R 353551 2783259) to the summit trail is located at a place called Miaopu, which is somewhere nearby the 2nd parking lot of the park. Normally hikers will do the preparation in the visitor center, 5 minute walking distance away, and begin the hike to the summit here. The trail is well maintained and mainly stairs. In total, there are more than 2000 stairs in the length of 2.2 km for the one-way trip. The elevation gain from the trailhead to the summit is roughly 600 meters. The trail is all the way up without lossing any elevation.

At first, it seems to be a easy one for most persons to hike the trail as the slope is moderate and the stairs are easy to walk. Once we reached the pavillion (840 m - 51 R 354313 2783936) in the middle of the trail, the real chanlege begins. The slope becomes very steepy and there seems to endless number of stairs. Slowly I walked my steps and opened up my mouth for more airs. The heart was pumping and my feet seemed so heavy at the time. Pretty much I took a small break for every 30 steps I walked. Finally, with Fred's encouragement, I reach the summit (1,120 m -51 R 354223 2784631) and it was so windy up there. On the top, you can find the 1st class triangular point together with the satellite control point. We took a brief break there and headed down with the same way we came in. It took me about 100 minutes to reach the top for the first experince.

1/7/2005

9/11/2005

The 2nd or 3rd time I visited the CiSing Shan mountain was for the TSMC family day held by our division (eCommerce) in the late November of the year 2004 . I reached the top without counting the time but felt like need more training to have a satisified result. In 1/1/2005, I made an important attempt to reach the summit as it snowed that day. The trail was very difficult to walk near the top as it all became icy. Slowly I scrambled toward the summit as most people did at the time. On the summit, I made a dicision to climb this mountain weekly to truly improve my physical condition. I want to race with the time as well as the age.

GPS track log on Google Earth

GPS track log on Motionbased.com

Every week if avaible regardless of the weather condition, I will take the #109 bus to the 2nd parking lot in the park and began my hike there. Gradually my time to the summit improves times over times. On 10/22/2005, I am finally able to reach the summit within 50 minutes which is a milestone I've set for myself. This is the result of more than 30 hikes in the period of one year. With the training, not only I improved my physical c0ndition but also change my propspect of life and more willingly to accept the chanllege. I'm determined to live a better life.

The great YMS east-to-west hike on 9/3/2005

陽明山東西大縱走日期: 9/3/2008由風櫃口出發, 收集位於陽明山國家公園內主要山峰之 "陽明山東西大縱走" 拓印, 終點為清天宮.
種類: 單日縱走
距離: 22 km
累積爬升: 1,600 m
難易程度: 困難
耗時: 11 hr.
起點: 風櫃口步道口
終點: 清天宮步道口

行程:
風櫃口 (600 m) -> 頂山 (768 m) -> 石梯嶺 (862 m) -> 竹篙山 (830 m) -> 擎天崗 -> 七星山東峰 (1,108 m) -> 七星山主峰 (1,120 m) -> 小油坑 -> 大屯山主峰(1,077 m) -> 大屯山南峰 (960 m) -> 大屯山西峰 (984 m) -> 北投清天宮(451 m)

On 9/3/2005, finally it came the day that my dream was fulfilled. Since 1/1/2005, the day I made the decision to climb the CiSing mountain weekly, I continue the rountine every Saturday for 9 months. Regularly I took the bus 109 the 2nd parking lot near visitor center in Yang Minag Shan (YMS) national park at around 6am or 7am. The trailhead was at MiaoPu (苗圃), 5 minutes walking distance from the bus stop. It was quiet a chanllege to me as the hiking trail was very steep arising from 550m, at the trailhead, to 1,120m, at the peak, in the 2.2 km one-way trip. After months of training, my performance improved from 1 hour 40 minutes to 50 minutes at best before this great hike. I always wanted to give myself another chanlleg and the great YMS east-to-west hiking was a dream to come true. Special thanks to my best friend, Fred Chan, who was so willingly to organize this trip. On the day, totally we had 4 persons for the hike. The goal was to hike the ten major mountains in the YMS national park. Below was the log for the trip:

Total: 22 km
Type: point-to-point group hike
Class 1 hike
Load: 8 kg
Gear: Marmot Talus 36 pack / Jetboil stove / Montrail Traverse GTX hiking boot / REI Four Winds hiking staff / Garmin eTrex Legend C



9/3 4:30 am, We gathered at the Nikomart store near Fred's office. We took the cab to the trail head at Fonggueiko (風櫃口).

9/3 5:30 am, Fonggueiko (風櫃口) 600 m 51 R 359146 2780874

It took the cab about 40 minutes to reach the trail head, Fonggueiko. It was very windy there as the name indicates. After a short break, we started the journey. The weather couldn't be better on the day. Cloudy and windy. Best for hikers. One day before the trip, we just had a typhoon visited. You could see a lot of branches fallen from trees on the trail but causing no influence to our hiking.

9/3 6:15 am, Mt. Ding (頂山) 768m

This is the first mountain we visited in this hiking trip. You can find a nice meadow there and oversee the great view of the Taipei city. Everyone is so excited to copy the "陽" mark from one of the desinated poles set up by the park. In 2002, the park started hosting the event for hikers to hike the 10 major mountains in the park, the same ones we hiked today, and collected the marks from the summit post set up on each mountain. The marks wase actually words to complete a sentence. The complete sentence was "陽明山東西大縱走活動" meaned the great YMS east-to-west hike.

As you can see, the pole for the first mountain carries the "陽" mark. Another short note for the cross-mountain hiking, the trip is about 28km long and it would take more than 12 hours to complete the hiking. Afer 10 minutes of break, we move on.

9/3 7:18 am, Shihtiling (石梯嶺) 862 m

Hiking to the second mountain was easy as the trail was pretty level and you didn't gain many altitudes either. One thing to be cautious though. There was wild water buffalos in the area and they might attack people if you invaded their territory or happened to be near the mom and kids. Luckily we didn't see anyone of them. As usual, we copied the "明" mark for the peak and continued our hike.


9/3 8:30 am, Mt. Jhugao (竹篙山) 830 m

There was a military bunker on top of the mountain so it was a easy target to locate. We passed by the beautiful meadows of Cingtiankang (擎天崗) to get there. For the first time, we had some snacks to refuel our body. After copying the "山" mark, we moved on to Lengshuikeng (冷水坑). As it would take a long way to the next mountain, we took a short break here, and enjoyed the nice cold drinks we bought from the shop in the visitor center. By the time we moved out, it was 10:00 am.


9/3 11:00 am, Mt. Cising East Peak (七星山東峰) 1,108 m

It was the most challenging route in the trip as the slope was so steep and the trail was all stairs. Step by step we did our best to move on. Fortunately I had no problem to hike this trail as I did my weekly practice to hike the main peak.I was actually the first one to reach the east peak. It was very windy up there so we pressed on to the main peak after copying the "東" mark.


9/3 11:15 am, Mt.Cising Main Peak (七星山主峰) 1,120 m

15 minutes later, we reached the main peak. The city installed a huge pole up there as a token for the highest mountain in the Taipei city. It's really ugly as there is no harmony between it and the nature. We Copied the 西 mark. Once it's done, we continued the trip to Siaoyoukeng (小油坑). At first I thought we would have lunch here but Fred had a different idea. We took the bus directly to the Anbu (鞍部) trailhead to Mt. Datun (大屯山). I first consdiered it as cheating for hiking the whole trail but I later changed my mind as it was still a long way to go and time was running out. Taking the bus did save us some valuable time. There was a parking lot near the trailhead. We cooked and had lunch there. Although I did bring my own stove, Fred considered it a toy and impractical to use. Anyway we cooked a nice pot of instance noddles with eggs and vegetables. It was really delicious and we finished it all before departing.


9/3 1:25 pm, Mt. Datun Main Peak (大屯山主峰) 1,077 m

The trail to the main peak was easy to follow as as there was a row of electric poles along the trail side. Though you walked stairs, the slope was not as steep as the ones on Mt. CiSing. Pretty soon we reached the top. The main peak was actually located within a military base so we could not actually get there. The pole of "大" mark was just outside the gate of the base. We moved on after copying the mark.

9/3 2:35 pm, Mt. Datun South Peak (大屯山南峰) 960 m

On the way to the south peak, I found a black snake on the trail. It reminded us to be more careful as the snake normally went out during summer. The
"縱" mark was on the hill top. We copied it and continued the hike.




9/3 3:30 pm, Mt. Datun West Peak (大屯山西峰) 984 m

It was quite an effort to climb this peak for its steep slope. Only with the help of the ropes, we are able to reach the top. The "走" mark is our purpose here. On the top, we found an old couple who claimed they'd completed the great hike for 8 times. We were so amazed at their determination. Interestingly I later found out they were actually old colleages to my dad. To the west, we could see the remaining two mountains at a distance. Unfortunately Fred told me that we didn't have time to finish them today or we could not make the dinner with his family. Neverless to say, I was really disappointed. To complete the great hiking, you had to climb all 10 mountains and copy 10 marks as proof. Without choice, I followed Fred's lead on the way directly to the final point of the trip. The downhill was also dangerous and we had to go slowly with the aid of ropes. Though it would only take another 1 - 2 hours to complete the trip, I clould only wait for the next time. The remaining two mountains Mt. Miantian (面天山), 977 m, and Mt. Siangtian (向天山), 949 m, were behind me in one of the pictures below:

9/3 4:30 pm, Chingtien Temple (北投清天宮) 451 m 51 R 348893 2783500

After one hour of walking, we arrived at Chingtien Temple, the final destination of the trip. We waited in front of the temple for the bus 6S. It took us to the MRT station at Beitou (北投) where we took the MRT home. This concluded this hiking trip. Though the trip was not completed, I was so happy that I could comlete 8 mountains without much effort. In a way, the purpose was serverd for me. The picture on the left shows the tracks we hiked for the day. The track was recorded via the Garmin GPS receiver I carried that day. The map was produced by the Garmin Mapsource software.



References:

• YangMing Shan National Park
• 獨步山林間