Hike from FuShan in Wulai to BaLing in TaoYuan 福山（烏來）到 巴陵（ 桃園）
journal > 2004 > Hike from FuShan in Wulai to BaLing in TaoYuan 福山（烏來）到 巴陵（ 桃園）
journal > 2004 > Hike from FuShan in Wulai to BaLing in TaoYuan 福山（烏來）到 巴陵（ 桃園）
The weather is warm - lower 20's in the morning and upper 20's in the afternoon - warm especially compared to the extremely cold winter we had in February. We are all in short-sleeves most of the way and sweating. The weather is partly cloudy to sunny, but the haze builds as the day goes on. Jeff and Dan get a cab at 5:30 in MuCha 木柵 and pick up Tammy and Philip at New Garden City 花園新城 at about 6. We are at the trail head in Fushan 幅山 17km south of WuLai 烏來 at 6:50 after a 775 NT cab ride.
Elevation of the YaKong stream 軋孔溪 is about 350m. The temperature is in the low twenties centigrade. The ground is dry. The stream water level is average and there is some morning haze. There are new trail markers at each kilometer marker and clear new signs at every intersection.
After about 2km and one hour of walking we arrive at a crossroads where one path continues following the contour of the YaKong stream 軋孔溪 below us heading due south, and another starts up towards LaLaShan 拉拉山 curling westward. New signs indicate the lower trail goes to ChaKengShan 茶懇山 (9 hour round trip), MoGuShan 模故山 (8 hour round trip) and WuGuShan 勿古山 (270 minutes). We take our first break here at the intersection. We hear gunshots further in and three fishermen appear from behind us. Their leader advises he'll grab those hunters if he sees them shooting anything. They head off on the lower trail which used to be indicated "county line" to go down to the river.
The roots and stems of Dysosma pleiantha (Hance) Woodson 八角蓮 of Berberidaceae 小蘗科 or 早八角, 葉下花, 獨腳蓮、八角金盤, 一把傘, 獨角蓮, 八角盤, 馬眼蓮, 六角蓮, 獨葉一枝花 - mayapple, found in damp and shaded broad leaf forests between 1000 and 2500m, may be used as a topical antitoxin for snake and insect bites.
Soon after starting up the trail towards LaLaShan 拉拉山 we hear more gunshots just off the trail to the left down the hill in the direction of the lower trail, we soon pass two locals sitting on the trail a little further on who are with the hunter(s). The trail is never steep, rising steadily for the first 15 kilometers up to the TaoYuan 桃園 county line. We are making only 2 kilometers per hour for the first 3 hours, and feel that perhaps we should walk a little faster. In the end we walked 17 kilometers in about 8 hours, stopping to look at birds and plants, take pictures and rest.
We reach the turn off to KwaiShan 檜山 (1436m) at 11:20. There is a flat spot here that would be good for camping about half way to LaLaShan 拉拉山.
New growth is everywhere. New plants are pushing up out of the ground with brand new leaves just opening up. There are several different wild flowers in bloom, including one small low plant with delicate sprays of white. After about nine kilometers we notice freeze damage to the wild taro 芋頭. Later we don't see anymore of the taro or bananas - so conclude this must be the temperature boundary for these sub-tropical plants.
Birds are very active - especially in the earlier part of the walk. Their breeding season should be starting soon.
We see tracks from trail bikers and decide they are harmful to the trail and environment.
Rubbing the smooth trunks of some trees sometimes releases a noticeable aroma - perhaps produced by bacteria or fungus growing on the trunk. The odor is not as strong as yet as it will be in the summer.
We note there is more trash on the trail than we have seen before, maybe indicating increased traffic. More disturbing are the many remnants of camp fires along the trail that appear to have been made by hunters.
At 2PM we come to the turn off for LaLaShan 拉拉山 (2031m). We have walked in 14km.
The surrounding habitat varies from open gallery forest on mildly sloping land to steep slopes which become rock cliffs in several places. The trail is plenty wide throughout. Many places appear to be old landslides from the rubble and the vegetation seems to be in an earlier stage of succession. In one spot, the rubble was the size of houses. In general though, the entire trail passes through late successional mature forests. We hiked the last four hours through virgin false cypress Chamaecyparis sp. with some mixed evergreen broadleaf trees.
Two of the world's seven cypress are in Taiwan. The Taiwan red cypress (Formosan Cypress) 紅檜 (水谷杉, 薄皮) Chamaecyparis formosensis reaches a height of 38 meters and diameter 1.7 meters. Found on mountain slopes or valleys at elevations between 900 and 2,700 meters, the Formosan Cypress often forms mixed stands with Chinese hemlock 鐵杉, Chinese yew 紅豆杉 and Taiwan fir trees 臺灣杉. The Taiwan hinoki cypress (Formosan Hinoki) 臺灣扁柏 ( 扁柏, 黃檜, 厚殼) Chamaecyparis taiwanensis (Chamaecyparis Obtusa) reaches 35 meters in height and 1 meter in diameter. It is distributed on mountainous regions at elevations between 1,300 to 2,900 meters. This species often forms mixed stands with Chinese hemlock 鐵杉 trees at higher elevations and mixes with Taiwan red cypress 紅檜 at lower elevations. There are three species of Cupressaceae 柏科 on Taiwan: Oriental Arbor-vitae 側柏 (扁柏) Thuja orientalis, Dragon Juniper 龍柏 Juniperus chinensis and Yellow Sawara Cypress 雲松 Chamaecyparis pisifera.
The trail generally looked south over a very broad valley. We were able to see the mountains on the far side of the valley throughout the day, and they might have been 6 to 10 kilometers away.
Only one type of insect was prominently calling, a high, thin chirp that was bird-like. We did not hear a single cicada the entire day, even though it was hot enough.
We arrive at the pass (1700m) separating Taipei 台北 and TaoYuan 桃園 counties at about 2:30. The weather has become overcast on the Taipei 台北 side but sun is coming through patches of clouds on the TaoYuan 桃園 side.
Walking down the TaoYuan 桃園 side the vegetation is moister and lush. We exit FuShan protected area at about 3:30 at the 17km mark.
ShenMu 神木 trees in ShangBaLing 上巴陵
The park is strangely empty for a weekend. We walk several kilometers down towards ShangBaLing 上巴陵 before hitching a ride down to BaLing on the Northern Cross Island Highway 北橫 or Taiwan 7 台七. In BaLing we discover that there is no bus out until early the next morning. We catch a ride west towards DaHsi 大溪 in a van of other hikers and discover the road is blocked due to landslide. We break our group up among other cars facing the same predicament and head off south on small steep roads going south on the 113 to SanGuang 三光, JianShi (in HsinChu) 新竹縣尖石, NeiWan 內灣 then to ZhuDong 竹東 around 7PM where we catch a bus back to Taipei, arriving home around 10PM.
