A Hike Up Mt Qixing in Yangmingshan

What is a trip without incorporating hiking in it?  I'm in Taiwan so might as well pay a visit to Yangmingshan especially in this great sunny weather!

 

Yangmingshan (website) has a lot to offer and you really need 1 day if you plan to visit more than 1 area.  My plan was simple, just to hike up Mt Qixing at 1120m.  Not that tall actually.

 

Travelling to Yangmingshan takes time.  If you are in taipei, then just head to Jiantan or Beitou (NTD15 for the buses from either stop) where there are buses to Yangmingshan.  I took the Red 5 from Jiantan station which took about 45mins.  Alight at the very last stop.  From the Yangmingshan bus terminal it is a 10min walk to the Visitor Center.  Or if you already know where you want to go, you can just hop onto the internal shuttle buses at the station.  Bus 108 stops at several areas in Yangmingshan and is only NTD15 per trip!

 

At the visitor center, you can walk to the start of the climb up to Mt Qixing.  The trek up takes about 1H and brings you to the main peak.  The trek is an alright trek, with nothing much to enjoy during the trek as you are in the forest surrounded by trees and such.  It was a lot of uphill climb but the route is perfectly paved in concrete/wooden steps for most of the way.  Until at about 1.3km mark where the steps are carved out of stones.  But still well maintained. 

 

From the main peak, you can see the east peak which is a 5-10min walk across.  The view from up top is pretty alright, though I wouldn't say amazing.  Surrrounded by peaks and mountains and a lot of greenery.  Was abit foggy so couldn't quite make out the towns and buildings below. 

The peak!!

At the peak

Left - Dried up Menghuan Pon

 

At this point you could either make your way back or head on to another exit point - LengshuiKou which is 1H down.  From there, you can take the shuttle bus either back to Yangmingshan bus terminal or to the MRT station.

 

For me, this was an easy trek.  2H up and down, but logistics took a longer time.  If you have time, pay a visit to Qingtiangang, which was also recommended.  Easily you could spend an entire day in Yangmingshan.