IMG_6963-2fs  After a long lapse, I visited Tianmu Old Trail again when the cold hit the hardest. The front has moved well into northern Taiwan today and temperature dropped to 12℃ during daytime. The sky was actually gray with foggy moisture, blocking everything that’s 300 yards away. Terrible visibility.

 

  


For its proximity to Tianmu’s urban area (a mere 7-minute walk from Tianmu Circle at the end of Sec 7, Chungshan N. Rd.), and as a shortcut between Tianmu and Chinese Culture University, Tianmu Old Trail is among the most visited suburban mountain trails around Taipei basin.天母古道

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sign says 90 mins to CCU. I usually finished the trip in 60 mins.IMG_6950s

At the entrance of the trail. This place used to be called Triangular Pu, and has a deserted water power plant dating back to the Japanese regime.

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Deserted road to the power plant. Now blockaded from trespassers. IMG_6952s

The landscape outside a vegetarian restaurant at the entrace of the trail. IMG_6948fs

The ascending steps                                                        
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After a winter, the ground was covered by fallen leaves. In this case, the leaves of Formosan sweet gum.
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A tiny stream follows the trail. The water is perennial, though smaller during summertime. According to the way it’s heading, it should be a branch of 玉潮坑溪 that becomes very visible in 東和公園 and flows underground after 天母東路.

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Whose garden is this? This house is near the end of the first part of ascent that meets Ln 190, Sec 7, Chungshan N. Rd. But it’s off the main road and only accessible by the trail.
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After a brief break at the end of 中山北路7190, I started the second part of the ascent.

This part is very steep. This photo was taken with the lense held upward at an angle around 40 degrees. This section of the trail used to be surrounded by densest forest. But today, to my surprise and disappointment, a lot of daylight came in here because the trees and bamboos on the left hand side were largely cut down.
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Moss-covered stone bricks, a common and lovely sight of Yangming Mt.
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So many boxes for water meters and switches.
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You start to see the “pipe” when you start the last part of ascent. The pipe carries the water from the collection site by the Pine Creek, the name of Sulfur Creek at its upstream, at the foot of 紗帽山, all the way to the water power plant we just saw at the entrance of the trail. I don’t know where the final destination of the water is, but we heard that water supplies of Tianmu area come mostly from Yangming Mt. (maybe from this pipe?), different from other areas of Taipei that drink from Emerald Dam.
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On a platform at the end of the 2nd ascent. You can either end the trip here or proceed to the last and the smoothest 1.8 km of the trail that leads you to two destinations of your choices: CCU or Yangming Mt Park. If you’re lucky, you could encounter a family of Formosan macaques that roam this area. There’s usually a view of the city below, but not today thanks to the cold mist.
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Generally speaking, this trip was a disappointment. A lot of trees and bamboos were cut down along the ascending steps, revealing more artificial messes including trash and cultivated veggie gardens. A construction site with an ugly concrete wall appeared at the end of the first ascent. There used to be an old and humble brick house. Obviously the owner thought vending produces and cold drinks to tourists earned way less than selling the lot to a constructer, where they are now building a US$5 million villa for the rich. When I headed back from the top platform, the cooking fumes from the kitchen of the nearby Zen 35 floated in the air, reminding me that the trail, although surrounded by trees and mountain that used to make it look more like a forest trail, was after all reclaimed by humanity piece by piece.

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