Erziping (Yangmingshan National Park) 二子坪 (陽明山國家公園)

Erziping Recreational Park

Erziping is one of the more popular destinations in Yangmingshan National Park. The 1.7 km Erziping Trail (二子坪步道) to the recreational park, is both stroller and wheelchair accessible, making it a pleasant escape from Taipei for families on weekends.

Erziping Visitor Center (trail entrance)

Erziping Trail

Erziping Trail

Being so, the trail is far from challenging, but seeing as it was the day after a major typhoon, with rain in the afternoon forecast, I figured it was a good day to check out an easier, scenic route. Plus, in Yangmingshan NP, there's no lack of trails to get lost on. It's also the tail-end of butterfly season, so I was keeping my eye out for small movements more so than I usually do when sweating my way along more arduous hiking routes.

butterfly season

Erziping Recreational Park

My friend and I quickly reached the recreational park and, having left our non-existent spawns at home, only spent a few minutes there before we were anxious to see what other trails we could find. So we headed toward Mount Miantian (面天山). 

hikers, Mount Miantian

amazingly huge dragonflies

a hungry caterpillar

The first part of the hike was much like Erziping Trail: flat forest trails, canopied by trees. But when we turned up the path toward the 979m-high summit we encountered a seemingly endless, twisting ascent of stone steps. Hiking dehydrated, on five hours of sleep, with only a small bowl of cereal in my belly was not exactly ideal, and as the shade of trees gave way to uncovered paths of overgrown silvergrass whipping us in the face as an unhindered sun baked our skin, we started grumbling and slowing down, caked in sweat. The unusually clear day did yield an impressive view of Taipei (from near the top) and of the entire northern coast of Taiwan (from the summit). Under other conditions the path is fairly easy if you set a good pace, and only took about thirty minutes of climbing.

hiking up Mount Miantian

microwave reflector antennas atop Mount Miantian 

Remembering the map at the shuttle bus stop we both knew there was another mountain we had to climb if we wanted to do a loop instead of turning back. But luckily Mount Miantian and Mount Xiangtian (向天山) are connected (earning the nickname, the camelback peaks) with only a relatively small dip between their peaks.

view of Mt Miantian from Mt Xiangtian

The striking difference in vegetation between the silvergrass on the northern face of Xiangtian (at the bottom of the above picture, where I'm standing) and the broadleaf forest on the southern face of Miantian (that I'm facing) is caused by the northeastern monsoon winds, which makes growth difficult on north slopes. This contrast is common among the many volcanic mountains in Yangmingshan NP. And this also meant that our descent down Xiangtian's southern slope would be shaded in forest!

one of MANY intimidating spiders

forest on Mount Xingtian

forest on Mount Xiangtian

At the bottom of Mount Xiangtian is the cleverly named Xiangtian pond, a crater lake that is normally quite shallow, if not dry, because of the highly water-permeable ground it rests on. But because of the typhoon earlier in the weekend, we got to see it in one of its deeper states.

Xiangtian Pond

The pond and its immediate surrounding area reminded me of Tarkovsky's STALKER for whatever reason.

a tiny frog resting on a blade of silvergrass, Xiangtian Pond

From here we were able to loop back around to the start of Mount Miantian's ascent path and head back to Erziping, catching a wild shuttle bus ride back to the park's entrance just as the clouds began to darken.

* * *

Getting there: from Taipei Main Station take bus 260 to the end of the line (Yangmingshan National Park), then shuttle bus 108 to the Erziping stop. Alternately, 小 15 bus from Jiantan or Shilin MRT runs on weekends(?) to various stops around the park, but not directly to Erziping (transfer to 108).

There are maps with English, showing various routes, distances, and estimated hiking times near the visitor centers. I usually take a photo of these in case I want to check back or change routes, but there are also plenty of sign posts at trail intersections with English and distances to the nearest destination.