RSA12 + RSA16 – RSA19
Our third day on the Raknus Selu started in Guanxi. We had spent the night sleeping in the wooden loft of a bookshop, that has taken over one of the old brick houses along Guanxi Old Street. The bed was a mat on the floor, and it was comfortable enough once my feet had warmed up, but these old houses were built with no soundproofing, and loosely fitted windows, meaning that each time a car drove down the street, the displacement of air rattled the wooden window frames with as much vigour as if there was an irate neighbour trying to wake you up by shaking them. We breakfasted at one of the few breakfast shops that were open and picked up some wax apples before returning to our bed for the night, collecting our packs and then setting off.
RAKNUS SELU STAMPS:
- RSA17: Located at Hualong Village Assembly Hall (華龍村集會所) – although at the time we visited, the hall was closed, so we had to wander around the village asking people until we located it.
DISTANCE: 12.9km
TIME: 5 hours at quite a gentle pace.
TOTAL ASCENT: Around 270 metres.
DIFFICULTY (REGULAR TAIWAN HIKERS): 2-3/10 – If I’m being honest, the hardest thing was the road surfaces! My poor feet were bitterly lamenting my choice of hard-soled shoes.
DIFFICULTY (NEW HIKERS): 4-5/10 – This would be a moderately hard walk for a new hiker based on a combination of elevation gain, distance, and travelling through areas with little-to-no English signage (save for the RST signs).
FOOD, DRINKS & PIT STOPS: There are plenty of convenience stores and restaurants at the start and end (although the choice at the start is greater), but there’s nothing in the middle . We took snacks and about 1L each.
TRAIL SURFACES: Plenty of road, some agricultural track, and a few old dirt trails.
SHADE: There were long stretches with no shade, and despite it being December, and just two days after we’d had some seriously cold weather, I had to apply sun cream.
MOBILE NETWORK: Mostly clear throughout.
SOLO HIKE-ABILITY: We ran into some territorial feral dogs which would have been more of a worry for me if I were hiking solo, but in reality, you run that particular risk literally everywhere in Taiwan.
OTHER: Softer-soled hiking boots are advisable. (Yout feet will thank me.)
SECTIONS COVERED:
- RSA12: Guanxi Town Centre → Shidianzi Old Street → Duchuantou Bridge → Dunan Historic Trail (關西市區→石店子老街→渡船頭橋→渡南古道)
- RSA16: Duchuantou → Bailing Pavilion (渡船頭→百齡亭)
- RSA17.1: Bailing Pavilion → Feifeng Historic Trail (百齡亭→飛鳳古道)
- RSA17.2: Feifeng Historic Trail → Hsinchu District Road 25 (飛鳳古道→竹25)
- RSA18: Hsinchu District Road 25 → Luliaokengdian Station → Wulong Bridge Entrance (竹25→鹿寮坑驔站→五龍大橋口)
- RSA19: County Highway 120 → Provincial Highway 3 → Jiuzantou TRA Station (縣道120→台3線→九讚頭車站)
Jump to the bottom of this post for a trail map, GPX file and all the other practicalities.
DETAILS & DIRECTIONS:
10:31 – The place we stayed was actually right on the RST’s path, so when we picked up our bags, all we needed to do was head downhill along Guanxi Old Street. With the far-off hills rising up beyond the houses and a lovely blue sky, it seemed set to be a perfect day.
10:32 – At this rather complex junction, keep straight and head towards the Niulan River (牛欄河). Being an old town, the road layout here is built around the shape and function of the land rather than following a plan, so in some places, there are roads shooting off at every angle.
10:40 – Just before you reach the water, follow the road as it bends right. You’ll pass some farmland then the road crosses a bridge. From the bridge’s eastern side you can look over the confluence of Niulan River and Fengshan River towards Chaoyin Temple. Later on in the day we would meet a pair of locals who told us that some hiking groups will use this temple’s dormitories as the starting point for their journey.
At the far side of the bridge, you have to decide which of the two routes you want to walk.
Since we started our day later than originally planned, we decided to take the shorter and easier of the two routes. To go the same way, head left along RSA16.
This road makes its way gently for just over a kilometre along Hsinchu District Road 25 (竹25). Beside the road you can see the younger, lither course of Fengshan River cutting its way through farmland and marshes. Even on a wintery morning the rushes were quivering with birdlife (plain prinias I think), so I can only imagine how full of life this landscape is on a summer evening.
10:58 – We paused at a land god temple to take off our jackets. The previous two days had seen us hiking in three or four layers of clothing (something I have almost never done at low elevations in Taiwan), as a sudden cold tugged temperatures below 10°C, but this third day saw us having to carry all of those shed layers under a blazing sun and very comfortable 16°C.
11:08 – The road crosses a small bridge over a tributary of Fengshan River. On the far side, there’s a T-junction and RST signage attached to a road sign indicates to turn right and follow the RSA 17 under the archway leading to Xianbogong Scenic Area (顯伯公風景區). There was a man and his dog painting the pavilion beside the road here. The man nodded at us, but the dog just observed sceptically from its resting place.
If you drive up the road a way, you’ll eventually come to an area where you can see our over the many-layered green hills. But that was not our destination. The RSA17 follows the road for about ten metres beyond the pavilion before plunging into the greenery on the left of the road towards a dilapidated farm building. I would imagine it gets very grassy and overgrown very quickly in spring and summer, so you’ll have to look closely to spot the RST signage affixed to the gatepost beside the road.
A clearly defined path makes its way through the grass, past this brick shed and on towards the trees.
Once you’re under the shade of the trees, there are more signs that you’re on the right track. A couple of blue and yellow RST tags have been tied to the trees, and the trail itself has a distinctly historic trail flavour. The path is made of three rows of stones. The stones in the middle row are basketball-sized, while both outer rows are more like squashed footballs. In our modern, hard-soled hiking boots, the curved surfaces were hard to walk on, but it must have been quite comfortable for travellers wearing the flexible-soled plimsole-esque shoes that were popular in the past. The stone’s bright green algae-derived colouring suggests that they’re probably quite slippery (especially when heading downhill or in wet weather), but on a dry day and heading uphill they were fine.
11:16 – At the top of the steps, the trail arrives at a bend in the road. Turn left onto the road and head uphill.
11:24 – The higher up you go, the rougher the road becomes. Tarmac gives way to brushed concrete, then after passing this small collection of houses, the road becomes more of a dirt track. It’s clear it was once surfaced, but it probably hasn’t been resurfaced in a very long time.
It looks like there are probably a few farmers still using this track, but I doubt it sees much traffic.
11:44 – The grassy track joins a concrete track. Keep left here and follow the surfaced road upwards.
Along here we spotted this cute hawkmoth caterpillar hiding on the underside of a leaf. The fake snake’s eyes may fool a bird, but it didn’t trick us!
By a padlocked gate we encountered a pack of four territorial dogs. Two stayed to guard their gate, and while they were noisy, they didn’t give us anything to worry about, but the second pair ran on ahead and their increased agitation made them a little more worrisome. They slunk into the trees beside the trail to let us pass, so it was clear that we’d be fine as long as we remained dominant, but each time we turned our back on them to walk away, they’d lunge and bark. After trying to reason with them unsuccessfully for about five minutes (in the photo Teresa is telling them that we’re leaving and that they mustn’t bite her butt… I’m not sure they understood, but normally dogs listen to her), Teresa pulled out her last resort and feigned a lunge at them. This drove them a little further back and then they just watched us retreat. With two of us there, it never actually felt like we would have been at risk (at least not if we didn’t run or do anything silly), they were territorial but obviously didn’t really want to attack. However, if I had been by myself I might have felt more threatened. Having said that, we met a guy who had walked over by himself, so I guess he must have had to face them on his own.
12:10 Less than five minutes after we left the dogs behind, the trail breaks out to a little plot of farmland with a stupendous view.
A shelter has been built against the hillside here, and a voice from within called out asking us to stop and share tea with them. Even more so than with high mountain hikes, this type of walking is all about enjoying the journey, so of course, we stopped and set down our packs to share some tea. He poured cups for both of us. It had an unexpectedly bitter taste and was very dry, the kind of tea that Teresa loves. We learned that the pair of them were junior high school classmates who fell out of touch and didn’t meet again until two years ago. They were curious about what we were doing in rural Hsinchu and where we had come from. They lamented the cost of housing and the fact that most young people can only understand the Hakka language without being able to speak fluently. A couple of times they slipped into speaking the language, and for once Teresa knew as little as I know when people switch to speaking Taiwanese. As we readied ourselves to go, they loaded our hands and packs with extra snacks and offered to let us fill up our water bottles. We walked away from there with four bananas, a tin of peanut soup and some crackers. I think the Taiwanese were born with an extra bone designed for hospitality.
12:34 – From the shelter, we walked up to rejoin Hsinchu District Road 25. Turn left onto the road and keep following it as far as you can.
The road bends around the mountainside through silvergrass and citrus farms (apparently these are not orchards, they’re groves). I’m not sure if these are oranges or liuding or clementines or something else entirely. I do not yet possess the skill required to distinguish all of the many such fruits that fill the fruit shops throughout the Lunar New Year season. When we passed through in mid-December, the fruits were ripening on the trees, a little more orange than green.
13:25 – At this junction, three sections of the Raknus Selu Trail meet. We were walking down RS17.3, joining from the right is RSA15, and heading straight on is RSA18. Head straight over and keep going downhill towards Luliaokeng.
Nearing the village, we passed a mushroom farm and saw a pair of dear figurines (maybe the inspiration for the village’s name) perched on a wall beside the road.
As we made our way further down the lane, I noticed a grandpa with a traffic cone, a bowl and a chicken. Walking closer, I saw him upend the traffic cone and mount it on what looked like the metal frame of a stool so that the narrow opening was positioned about 15cm above the bowl. After that, he picked up the chicken, gave it a once-over, and stuffed it unceremoniously into the traffic cone head-first. Knowing what was about to come (and not wanting to see–there’s a reason this sensitive village girl gave up meat at the age of seven), I looked away. But Teresa, whose attention had been elsewhere, turned at exactly the wrong time to see the man take a knife and pop the chicken’s head right off.
13:45 – The sixth RST stamp can be found here in Luliaokeng Village, but it took us a bit of hunting around to find it. Based on the GPS coordinates provided by the organisers, I thought it should be in one of the buildings opposite the village’s land god temple, but when Teresa searched the name of the place on Google Maps, it showed up as being further up the road. Since there was no one near the temple, we headed back up the road to ask the grandpa we’d just passed if he knew where to go. By the time we reached him, the chicken had been partially plucked and the grandpa informed us that the stamp’s original location had closed, and that we should go and ask by the temple.
We returned and eventually found it by asking a man in one of the houses. He didn’t seem too thrilled to have been landed with this responsibility. I wonder if this is going to end up being a problem later down the line. There are already at least three places that I know of where the location is different to where it was originally kept. It will be hard (especially for foreign walkers) to know where to look for updates.
The stamp depicts an antlered sika deer. In the past, this area was known for its good deer hunting prospects. The first character of the village’s name (“鹿”) means deer, and depictions of deer can be spotted throughout the village.
Once the ink had dried, we set off again. This stretch from Luliaokeng to the next junction is probably the most boring section we walked over the three days. It follows a dusty, semi-industrial road with a stream on the right and a whole load of factory buildings on either side. We passed an auto parts manufacturer, a semiconductor factory, a medical equipment factory, and a couple of building sites.
It wasn’t until we got closer to County Highway 120 that things started to look a little more lively.
14:41 – At the junction, turn left onto the highway and follow the road inland towards the mountains.
From here you can see the unmistakable five-pronged profile of Five Finger Mountain (right hand photo), as well as the more distant forms of Mount Xiangtianhu and Maibalai Shan (and plenty of others we have not yet climbed).
15:30 – Although the way was flat, the final stretch of road walking was hard on tired feet. We stopped in a convenience store close to Jiuzantou tration to pick up some provisions, and it was a relief to finally see the start building appear on our right. For a moment I panicked, thinking it looked abandoned, but I guess it’s just not much used.
We swiped onto the platform using our EasyCards and then enjoyed sitting in the warm December sun as we waited for the train to whisk us back to Hsinchu.
GETTING THERE
Public transport:
- Getting to Guanxi – The 1820 or 1820A bus service leaving Taipei Bus Station bound for Leofoo Village will take you directly to Guanxi. At the time of writing, buses leave from the fourth floor every 30 minutes. The journey takes about 80 minutes and costs about $115.
- Getting back from Hengshan – Trains leave Jiuzantou Station heading back towards Hsinchu every 40 to 60 minutes. There is no through-service from here to Taipei (except on weekends), so you’ll have to transfer at least twice, once from the Neiwan branch line to the Liujia branch, then once more to the main network at Hsinchu.
Accommodation:
Staying in Guanxi – We spent the night at a hostel on Guanxi’s Old Street, right on the course of the RST. It cost about $1200 for the pair of us.
- Name in Chinese: 67老街客棧
- Address: 新竹縣關西鎮中正路67號
- Contact: 0963-321329
- Cost: $1200 for two (I think, although AirBnB lists it as being less)
Staying in Hengshan – We didn’t stay in Hengshan on this occasion. If you plan to keep walking the following day, there are some basic campsites in the area. However, if you want a hotel, you’re probably going to have to head into Neiwan. When I walked the next section, I caught a bus into Neiwan and stayed in one called Mountain House B&B.
- Name in Chinese: 山舍民宿
- Address: 312新竹縣橫山鄉內灣村內灣92號
- Contact: 035849988
- Cost: $1300 for a two-person room
RAKNUS SELU DAY 3 via BAILING PAVILION TRAIL MAP
GPX file available here on Outdoor Active. (Account needed, but the free one works just fine.)
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