After a morning wander exploring one of the trails in Nan’ao, it was still quite early, and I decided to make a quick stop off at Dongao rather than heading straight back to Taipei. From the map, I could see there were two attractions that would keep me nicely entertained until the next train arrived: Snake Hill and Dongyue Cold Springs.

I didn’t realise until later, but it seems I got really lucky with my timing. Dongyue Cold Spring Pool had only reopened about two months earlier after having been closed for three years.

Distance: 2.8km.

Time: I spent about two hours walking this trail and cooling off in the spring water. If you’re visiting on public transport as I did, you’ll probably end up having to shape your itinerary around the trains. There aren’t so many which stop here.

Difficulty (regular Taiwan hiker): 0.5/10 – This is a very short and very easy walk. I don’t think there are even any steps (save for those outside the train station).

Difficulty (new Taiwan hiker): 1.5/10 – The only reason this isn’t a 1/10 walk is because the trail surface isn’t perfectly smooth or flat the whole way.

Total ascent: Just under 100m.

Water: I was fine with 0.5L, even on a baking day. There is a water dispenser at the train station to fill up from.

Shade: Most of the climb up to Snake Hill is shady, but except for that, it’s all entirely exposed.

Mobile network: Perfectly clear.

Enjoyment: I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit this hill if I wasn’t already passing through the area, but the walk and the paddle in the cold springs were an enjoyable way to spend a spare afternoon.

Other: The cold spring park is open from 8am to 8pm daily.

Route type: Weird loop.

Permit: None needed.

Jump to the bottom of this post for a trail map and GPX file.

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The station itself is a little dramatic. Looking inland, you can see the ugly towers of a cement plant sitting in front of crinkly folded mountains.

I decided to visit the hill first, so I turned left out of the station onto Dongyue Road.

I passed the station’s small (and mostly empty) carpark, then at the next junction, took a left turn uphill just before this replica of some millet pounding equipment (millet being a staple food of the aboriginal people who still are still the main inhabitants of the twinned villages of Dongyue and Dongao). There are actually two parallel roads that turn left just in front of this. You need to take the first and higher one.

As you climb, you can look out over the small town towards the ocean.

When you reach this junction, the trail to the top is the one on the left.

The first part of the trail is a concrete track.

The track goes up as far as this water management facility.

Then beyond that, the trail becomes a gravel track.

As I was nearing the top, the sight of these two scooters gave me pause for thought. Generally, Taiwan is exceedingly safe, and on a day-to-day basis, I do not worry about personal safety, but I find myself still falling back on that instinctive cautiousness when I’m in a place I’m unfamiliar with and encounter situations like this. To compound the situation, the scooters’ owners, two twenty-something men who were probably on a break, decided to practise their English by saying hello and laughing. I’m sure they were probably just amused to see a foreigner appear in their lunch spot, and had I been on home turf, I’d have felt more comfortable, but knowing I’d drawn their interest just caused me more stress. I’m sure they had no idea that they’d had this effect on me.

Just beyond a clearing with picnic benches, the trail reaches its climactic lookout spot. Amidst a tangle of electricity wires, the Suhua Highway and railway line cross over each other.

And Dongyue Cold Spring Pool sits sandwiched between them. I visited on one of the last two or three days before the students are set to return from summer break, so there were a lot of families enjoying a last-minute outing.

On the map, the trail appears to continue some way in the opposite direction to the view, but I was very hot and desired nothing more than a quick paddle in the cool waters below, so I didn’t much fancy wading through hip-high grass.

Returning back the way I’d come, I took some steps leading off the trail to the left just before reaching the end of the track. The steps lead back down to Dongyue Road.

From here, turn left and walk as far as the next T-junction. Turn left once more and from here, you can follow the road as it curves round towards the cold springs park.

I got distracted by these cute pups and forgot to photograph the last junction, but it’s easy to see where you should be heading. Cross over Dongao North River and head towards the green gates at the entrance to the park.

A row of stalls line the path leading from the gates to the water, but only about a third of them were open.

Closer to the pool, almost every available shady area was taken up by families sitting on mats and chairs.

And the pool itself was full of (mostly kids) enjoying the water.

It’s hard to see from the photos, but even with many people in there and stirring things up, the water was remarkably clear.

I had about 80 minutes to kill before the next northbound train stopped at the small station, so I set myself up on a rock and enjoyed the feeling of the cool water lapping at my hot calves. The temperature of the spring water stays somewhere between 14-16°C year round, so in the summer, it’s perfect for cooling off.

About half an hour before my train came, I started to make my way slowly back to the station, stopping off to get a drink from a convenience store on the main street on my way. I was back in Taipei less than two hours later.

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How to get to Dongyue Cold Spring and Snake Hill

Google Maps address: I started and finished my walk from Dongao Train Station. There are some parking spaces nearby. There’s also a much larger carpark right beside the cold spring park.

GPS location:

• Snake Hill trailhead – N24 31.245 E121 49.830
• Dongyue Cold Spring – N24 31.465 E121 49.840

Public transport: You can either take a train directly from Taipei to Dongao, or do a combination of bus and train. The calculation of which option makes more sense depends on where you’re starting from and what time you set off. Time and money-wise, it worked out being better for me to take the 1570 bus from Taipei City Hall Bus Station to Luodong Transfer Station and then catch a train from there to Dong’ao. Returning is the same but in reverse.

Further reading: Dongyue Cold Springs and the surrounding area have been mentioned in passing in a few other places, all of which would give some handy pointers for what else to do with your time in this neck of the woods. This Taiwan Everything article features several points of interest, they even visited the same restaurant that I did when I was in Nan’ao. Nick Kemble also visits the top reaches of the Suhua Highway in this post.

Nearby trails:

• Qixingling Trail
• Zhaoyang National Trail

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Snake Hill and Dongyue Cold Springs Map

GPX file available here on Outdoor Active. (Account needed, but the free one works just fine.)

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