Breakfast in Chuchi
Typhoon Nari slate slide
View of FeiTsui from starting point
Bamboo grove
Formosan Ferret-Badger Melogale moschata subaurantiaca Rat poison upstream of HsiaoYi

area access (800kb)

the hike (500kb)

We started the hike in the watershed of the FeiTsui Reservoir which has been providing 3.2 million tonnes of raw water per day to Taipei city and part of the county since its inception in June 1987. From the starting point we followed the flagged trail steeply uphill towards LoFengShan which was marked 240 mins. Walking through tea fields and orchards we quickly joined the ridge path marked with political boundary survey markers.

Most of the northern slope was planted in Hinoki cypress. Even though it had not rained for about two weeks, there was water seeping out of the ground in places, and some water in the streams. We all encountered several leeches on that section. Along the ridge to the east the forest was mostly plantation woods, but further on, there were more areas of natural vegetation and secondary forest.

At the third waypoint a path leading west seems to return to DaTong. We continued east. Concerned that we would not be able to complete the hike to LouFeng and curious to find another path down, we decided to turn south towards XiaoYi. Coming down the southern slope along the ridge, the forest was mostly natural vegetation. The southern slope is part of the Tungho watershed, which drains from the coastal ridge in the east and flows into the Nanshih River at Wulai.

An unflagged path led down a ridge towards XiaoYi. After a few minutes we got into an area heavily trapped with spring noose snares made of nylon string and bent over bush stalks and metal traps. As we worked down the ridge we came to a solid low border of shrubbery meant to corral small animals through trapped gates. We made a false start off the ridge to the west down into a very steep gully, doubled back east and worked our way down the drainage paths to XiaoYi. We continued to see snares in the higher areas and the lower streams were heavily baited with fresh rat poison.

• Eurasian Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola); flushed one off the trail in thick plantation area on way up to ridge.
• Swinhoe's Pheasant (Lophura swinhoii); found where someone had plucked one next to a small fire pit on the ridge down towards XiaoYi. BEPS (Barbecued Endemic Protected Species)