Miaoli 苗栗 Nanzhuang 南庄 streams and waterfalls
journal > 2019 > Miaoli 苗栗 Nanzhuang 南庄 streams and waterfalls
journal > 2019 > Miaoli 苗栗 Nanzhuang 南庄 streams and waterfalls
We are off to an unsure start and cannot encourage too many people to come along as a typhoon approaches but turns away at the last moment. It is a 100 minute drive from Xindian 新店, where we pick up our group of five, to the Valley of the Gods 神仙谷 in Nanzhuang township 南庄 of Miaoli 苗栗 county.
After walking over the suspension bridge to get a good view of the Valley of the Gods Waterfall 神仙谷瀑布 we walk back up to toward Seven Layer Waterfall 七分醉瀑布 where an aborigine themed restaurant facility has been built with a view over Seven Layer Waterfall 七分醉瀑布. From Seven Layer Waterfall 七分醉瀑布 we drive 30 minutes south higher into the mountains along Fengmei stream 風美溪 to Luchang 鹿場 village where we will spend the night. We then continue another 10 minutes up the valley to the Kuhua Pond Waterfall 苦花潭瀑布 trailhead which takes us down to the pool and waterfall in 5 minutes after parking.
With daylight left after swimming we explore further up the road into the mountains of Nanzhuang township 南庄. We fail to find a trail down to Fengmei waterfall 風美瀑布 but see a lot of farming along the road that has converted the land from producing traditional crops, including tea to cash crops including ginger which requires more chemical input.
We spend the night at a B&B in the Atayal village of Luchang 鹿場 village which has a population of under 100 people.
In the morning we drive down to 南庄 town for breakfast and then drive south about 45 minutes to 泰安 where we park at the hot springs park and trace Wenshui stream 汶水溪 upstream from the Shuiyun Suspension Bridge 水雲吊橋 to Dashimen Falls 大石門瀑布 then Shuiyun Falls 水雲瀑布
