The Skaru 霞喀羅 trail is an Atayal trail in Jianshi Township 尖石鄉 in the center of Hsinchu 新竹 county restored as national trail by the Hsinchu Forestry Bureau. The trail was originally are transport route between the Skaru 霞喀羅 and Kinaji 金那吉 groups of 泰雅 Tayal. During late Han then Japanese colonization the trail was taken up to control the savages. The Japanese built 25 police stations along the trail. Remains of settlement stations at Tiancun 田村台, Qingshan青山, Baishi 白石, Ma-an 馬鞍, and Suyuan 粟園 are still visible. In addition to remains of the laid stone foundation of the trail there are remains on the telecom poles. The forestry bureau has installed a lot of signage explaining the natural environment and historical context of the trail. The 22 km walk is estimated to take 8 hours from Shilu 石鹿 to Yanglao 養老. The hike starts at 1680 m elevation and climbs to roughly 2000 m.
Skaru Trail 霞喀羅古道 was the road between present-day Wufeng 五峰鄉 and Jianshi 尖石鄉 townships in Hsinchu County 新竹縣. It was the major road for people in the local settlements to connect to the outside world. During Japanese occupation, the road was built up into a police patrol road and artillery batteries and police stations were installed. Many ruins remain. The trail runs through the upper Dahan River 大漢溪 watershed and crosses Touqian Creek 頭前溪. The trail is known for watching the maple 楓樹 colors in the fall.
Skaru 霞喀羅 (Syakaro) is an Atayal word for Formosan Michelia 烏心石 Michelia formosana or Magnolia compressa which the trail once crossed great forests of.
We return to the trail two weeks later to hike all the way through this time. Our group of eight hires a van and driver for the day trip from Taipie. We are at the trail head at 9:00 AM and are picked up by rhe driver at 5:30 PM after walking 8 hours over 20.6 km, 740 m and dropping 1140 m. The bright colors of fall leaves have faded noticealy since visit two weeks ago, but now we are greeted by cherry and plum blossoms.
