Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail

This section of Nenggao Traversing Trail is about 10 minutes away from the Tunyuan Mountain Trail. The road here is wide and flat, and the top of the road is the ridgeline of Weishang Mountain. The climbing route of Nenggao Mountain starts from the Tunyuan mountain pass in Renai Township, Nantou County, all the way eastward, wraps around the mountainside in the south of Weishang Mountain, then crosses the Nenggao saddle in the south of Nenggao North Peak of the Central Mountain Range, and then goes all the way downhill. After passing Wujiabeng Mountain, down to the east of Taipower Maintenance Road, and finally arriving at Tongmen Village, Xiulin Township, Hualien County. Its subtropical alpine grassland landscape, the majestic mountain scenery of the Central Mountains, the virgin forest with vigorous giant trees, the waterfalls and springs on the cliffs, the cliff canyons, the deep ravines on the mountain tops, and the clear and delicate Qilai Tianchi have four distinct seasons. The beautiful mountain scenery has attracted many mountain-loving mountaineers to visit since the Japanese colonial period.

The Tianchi Lodge is located in the sheltered area of ​​the mountain depression on the west side of Nengao North Peak, with an altitude of 2680 meters, which is the highest point of Nenggao Traversgin Historic Trail. When the trail was completed in September of the 7th year of Taisho (1918), the Nenggao Police Post was established to meet the needs of road maintenance and mail delivery. It was burned down in the Wushe incident in Showa 5 (1930). In Showa 6 (1931), the cypress house was rebuilt on the original site. Its shape is the same as that of Weishang police post (the current Yunhai Tai-power hut). After the Republic of China, Taipower continued to use it as Tianchi Tai-power hut. In 1986 It was burned down and rebuilt in 1993. Due to the increasing number of mountaineering tourists, it far exceeded the capacity of the lodge. Therefore, in 2011, the Forestry Bureau rebuilt a new Tianchi lodge on the original site with the concept of green building design. This luxurious building is quite high, imposing manner of the cypress palace.

The Upper Guilin Suspension Bridge on the eastern section of Nenggao Traversing Trail is located between the Neggao Saddle and the Cypress Forest Preservation Office, with an altitude of 2,740 meters. Since the eastern section of Nenggao Trail is less used, both important suspension bridges on the way, the Upper Guilin Suspension Bridge and the Guiqi Suspension Bridge, fell into disrepair and became hazardous. In the 6th year of Taisho (1917), the Japanese government opened up the Nenggao Traversing Trail and named it "Hatsune Qilai Crossroad", which is the old Nenggao Traversing Trail. In the 14th year of Taisho (1925), due to the high altitude of the eastern section of the old trail, snow often made it difficult to travel in winter, and the entire Traversging Trail of Hualien Harbor Hall and Nantou Hall was rebuilt, with a total mileage of 76.8 kilometers after completion.

   After the war, in order to restore the power system on the island of Taiwan, the Nationalist Government built a number of towers along the Nenggao Traversing route to complete the "East-West Link Transmission Line". In 1998, after the completion of the new east-west transmission line between Mingtan and Fenglin, the old east-west line was gradually replaced until it was officially decommissioned in 2016. At present, the west section of Nenggao Traversing Trail is well maintained due to the demand for the transportation of materials from Tianchi Lodge, and passing of locomotives. The eastern section, on the other hand, has a low utilization rate after the withdrawal of Taipower personnel, and the road conditions are not as good as the western section.

In the 6th year of Taisho (1917), the Japanese government opened up the Nenggao Traversing Trail and named it "Hatsune Qilai Crossroad", which is the old Nenggao Traversing Trail. In the 14th year of Taisho (1925), due to the high altitude of the eastern section of the old trail, snow often made it difficult to travel in winter, and the entire Traversging Trail of Hualien Harbor Hall and Nantou Hall was rebuilt, with a total mileage of 76.8 kilometers after completion.

   After the war, in order to restore the power system on the island of Taiwan, the Nationalist Government built a number of towers along the Nenggao Traversing route to complete the "East-West Link Transmission Line". In 1998, after the completion of the new east-west transmission line between Mingtan and Fenglin, the old east-west line was gradually replaced until it was officially decommissioned in 2016. At present, the west section of Nenggao Traversing Trail is well maintained due to the demand for the transportation of materials from Tianchi Lodge, and passing of locomotives. The eastern section, on the other hand, has a low utilization rate after the withdrawal of Taipower personnel, and the road conditions are not as good as the western section.

Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail route starts from Tunyuan Mountain Pass in Renai Township, Nantou County. Going east, winding around the mountainside in the south of Weishang Mountain, passing the Yunhai Tai-power Hut and Tianchi Lodge, then cross the Nengao Saddle in the south of the Nengao North Peak in the Central Mountain Range, and then all the way downhill, passing through the Guilin Tai-power hut, Wujiabeng Mountain, and down to the eastern part of Qilai Tai-power hut, and finally arriving at Tongmen Village, Xiulin Township, Hualien County. 

In the late 1970s, due to the erosion caused by the convergence of two rivers, the mountaisides began to collapse vigorously that left no traces of the traversing trail. Hence, the only way in was through Tai-power maintenance road, up to the top of Wujiabeng Mountain, then down to the east entry of the trail at the end of Qilai Tai-power maintenance road.

This is a section of Tai-power maintenance road near the Qilai Tai-power hut. The Nenggao Traversing Trail from the Japanese occupation period became Taipower's maintenance road after the war. In order to send the remaining hydroelectric power generation in the east to the west, which was in urgent need of electricity, so as to develop Taiwan's economy, the old east-west transmission line was built in 1950. For the maintenance of transmission lines, Taipower rebuilt the police posts left from the Japanese occupation period as a Tai-power station. There are nine spots in total, namely Wushe, Lushan, Yunhai, Tianchi, Junlin, Qilai, Panshi, Longjian and Tongmen, that provide accommodations for transmission line maintenance personnel, and storage for emergency repair equipment. Nenggao Traversing Trail became the main road for Taipower to patrol the tower. At the end of 1970, Taipower planned the "Qilai Water Diversion Project" to develop the water power of Papaya Creek, and built underground water diversion tunnels and dams in the middle and upper reaches of Papaya Creek. For the convenience of the construction and improving the maintenance road, a road for automobiles were opened from Tongmen to Qilai, and built the Tianchang Tunnel on the Tianchang Cliff. After the road was completed, there were only 27 kilometers of Nenggao Traversing Trail left from Tunyuan to Wujiabeng Mountain.

Qilai Lodge is located at 14.6K on the Qilai Tai-power maintenance road. It is also known as the maintenance center. It is a three-story building with reinforced concrete and each level has an area of around 150 square meters. Level one has a storeroom and diningroom, level two and three each has eight bedrooms, which can accommodate a total of 60 people. It is currently not open for use. Qilai Lodge was built in 1984 to accommodate transmission line maintenance personnels for maintaining the old east-west power transmission line, Taipower repaired the Nenggao Trail to use as the road for maintaining transmission lines and rebuilt the police posts that were left from the Japanese occupation into Tai-ower huts.  Qilai Lodge was not rebuilt from a police post. In fact, Qilai police post is located 1 km east of Qilai lodge, near the Tianchang River. The Qilai police post was rebuilt as the Qilai Tai-power hut but was abandoned in 1980 when a road was opened for the construction of the Papaya Stream Hydropower Project.

In 1952, Taipower built Wanshantag next to the old Qilai Tai-power hut. Originally it was called "Qilai Temple" and was to remember those who died in the line of duty in the construction of the "East-West Power Transmission Line" since 1950. In the autumn of 1953, it was opened for worship. In 1980, a road was opened for the construction of the Papaya Creek Hydropower Project. Nenggao Traversing Trail and the original Qilai Tai-power hut were abandoned. Therefore, with donations from the engineers, the temple was relocated to the current site next to the Qilai Lodge. In the past, on the autumn equinox of September 23 every year, Wanshantang would hold sacrificial activities, and the line guards and supervisors who were related to this route would attend the event in person. In recent years, the road is no longer passable, so the Huadong Power Supply District Operation Office hold the autumn equinox festival at the office.

The Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail in Renai Township, Nantou County used to be a road for the Sediq people to hunt and travel.

In the Taroko War in 1914, this road was also used by the Government-General in Taiwan to send troops to attack the Turuku people. Afterwards, for the sake of long-term stability, the Chuying to Qilai crossroad was excavated along the existing old Nenggao Trail. However, due to the high elevation of the east section of the trail and that it was difficult to pass during winter, the whole trail was rebuilt in the middle of the Japanese Occupation period.

In the early post-war period, the Nationalist Government erected iron towers along the Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail as a protection route for power transmission from east to west. Nowadays, hiking from the Tunyuan entrance of the Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail has become a popular hiking route.

The Yunhai Tai-Power Hut in Renai Township, Nantou County, is located 4.5 km away from the Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail. The building was formerly the Weishan Police Post built by the Governor-General in Taiwan in 1931. Later, it was burnt down during the Wushe Incident, and rebuilt again on the southern ridge of Mount Weishan at an altitude of 2,386 meters.

In terms of topography and space, the Yunhai Tai-Power Hut is on a wide and flat land with a good panorama. There are often seas of clouds in summer and autumn, hence the name Yunhai (sea of clouds). In the post-war period, the building was refurbished several times by Taipower, but only the interior and so the appearance remained roughly the same as during the Japanese occupation. The open space in front of the hut is currently where climbers rest or camp.

The Songyuan Police Post, located between the Yunhai Tai-Power Hut and Tianchi Lodge, is 7.8 km away from the Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail and is about 2,600 meters above sea level. It is named Songyuan because there are pine forests around the place. Where the Songyuan Police Post sits occupies a wide area, including stone masonry platforms, walls, stairs, cisterns, and relics. There are steps and ramps at the entrance of the police post that connects to the historic trail. Today, the steps remain complete but are covered in weed shrubs.

The Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail has always been the road used by the Sediq people to hunt and travel.

In the Taroko War in 1914, this road was also used by the Governor-General in Taiwan to send troops to attack the Turuku people. Later, in order to seek long-term stability, the Chuying to Qilai crossroad was excavated along the existing old Nenggao Trail. However, due to the high elevation of the east section of the trail and that it was difficult to pass during winter, the whole trail was rebuilt in the middle of the Japanese occupation period. Many police posts were also built along the way, including Tunyuan station, Fushijian station, Weishan station, Nenggao station, East Nenggao station, and Banbian station. In addition to the deployment of police, it also provided accommodation facilities for hikers.

Nenggao Falls, located in the upper Tarowan Stream, is about 2,800 meters above sea level. It is one of the famous high-altitude waterfalls in Taiwan with a height difference of 200 meters. As the water flows down in three stages, it is also called three-tiered falls.

In addition, the waterfall is divided into two streams from the middle section and looks like a couple standing side by side. Hence, during the Japanese occupation, it was called Husband and Wife Falls. If you want to get closer to the Nenggao Falls, you can go down to the valley from the small trail next to the Nenggao Suspension Bridge that is between Songyuan Police Post and Tianchi Lodge. The deep pool below the waterfall shows the towering mountain wall and the majestic waterfall.

Tianchi Pond is located on the rear edge of Tianchi Lodge and sits on the lowest saddle between Mount Qilaili and Mount Nanhua. It is about 3,080 meters above sea level.

To get there, you can walk up from the fork above the lodge, through a forest of arrow bamboo and arrive at Tianchi. The journey takes about 30 minutes. The water source of the Tianchi Pond comes entirely from the rain, which is filtered and collected by dense grassland. When the water level is full in the rainy season, the pond can reach a hundred meters in diameter. However, in the dry season it may be completely dried up, exposing the sand at the bottom of the pond. In addition, the old route of Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail that was built in 1918 stretched from Tianchi Lodge to Tianchi Pond, and then to the mountainside road of Mount Qilaili.

Mount Shenku, located in Renai Township, Nantou County, was named after a captain who was sent by the Governor-General in Taiwan to investigate Nenggao terrain, forest, the distribution of indigenous tribes in the mountains and to look into the excavation of roads in 1897. Unfortunately, the captain and his entire crew have lost contact while encountering heavy snow on the main ridge of the Central Mountain Range. Search team was sent by the Puli Reclamation Department to search and rescue, but only to find relics of their belongings. This was the first incident in which all members of the expedition were annihilated during the Japanese occupation. Mount Shenku was named in memory of the death of the crew.

Shoucheng Dashan is located at the junction of Puli Township and Renai Township in Nantou County. It is about 2,420 meters above sea level and nestled above the Wushe area. As it is located in the northeast of the Puli basin, it guards Dapu city (now Puli), therefore, it is called the Shoucheng Dashan (City Guard Mountain). It was also once called Huagai Mountain as recorded in the Changhua County Records.

The Monument of Spread Light Across the Land sits on the saddle of Mount Nenggao, between the northern peak of Nenggao and Mount Kahor. It is about 2,800 meters above sea level and was built in August 1953. It mainly commemorates the construction of the east-west power lines.

The monument is titled with Guang-Bei-Ba-Biao (Spread Light Across the Land) and has inscriptions that records the hardships of this project. There were originally three monuments in the same area that were erected during the Japanese occupation, respectively commending Awui Watan, the Sediq mail deliveryman who died on duty in 1918, Junsaku Nakano who died in the snow in 1921 for escorting mail on his way home, and Eitaro Maruta who fell into the cliff due to repairing a telephone pole in 1930. Unfortunately these monuments were all destroyed, and only the pedestal remains.

The Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail was built in the middle of the Japanese Occupation period. In the post-war period, the Nationalist Government erected iron towers along the trail for power transmission from east to west to facilitate economic development. In order to maintain the transmission lines, Tai-Power has set up nine maintenance huts along the way to provide accommodation for the maintenance personnel of the transmission lines, and also to store emergency repair equipment. These nine huts were converted from the police posts that were left from the Japanese occupation period, except for one, which is the East Nenggao Police post because it sits on a mountain slope. The Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail has since become the main road for patrolling the towers. Guilin Tai-Power Hut got its name from the cypress forests (Guilin) nearby. 

The Shibata Ichi Stele is located under the Tianchang Cliff, between the west entrance of the Tianchang Tunnel and the Lower Qilai Bridge. It is about 1,168 meters above sea level. The stele was erected in memory of Shibata Ichi, who accidentally fell off Tianchang cliff on his way to assist in the Wushe incident. He was in office at the Hualien Port Police Department and so the Governor-General in Taiwan set up a monument under the Tianchang cliff to commemorate his death. In addition, the nearby creek and suspension bridge crossing the creek was named after Shibata. However, in the post-war period, Shibata Creek Suspension Bridge was renamed Lower Qilai Bridge, and Shibata Creek was renamed Tianchang Creek.

The Tianchang Tunnel, located between Qilai Villa and Panshi Tai-Power Hut, has a total length of 1,270 meters and is slightly S-shaped. In the post-war period, the Nationalist Government erected iron towers along the Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail as a protection route for power transmission from east to west, and turned the police posts that were left from the Japanese occupation into maintenance huts. At the end of the 1970s, efforts were made to plan the Qilai water diversion project. They excavated a road from Tongmen to Qilai for traffic and built a long tunnel. Although this has reduced the inconvenience caused by trekking, the historic trail was destroyed as a result.

Today, the middle section of the tunnel has collapsed and vehicles can no longer pass through.

The Panshi Tai-Power Hut is located 1 km away from Qilai Road and is about 13 km away from the Longjian Power Plant. Built in 1978, it was the main workstation and dormitory during the construction of Taipower’s Mugua River Power Generation project.

The original Panshi Tai-Power Hut, which was the Banbian police post in the Japanese occupation, was abandoned after the road was opened. The building is divided into three levels. The first floor is the office area, the second floor is the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and camp area, and the third floor is a large platform with a good view.

The Longjian Power Plant, located at the junction of Mugua River and Longfeng River, was built in 1955. Since the Fengxi (Batoru Creek) waterfall was visible in the past, it was named Longjian, which the Chinese character “Long” means waterfall in Japanese and the name has a meaning of “seeing the waterfall”. Later, in 1959, when the construction of Taipower’s Longxi Dam was completed, the stream was blocked, and the waterfall landscape disappeared. The lower right platform of the current Longjian Power Plant was where the Longjian Police Post used to be.

The Hengduan Road Excavation Monument is located next to Provincial Highway 9 in Gancheng Village, Ji’an Township, Hualien County. It was set up by the Governor-General in Taiwan for the road excavation team to commemorate the completion of the east section of the Nenggao Traversing Historic Trail. The whole trail is 90 km from Chuyin to Wushe, and the east section is about 44 km long. Due to the steep terrain in the east section, the construction was arduous, and many were injured or died. Therefore, the monument was set up when the road was completed in 1918. The inscription on the monument details the labor and cost of excavating the road, and records the names of those who died in the construction.