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About Xuejian Trail
The Difficulty Rating: ★★★★☆
Xuejian Trail (雪劍縱走) is one of the five alpine trails that radiates from Xueshan (Snow Mountain 雪山), the second tallest peak (3886 m) in Taiwan. It features various landscapes along the way.
To complete a point-to-point hike, the easiest (and likely the shortest) route is from the super popular Xue Mountain Trail (雪東線) with its trail head in Wuling Farm (武陵農場).
After Xueshan the trail descends to Cuei Pond (翠池), where this trail branches from West Xue Trail (Xueshan West Ridge 雪山西稜) and then follows the southwestern ridge of Xueshan toward Dajianshan (大劍山). From the Youpolan Cabin / Campground (油婆蘭山屋), there will be a long and tough day for a return trip to Siaojianshan (or Jianshan 小劍山). When you return from it, stay at Youpolan for one more night and then walk down along the other side ridge toward Tuilun Pond (推論池) until the trails reaches Songmao Forest Road (松茂林道), the last leg of this hike.
The end of the forest road joins the Highway 7甲, where there is a bus stop, Zhongxing Rd. (中興路) (route 1751 and 1764), at the junction. If you plan to take the bus, please check the timetables at iBus Information System.
To only climb the three Baiyue mountains (after Xueshan) along the trail, an alternative hike is a return trip to Dajianshan, Jiayangshan (佳陽山) and Siaojianshan from Songmao Forest Road. But this can be a very challenging 3-day hike as the you will have a demanding 1700 m climb to Youpolanshan (油婆蘭山), followed by the difficult hike to Siaojianshan on the second day and the last day might include a shorter hike to Dajianshan plus a knee-wrecking descent back to the trail head. IMO taking four days for this return trip is more appropriate. But why not spend one more day and so you can complete the full Xuejian Trail? It is no doubt a more rewarding trip.
I hiked on Xuejian Trail with two friends in May 2013. We went to the trail head in Wuling Farm by taxi from Yilan (宜蘭) (or Luodong 羅東?).
Our first day finished at Cuei Pond Hut (翠池山屋) at the elevation 3510 m, which was a little bit risky from my current point of view as we started the day from sea level and reached the hut via Xueshan in one day, likely a too much elevation change in a short time for acclimatization. The rest of the hike was pretty smooth. The hike to Siaojianshan was as hard as we expected and it became boring and fatiguing soon after Jiayangshan. The hike returning to Youpolan campsite was equally painful or even worse because we were already drained. We finally made it to our tents at dusk.
In the campsite a kind of insect similar to giant mosquitoes kept approaching our tents like an army; they did not bite but very disturbing when heaps of them staying on the tent’s fly. I had to get rid of their bodies from my tent when I returned to Shanhua (善化). I was glad they did not survive on lowland. That was the only time I saw that kind of creature. The last day was a happy day as all we need to do was walking downhill. The same taxi came to pick up us from the highway to finish the last mile. Then I took a bus and then train to circle half of Taiwan, and lastly rode my scooter to go home.
In December 2022 I was back to Youpolan campsite again to shoot some time-lapse videos. I still camped at the same spot like ten years ago. The major changes was the brand new cabin turning up and this time I was not harassed by that mysterious creature anymore.
The pure forest of single-seed juniper (玉山圓柏) here is unique. In most of alpine areas in Taiwan, this woody plant is dwarf.
Before reaching the Songmao Forest Road below, there is a steep firebreak where the trail zigzags on it. This section is nicknamed “Sky Stair” (天梯) because the gradient of this slope looks incredibly steep in the first place. But actually no matter you are walking up or down, the real gradient along the trail is still within a reasonable range. Don’t worry! It is just visually overwhelming.
If you hike on the full length of Xuejian Trail from Xueshan side, you only need to walk down it.
