A hike in Four Animals Mountain

Weather cleared up after the rains. A great day for a hike as it did not seem to hot (what a mistake that was!).

I decided to go to Four Animals Mountain (Sì shòu shān, 四獸山) which is located within Taipei's city limits. This mountain is known for it's great views on Taipei city and in particular on the Taipei 101. The mountain area consists of four separate peaks - Tiger, Leopard, Lion, and Elephant - hence it's name. Many trails are lighted as well.

It is quite popular, so you are never really alone, luckily it was not too crowded.

My original plan was to follow the Public Forest Crest Line Nature Trail, which passes by all four peaks. I started at the trail going towards the Tiger peak, which was not the easiest to find. By public transport you can go to Houshanpi Station and walk to the Fengtian Temple. The road winds up a bit, and right at the moment you think this road can't be it, just persist about 100m, and you will find the trailhead.



View on 101 from Tiger Mountain trail



Small staircase upto Tiger Mountain



However, after talking to some local people which I met around Tiger peak, I decided to go for the 9-5 peak (Jiuwufeng – 九五峯), which is the highest point in this mountain area (375m). They told me Leopard and Lion Mountain were not the best places. So I followed the Nangan Shan hiking trail passing by the Fuxing Garden.

On the way, you can find some nice gardens, work-out, resting and meditation areas.

Meditation area along the way to 9-5 peak

Although 375m does not seem to be that high, I underestimated the walk a bit as the weather really cleared up by now. Doing it at temperature of 32 degrees and around 90%, it was a transcendental - euhm transpiring- way up... 

However, it was really worth the sweat. The view at the top was stunning and as sunset was coming soon, I decided to wait until all the lights in Taipei would lit up.

  

Sunset from 9-5 peak

Lights litting up over Taipei. Bring a tripod!

Panoramic view

The trail down to Elephant Mountain is not lighted compared to the other trails down, but some friendly boys told me to join them, as they brought some flashlights. So I did. As it rained before, many frogs came out on that trail, and unfortunately we are not sure if we could avoid all of them in the poor light: sorry little frogs, it was really not on purpose!

View from Elephant Mountain