Beside the wide track that follows the Dabao ('big panther') Stream up through the Park towards the first of its five waterfalls, rise the wooden-boarded walls of a log cabin. Around it the tree cover of the forest which has blocked out views of the sky finally pulls back, revealing a shapely and very impressive domed summit looming high into the sky in front. This is Full Moon Mountain (滿月圓山) from which the Forest Recreation Area takes its name: Manyueyuan, the Full Moon Circle.

This distant view is all that most visitors to Manyueyuan get to see of the shapely Full Moon Mountain, and from this angle it looks to be pretty inaccessible, yet there are two routes to the summit, which although very steep and not for the faint-of-heart, offer an exciting short climb for sure-footed hikers, and the chance to leave the crowds milling around the waterfalls in the gorge below well and truly behind.

The climb to the summit starts at the entrance to Manyueyuan Forest Recreation Area, which is well signposted from Sansia (三峽), along local route 114 through the beautiful gorge of the Dabao (大豹) Stream. From the park entrance it's about twenty minutes' walk to the point where the tree cover parts to reveal the fine view (and in fact the only view) of Full Moon Mountain.

Continue on upstream a bit further and the wide, surfaced track through the Forest Path diverges. The track to the left descends to cross the Dabao Stream by a bridge and then follow a tributary stream up to the largest waterfall in the Park, the Virgin's Fall (處女瀑布).

About half-way along, a tiny, easily missed trailhead on the right, marked by a few ribbons, is one of the routes to the summit of Full Moon Mountain. Warnings however state that this route is dangerously steep in places, and that we should take the other route instead. Since the other route is itself very challenging in places, this is one warning that should probably be taken seriously!In any event, it's well worth walking out to the Vigin's Waterfall for a look. The path, there-and-back takes only half-an-hour or so. Back on the main track along the Dabao Stream, this also soon crosses the stream near the foot of Full Moon Waterfall (滿月圓瀑布), hidden behind a sudden bend in the stream; a viewing platform overlooks the waterfall from the right bank.

At the top of the waterfall the bed of the stream widens into a huge area of flat rock, over which the stream pours in the wide, low Silver Curtain Fall. Take the path to the left here, climbing above the stream, past an ornamental shelter, and the start of the safer trail up to Full Moon Mountain is below the Little Maid Waterfall, a small cascade on a tributary which enters the main stream just above Silver Curtain Falls.

Climbing stiffly, the narrow mud trail is nevertheless fairly easy at first, although further up it becomes rougher, and fixed ropes begin appearing, to aid the climb, especially welcome after wet weather, when the roar of the waterfalls drifting up from below is unmistakable.

Finally the climb becomes rocky, with several small, easy pitches to scale, and these become bigger and trickier until, reaching the middle slopes of the mountain, the way is almost straight up for a spell, with the trail negotiating a way around several big, rocky bluffs, while taking some of the smaller rock faces head on. It's a slow climb, and great care is needed in several especially exposed spots.

Finally the rock faces are left behind, the trail is once again merely steep, and suddenly, it levels out onto the small, wooded and thoroughly anticlimactic summit of Full Moon Mountain. Hikers hoping for a view will be sadly disappointed. The reward of tackling Full Moon Mountain is all in the getting up there.

Once safely on top, there are three ways down: retrace steps back along the outward path (be careful!), take the other even harder route down to Virgin's Waterfall (definitely not recommended), or take the trail ahead, which climbs gently through the woods, away from this lofty, narrow neck and on to the main ridge behind.

From here a trail climbs over the top of the ridge and on to even loftier summits, while take a right at the first junction, and a trail gently descends, swinging back into the gorge of the Dabao Stream, to return you safely to the top of Silver Curtain Waterfall.