Full Moon Mountain: a short, sharp climb

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!

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