Hiking the Jhongjhihguan Historic Trail

The trail was built by the Japanese and finished in 1931 for the purpose of controlling the Bunong indigenous tribe. The trail was almost abandoned after the Japanese left Taiwan in 1945. In 1997, the Yushan National Park Administration repaired a small part of the trail (Jhongjhihguan to Tianchih) for the purpose of providing tourists with leisure and recreation, landscape appreciation and a historic hiking trail.

Most people walk the 3.5-kilometers long and about one-meter wide trail from Jhongjhihguan located at the 131k on the South Cross Island Highway at an altitude of 1930 meters. It takes about two hours to finish the trail. At Jhongjhihguan, public restrooms, a parking lot and explanatory signboards have been constructed by the Yushan National Park Administration.

We choose to start the trail from Tianchih (天池) where the altitude is at about 2280 meters. One of the major reasons to start from Tianchih is that the trail is on a descending road and easy to walk on.

In the first 15 minutes from Tiahchih, the trail's road surface is built from railway sleepers which make for an easy walk and make it impossible to get lost in the forest. After that, the trail enters into a forest of tall trees and the road condition is rugged.

Make special note of the 131k mark on the Provincial Highway 20(Jhongjhihguan). During the Japanese colonization, the Jhongjhihguan Police Administration was built here. It was an extremely important station for the western reaches of the Guanshan Police Reserved Traversing Road.

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