Gengliao Historic Trail (Nangang Mountains)

Of the five old trails that once linked Nangang with Shenkeng and Shiding, the Gengliao Historic Trail is the best preserved and is still in use. It is the path to Shanzhuku and Tukuyue, and a century-old route past old houses and ruins. The trail is paved with granite steps, but the narrow sections at the start and end still feel old and rough, and some unpaved gravel stretches are dotted with small white Madagascar periwinkle flowers. The later part of the Gengliao Historic Trail joins the Laoliao Historic Trail, in the Chashan (tea hill) area where tea businesses once lined the way. Because the trail was once used for making and carrying camphor, its old name was the Naoliao ('camphor hut') Historic Trail. It became the road most used by tea merchants and villagers, and was later renamed Laoliao, a homophone, a name still in use. The name Gengliao comes from the Qing dynasty, when night watchmen (更夫) patrolled along this road. Once an important road for early settlers, it is now a hiking path. Chunxuan Farm, formerly Nangang No. 1 Citizens' Farm, has become a farm for education and leisure. It grows more than a thousand Chinese toon trees, daylilies and osmanthus trees, and has a tree house and a viewing platform. Wanggaoliao, at the highest point of Tukuyue, looks out over Taipei and served as a military defence post. According to legend, a watchtower manned by armed watchmen stood here in the Qing dynasty. The present platform gives an even wider view. Along the Gengliao trail you can often see the traffic on National Freeway No. 5. On the hillside are several century-old houses, such as the Pan Family Ancestral House (潘氏祖厝), a relic of early settlement. Its outer walls still show gun holes from when it was defended, and eight generations of the Pan family have lived in it. The narrow stone steps at the start of the trail are only wide enough for one person. Halfway up, behind a pavilion by the path, is the stone Huangwang Former Residence (黃王故居), where old tea-making machines remain. Near the end of the first uphill stretch, weeds crowd the path, then it becomes a crunching gravel track lined with small flowers such as periwinkle; this 300-metre stretch is easy to walk. Near the start of the trail is the Pan family's century-old Gun-Hole House (潘宅槍孔厝), which still has its gun holes. On the way to the Laoliao Historic Trail, a limestone mine cave is a relic of early settlers' work, and the ruins of Wei Jingshi's former residence mark where the tea hill's past prosperity began. Mud-brick houses, the Zheng family cemetery and a tiny Earth God shrine only 30 centimetres high along the trail all reflect its long history. Settlement of the tea hill dates back to the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, when it was an important source of camphor and tea for export in early Taiwan. The Wenshan-style and Nangang-style Baozhong tea methods, developed by Wang Shuijin and Wei Jingshi respectively, brought Nangang tea a golden age, and its reputation spread as far as South-East Asia. In the Japanese colonial period the Gengliao Historic Trail became a route for tea traders carrying tea between Shenkeng and Nangang. About five or six minutes up the narrow stone steps from the trail entrance, on the right, the Beiyi Freeway tunnels through the foot of the hill. The freeway runs beneath Tukuyue, Shanzhukujian and the Gengliao Historic Trail towards Shiding and Pinglin, so here you can watch today's traffic from an old connecting route. In clear weather, looking back from the steps on the way to Shanzhuku, you can see the 圓山飯店 hotel, Songshan Airport, Dazhi, the Neihu incinerator and Guanyinshan across the Taipei Basin. Closer to the summit the scenery becomes richer, with intact natural forest and plant life. Just before the summit is a rare stand of tree ferns (筆筒樹) that looks like tropical rainforest, with a mountain stream running nearby.

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.