Jinmianshan (金面山) - hike in Taipei

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Hi everybody! I decided to start my Instagram and this blog with a post on the first hike I remember going on the last time I was in Taiwan. As an introverted homebody, I often have to fight against my desire to stay inside when traveling. I hadn't planned on hiking during this trip, but one morning I decided to look up some options. I figured it would be interesting, good exercise, and get me out of the Airbnb without (hopefully) having to deal with too many crowds.

Jinmianshan (金面山) came up as an option. The article I found said that it would be an easy hike and that it was close to an MRT station. The hike did end up being relatively easy. At one point, it looked like I'd have to traverse rocks by holding a rope, so I stopped there. I didn't want to risk a fall, especially because I was alone, and I wasn't sure it was even part of the trail. I still got a nice view of the city - it was definitely worth going! 值得 😄. I'll probably go again the next time I visit (maybe I'll bring a friend so that we can try the tricky part together too).

Oh, one thing I didn't expect - the hiking was mostly climbing stairs (as opposed to mostly walking on dirt)! I don't know if it's true of all hiking trails in Taiwan, but I ended up going on three different hikes during this trip and all the trails had stairs.

October 2019.


Easy walk to the trailhead - once you start climbing, you can't tell you're right by all these buildings!
Stairs!
 
Keep climbing up...

Nice view of the city

Same nice view of the city without any tree branches showing. You know it's Taipei because there's 101!

I couldn't tell if this was part of the trail. I figured... maybe time to go back.



Location: Jinmianshan Trail 金面山親山步道

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