YUN-LING HILL
BIKE RIDE
Yun-ling Hill bike ride
For the past ten years I've completed several major mountain roads in Taiwan, including the three cross island roads (north, central, and south 北橫，中橫，南橫). Since I lived in Taipei, the mountain roads in Chiayi are hard to reach. Worst of all, there are just too many of them. I cannot complete them all in one or a few attempts.
However, after I enter college in CCU, these hard to reach areas suddenly become as close as my backyard. Staying in CCU allows me to discover the numerous hills and roads in Yunling(雲林) and Chiayi without huge financial costs.
2023/09/07
After one semester I finished most of Chiayi’s mountain roads, including Alishan(阿里山) and Fenqihu(奮起湖). I start to focus on neighboring areas such as Yunling and Changhua. There is a large part of undiscovered roads in Zhushan Township(竹山鎮) and Lugu Township(鹿谷鄉), including the famous Xitou(溪頭) and Sun-Link-Sea Forest and Nature Resort(杉林溪).
I also discovered several industrial passes in the area that allows me to cross to Xinyi(信義鄉) and Caoling.(草嶺) However, the road linking these destination are often in poor conditions, and worst of all, I might get lost in the deep mountains.
My Strava Heatmap showing every ride in the past ten years.
After my previous adventure to Laiji (來吉), I’ve noticed a road climbing high up to the mountains near Caoling, after some digging I learned that the place high up in the sky are called Big Rock Slope(石壁風景區). There is even a higher place called Yun-Ling Hill(雲嶺之丘), which is infamous for cyclist by its brutal slopes and climbs.
Strava Global Heatmap showing popular routes in Yunling, Chiayi, and Nantou county.
However, after scrolling Google Maps for a while, I’ve noticed there is another road linked up to Yun-Ling Hill. But the map also showed complex directions and seemingly non-drivable roads, which can resulted me get lost in the mountain, drained all my stamina, leading to a certain doomed situation after sunset.
The complex and interconnected routes in the Sun-Link-Sea area.
I start to dig a bit more into the directions about the roads in the mountains, I’ve discovered that after the big descend in route Tao-95(投95), there are three ways to exit the area, one route is continuing to travel straight to route Tao-49(投49) all the way to Zhushan(竹山). Another route is after another climb in Tao-54(投54), descend to Ruilong Waterfall(瑞龍瀑布), eventually ended in route 149(149縣道).
The last route is what I’m attempt to do, following several extremely steep roads in the tea farms, ended up at Yun-Ling Hill, descend to Big Rock Slope, eventually exit the mountains at Caoling.
The brutal slopes in the tea farms to Yun-Ling Hill
After the routes planned, prepared three exit ways for me to escape when things go south, I begin my journey in September 7,2023. I start by taking a train from Minxiong(民雄) station to Linnei(林內) station, which is the closest station to explore Zhushan.
I haven’t been training hard lately, so my ability to climb is not at my finest. However, I still decided to start my journey by sheer curiosity. After a good breakfast at the McDonald in Zhushan, I begin my climb on route 151(151縣道) to Xitou.
The McDonald in Zhushan Township.
The hot weather reminds me that I should wake up earlier, I’m no longer good at resisting heat as ages progresses. The climb on route 151 are full of cars and Tour buses, which makes an unpleasant experience for me. In Lugu Township I saw a bus coming directly from Taichung, which drives all the way up to Sun-Link-Sea.
I think next time I should take the bus to avoid the climb, hot weather, and unpleasant traffic all together. However, that requires some complex packing skills in order to bring my bike on the bus. So I had better just ride up the hill by myself.
On the way I catch a glimpse of a fellow cyclist in front of me, I decided to catch him up to ease my boredom on the way. I utilized a shortcut in the town center to catch him up. However, after the two road merges, I can’t see him both forward and backward on the road. Maybe he just vanished or he simply doesn’t exist at all? Just an illusion of my imagination?
The bus from Taichung
Chinese zodiac animal at each turn
The intersection in front of Xitou
After several kilometers of suffering, I finally arrived at Xitou. The crowded tourist filled all the shops nearby. There are some famous tourist sites nearby, such as the Monster Village and Xitou Nature Education Area. I grab some snacks at the nearby Family Mart and immediately headed to the direction of Sun-Link Sea to avoid further delay on my riding schedule.
The road to Sun-Link Sea was a dreaded 17 kilometer climb all the way to the elevation of 1700 meters high up in the mountains. Luckily the weather become foggy and the temperature cool down dramatically, avoiding the risk of heat stroke in the middle of the climb. The climb also features the 12 Chinese zodiac animals at each turn. Giving a sense of progression other than the endless fogs on the way.
Endless fog on the way to Sun-Link Sea
Nearby tunnel towards Sun-Link Sea
Finally, I arrived at the fare gate in front of Sun-Link Sea. The fare for entering the Recreation area costs 300 Ntd, which is consider expensive for me to explore such a small place on bike.
Unlike Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area(大雪山森林遊樂區) in Taichung. After entering the fare gate, there are still 15-20 kilometer of mountain roads to explore (if you ride an off-road mountain bike you can explore even more). Sun-Link Sea Recreation Area just a few kilometer of dead end roads, other than a few un-rideable hiking trails.
Consider the worth of 300 Ntd, I decided to turn back and find some food to eat at some local shop.
The fare gate on Sun-Link Sea Recreation Area
Well-recommended shop near Sun-Link Sea
I find a shop nearby to buy some instant noodles for lunch. However, the shop owner insist to let me check out the menu of their hot food. After some consideration I decided to order the 50 Ntd bamboo soup, since it was the cheapest option on the menu. What I except a rip-off of a tiny bowl of soup, instead it comes with a gigantic bowl and a wonderful soup full of ingredients. I instantly regret that I order the instant noodle beforehand.
To show my gratitude toward the value of the soup, I forced my self to finish both the soup and the noodle. Which is a wonderful feast without a doubt. But the volume of both soups had my stomach suffers. Worst of all when I finally finished my lunch, the mountain started to rain. Without knowing the road condition in the later section, entering without proper gear will result in catastrophic situation that I can’t escape.
The entrance of route Tao 95 (投95鄉道)
Followed by some radical descends and tight turns, the road become muddy and hard to control, the poor visibility also made me rely on navigation GPS devices to predict the next turn.
I ride cross a couple tea farms and tea factories. I met some cars with trailers, pick-up trucks, and 4x4 vans speeding towards me on this narrow road. I often need to place myself and my bike directly on the mountain wall, or lean myself on the guard rail on top of the bottomless cliff.
To this point of the journey, there is no return to the previous road, there is no way I’d be able to climb back the road behind me.
The delicious bamboo soup and instant noodle
I decided to retreat due to the poor weather. However, after passing the crossroad to the unknown, the curiosity still tempted me to explore further. The rain is also small enough to ride without a rain coat. After some hesitation from the torturing climb I’ve done today. If I want to achieve the same route I still have to restart the whole thing.
The road condition are extremely poor at the entrance of route Tao 95 (投95鄉道), with fractured concrete surface and moss on the roads. For cars with high clearance chassis it might be a fun and bumpy adventure, but riding a racing road bike with extremely narrow tires, zero suspension, and poor-performance rim brake on my bike. It’s definitely not a wise decision to continue.
However, the devil in my heart conquered my decision, curiosity still gets the better hand of me. I began to ride into the dangerous and mysterious road in the woods.
Tao 95 (投95鄉道) is so narrow that only one car to pass at a time.
After a few tight turns, the map shows keep traveling forward on route Tao 49 can lead me to Zhushan town center, which is also my first retreat route. I check out the topographic map beforehand. The map shows the road will keep descending all the way out of the mountain.
However, when I arrived at the cross road, the road I previous researched actually climb way up into high mountains beyond my visual sight. The only option is turn left, keep following the original adventure map, dive into the wilderness deep mountain valleys even more.
The cross road between Tao 54 (the bridge at the left), and Tao 95 (keep going straight, climbing high up in the mountains).
Turning into the next section of this ride, the route Tao 54 become more barren and desolate, a while ago when I rode in Tao 95, there are car passing by every few minutes. However, since I turning left cross after the bridge, there are no single car in sight for a long while.
The road condition here are even more harsh for me. There is limited surface for my tires to grip on. Fallen rocks everywhere, collapsing road base falling down the valley, vines and grass blocked my sight, I often had to walk my bike on several jungle-like conditions. Even so I still have some close call of falling off my bike.
The surface of route Tao 54
Dangerous mudslide area due to the earthquake.
There are a few mud slide sections that I need to pass by quickly. Previous earthquakes resulted some new hazardous, unstable mountain slope beside the road. I often hear some random falling rock sounds on the woods above me. I can’t distinguish the sound is coming from wild animal traveling in the forest, or there is really falling rock rushing down from the sky. I just pedal faster and hope for the best that nature won’t end my life at this moment.
Furthermore, I can’t pedal too fast either, due to the rocky and slippery road. If I slide and fall down on the road, I will definitely become a sitting duck for the rock above rushing down. The Styrofoam helmet on my head can’t take any impact from even a bullet size falling rock (not to mention my helmet are full of holes for ventilation on my head).
GIGANTIC falling rock beside the road.
The worst obstacle for me is the huge mud puddle on the road. There are rains in this mountain area a few days ago. The flooding water on the road surface haven’t dried completely due to the lack of direct sunlight. Worst of all, these flooded sections covered the entire width of the road. I wear a pair of brand-new, all white road cycling shoe (what a dumb decision). The worst part is these shoes are not design for walking. There are plastic cleats underneath the sole made it impossible to grip on slippery surface.
Furthermore, these shoes are race-oriented design, so the whole shoe is covered with breathable mesh, even under the shoe. So, if I stepped into the mud puddle, not only I will stain my beautiful white shoes, my feet and socks will soak in for a disgusting mud bath in the rest of the journey.
My brand new white road cycling shoes.
The under sole and cleats of road cycling shoes.
Road bike rim brake caliper and aluminum rim.
What’s more challenging is when you cross through these puddles, you can’t see the road surface below the water. The cracks in the concrete will pose a threat for my controlling of the bike. My tires are extremely thin, I can easily fall down if my tire stuck into these invisible cracks.
Also, if I ride over these invisible cracks in a wrong angle will also resulted me getting in a mud bath. So, I had to travel fast enough for my bike to roll over these cracks without stuck in it, but not too fast that my wheels stir up these mud water, resulted another mud bath on my legs. Cut the long story short, I have to ride fast, and not too fast, and ride carefully without even knowing where the danger is.
After I successfully pass through each puddle, there is another problem. The sand and rock inside the mud will stick on my rim, ended up inside the gaps in my brake pads, these tiny rocks will form a gap between the brakes and the wheel, resulting in temporarily losing brake power and rim damage. Luckily, the brake power will resume after a few hundred meters on clean surface.
However, there are mud paddle every hundred meters as well. What’s worse, this section features a steep downhill slope, so basically I’m brakeless and out of control in this section most of the time.
The mud on route Tao 54.
After seeming an eternity of a mud battle, I came to a place with a nice view and a scenic waterfall. The hot weather, humid air, and the dusty bike are pushing me toward a boiling point. Too bad this waterfall is too dangerous to go near with it. When I looked down on top of the waterfall, the height of it let me feel like I'm standing on the edge of a skyscraper. I felt both relaxing and exhilarating at the same time.
I saw some fishermen below the waterfall, for a couple stories deep I wonder how do they get down on the first place? They can’t possibly jump down the waterfall, can’t they? As for me wearing a pair of unwalkable cycling shoes, it’s out of the question for me to get to any point near the waterfall.
The waterfall at route Tao 54.
The fishermen on the rocks below the waterfall.
Finally, I arrived at the crossway between the unnamed road climbing up to Yun-Ling Hill, and the descend route leaving the mountains. The descend route is keep following Tao 54, which is also my second escape route. However, after the poor road conditions I’ve encountered, there is no way Tao 54 will be smooth sailing beyond this point. Either way, this crossway is my last chance to not get lost in this journey.
I watched the unnamed road, with the slope being extremely steep, climbing high up beyond my eyes can see. I have to make my decision; Either Keep going forward, keep following route Tao 54 and eventually escape this mountain, or turn left facing endless climbing torture. What’s worse, in the end I might can’t even arrive at Yun-Ling Hill by this climb, due to faulty Google maps. Luckily, there is a farm house near the crossway to ask for some information to assist my choice on destiny.
The steep unnamed road to Yun-Ling Hill.
The crossway between the unnamed road to Yun-Ling Hill (left) and the route Tao 54 (straight).
The farmer told me that the road condition on the unnamed road is well better than Tao 54 before. For my safety, she recommends me to climb up the steep hill to Yun-Ling Hill, because of the road condition, either continuing forward or turn back on route Tao 54 is a dangerous decision.
I ask her how long this climb is, she said if you drive, you will arrive at top around ten minutes. Too bad I don’t have a gas pedal beneath by bike. It seems like I have to conquer this hill by my sheer will. Luckily she said the road is passable for vehicle, eliminating the chance of turning back due to road closure.
After saying goodbye to the kindness farmer, I began to ride up the steep hill. In a sudden, the dog of the farm rushed out and chase me up from the back, ignoring the farmer’s yelling. My adrenaline suddenly rushed through my whole body. I stand up and use my body’s full power to escape the crazy rushing dog. The 20% steep stope suddenly become a flat surface for me. All I focused is escape the terrifying jaws of the dog.
After a couple hundred meters of sprinting for life, I finally managed to escape the chase from the crazy dog.
The extremely steep road in the tea farms.
Switchbacks in the bamboo forest.
Riding pass one and another branch road and dead ends, the tea farm beside the road looks like an endless maze on the mountain, the farmer said first turn left, then left, followed by another right, eventually you will see nice asphalt you’ll know you are out. When I ride pass every branch road, I had to stop, check my map, and hope the map shows the right direction. In the end, I figured out when you arrived in front of a branch road, just follow the steepest one, except those dirt roads into nowhere.
The steep climb drained all my energy. I had to set a short goal to keep myself motivated, such as: sprint till the next power line pole or the next tight turn, then you can rest and catch some breath. I felt like I’m stuck on an endless loop, like running on a treadmill. I felt like there is no finish line on this climbing section, endless turns, branch roads, and more slopes ahead. Luckily, when I climb higher, the scenic gets better, I can see all the roads and tea farm beneath me, I gain a huge sense of accomplishment.
The view of the maze-like tea farm.
At long last, I arrived at the well-paved asphalt section. This section is well maintained due to lots of tourists driving up to Yun-Ling Hill. I felt like: after so much suffering in the wilderness, I finally came back to civilization in one piece.
My stamina were also depleted, the rest of the climb, even though they are relatively flat and smooth, I can barely maintain myself on the bike. I used up my last energy in my body. Ultimately, after a few stairs, I arrived at the top of Yun-Ling Hill.
What a view it is! I can see the Big Rock Slope beneath me. Luckily, there is another man on the observation deck enjoying the view. I asked him to take some photos of mine. Yun-Ling Hill is so hard to reach even by car standards, so when people see a bicycle up here, they mostly felt amazed and confused at the same time.
The pavement section of Yun-Ling Hill
The gorgeous view of Yun-Ling Hill
When I enjoying the view beneath me, I can hear thunder roaring in the distance. Think about the roads ahead, I’m still not out of the woods yet. Better escape before the rain catches up my tail. After a quick photo session I began my descend quickly as possible.
When I enjoying the view beneath me, I can hear thunder roaring in the distance. Think about the roads ahead, I’m still not out of the woods yet. Better escape before the rain catches up my tail. After a quick photo session I began my descend immediately.
The way down to Big Rock Slope is quite steep. Even though the pavement is well maintained, the sheer steepness is stressful for my sand-filled brake pad. The risk of rim over-heating and brake failure traumatized me at every corner. It was lucky for me to arrive at Big Slope Hill village safely. However, time is not my friend, the afternoon thundershower can catch me up in anytime. There is no opportunity to stay and get a good meal here, gotta run!
Downhill section to Big Rock Slope village.
Downhill section to Caoling (草嶺).
Due to the oncoming thunderstorm, I rushed down the hill all the way to Caoling(草嶺). After I arrived at the valley, I suddenly discovered the dreaded thunder sound I heard at Yun-Ling Hill, is the rain that passed through the valley earlier, which means the whole time I’m cycling above the clouds and narrowly avoid a shower in the perfect timing.
Followed by a couple more tiny climbs and long descend on the way, I finally leaved the mountain and finished my journey at Dounan(斗南) train station.
Downhill section to Caoling (草嶺).
Dounan (斗南) train station.
Strava stats of today's ride.
After a whole day battle full of mud and rain, I finally safely arrived home. The stats today are amazing, a nearly 3000 meter of total elevation and 128 kilometer of biking. Added a bonus earn fourth place on the downhill section from Yun-Ling Hill to Caoling. (later that I figure out the reason I ‘ve won fourth place is simply: nobody even wants to ride to that desolate place in the first place)
This ride creates a foundation for further exploration in the Zhushan mountain area. However, maybe next time I should use a more suitable bike to challenge other remote mountain passes, such as a dedicated gravel bike equipped with thick tires and hydraulic disc brake.
A gravel bike with thick tires and hydraulic disc brake.
Or maybe, just ride a motorcycle.