Taipei Grand Trail | Day 5

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Friday 13 March 2026

Section 3: Xiaoyoukeng to Fengguikou via Mount Qixing (12km)

Section 4: Fengguikou to Dahu Park MRT (10.5km)

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After a bit of research on the Taipei Grand Trail we decided we would complete Sections 3 & 4 back-to-back due to the difficulty of getting to and from Fengguikou (the end of Section 3 and start of Section 4). This ended up being the most enjoyable hike of them all!

Just like day 1, we caught the local 1717 minibus to Xiaoyoukeng, which already sits at about 800m altitude.  The start of the hike is straight up Mount Qixing which is actually a dormant volcano, although with all the sulphuric smoke blowing in the air that you can see (and smell!) you would think it was still live.

We made our way up the three peaks, with the highest sitting at 1120m, also the highest peak in Taipei.

Despite it being a weekday there were a surprising number of hikers along the path. Starting so high up, it was quite chilly, with some strong winds hitting every now and again.

We passed through North Wuzhishan Grassland 北五指山草原, which had a lot of visitors arriving by car; and the sun finally came out, although the temperature stayed below 20°c.

Eventually the crowd thinned out and the most exciting part of this section was seeing all the water buffalos. We must have seen at least 6 or 7, including a whole family of them at one point! We got quite close to a few of them, and they let us wander casually past them like it was nothing.

We made our way to the end of Section 3 at Fengguikou. There were a few other hikers having lunch so we sat with them for a quick bite, which we picked up earlier from Family Mart.

We then commenced Section 4 which is virtually all downhill. This section was a lot more isolated and foresty, and we barely passed another hiker along the way. It was mostly dirt trails so in wet conditions it would be a complete mudfest but lucky for us there were only a few sections where there was a bit of sludge.

The trail took a brief ascent to Mount Meihua (629m) before descending for the remainder of the trail, passing strawberry farms and following the stream towards Yuanjue Waterfall.

We completed nearly 23km across the two trails in about 6 hours, and with our legs feeling a bit tired we make our way to Dahu Park MRT for the next train home.

Next post —> Taipei Grand Trail | Day 6