Mianyue Line: How to Tackle Alishan’s Most Exhilarating Hike

I can’t overstate how much I loved hiking the Mianyue Line in Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. This was a bucket list experience for me, and it totally lived up to expectation. This is definitely one of my favorite hikes in Taiwan!

This full-day hike follows a destroyed (921 Earthquake) and abandoned branch line of the Alishan Forest Railway. With 14 train tunnels and 24 iron bridges to cross, but strictly controlled daily visitors, this is a hidden gem within an otherwise extremely popular park. Very few tourists do it, mainly due to lack of information and complicated permit application.

In this article, I’m going to walk you through the application process, my personal experience doing the hike, and how you can do half of this trail (including the most exciting parts) WITHOUT a permit!

Below, I’ll be sharing information that you won’t find anywhere else in English (I’ve translated Mandarin pages and even had to make a few phone calls), so that visitors like you can access and enjoy this trail as much as I did.

If the application process sounds too complicated, try this Mianyue Line guided tour and use my code Spiritual10 to get a 10% discount.

Mianyue Line Fast Facts

• Start at end point: Alishan tourist village or Chaoping train station

• Distance: 9.2 km (18.4 km return)

• Elevation: approximately 2300 meters

• Time needed: 8 hours return from Alishan tourist village or 7 hours from Chaoping

• Equipment required: good shoes, head lamp for dark tunnels, food and water

• Permit: Required for second half of trail (Taiwan Aspidistra/Orchid Nature Reserve section). There’s no fee for the hike.

• Time needed to hike non-permit section: 5 hours return from Alishan tourist village or 4 hours return from Chaoping

• Difficulty: After some up-and-down at the start, the trail is mostly flat, walking on train tracks. You’ll need to cross many bridges with no railing, a small landslide section with ropes, and climb over a pile of rubble in a pitch black tunnel. None are really difficult, but they could be scary to some people.

• Best time to go: Anytime of year, but weekends and holidays are harder to get permits (likely need to enter a draw). Orchids on the trail bloom from March to May.

Welcome to the Mianyue Line

The Mianyue Line (眠月線) is 9.2 kilometer (one-way) former branch line of the Alishan Forest Railway, which goes from Chiayi city to Alishan then branches out into several short lines inside the park.

Other branch lines still operating in the park include the Chaoping Line, Shenmu Line, and Chushan (Sunrise) Line. All of these were built by the Japanese in the early 1900s for their logging efforts in the area.

The Japanese built the Mianyue Line, which they called the Toyama Line (塔山線, Mandarin: Tashan Line) in 1915.

The line veers off from a bend in the Chushan Line (which tourists ride up to the famous Alishan sunrise viewpoint today) and travels along the slope of Mount Daito (塔山 or Tashan), the tallest peak in Alishan.

In 1983, the railway line was converted to a tourist railway line, transporting passengers to Shihou station (石猴站) and back. It was renamed Mianyue Line, after one of its station, at this point.

On September 21, 1999, the devastating 921 Earthquake damaged much of the railway line. Entire sections of tunnel were lost to landslides, while Shihou station was trashed.

They began restoring the line in 2001, and in 2008 it was briefly opened as a hiking trail, only to be damaged by a typhoon and closed again.

In 2022, Mianyue Line finally reopened as a hiking trail once again, but with strict limits for how many people can hike it every day.

Also see my guide to Sun Link Sea, a remote park in Nantou county with stunning waterfalls and forest hikes.

How to Fit Mianyue Line into Your Alishan Itinerary

The Alishan itinerary I usually recommend doesn’t have enough time for Mianyue Line.

As a seven to eight-hour return hike, Mianyue Line takes up almost a whole day. This could add some complications to your itinerary planning, especially given that Alishan region is already a little complicated.

If it’s your first time visiting Alishan and you want to do Mianyue Line too, then I suggest you spend two nights at Alishan.

You may also want to add a third night in the region for Fenqihu, Shizhuo, or Eryanping (these are some of personal favorite places in Taiwan.

With two nights, use your full day at Alishan to do the hike. Then save the famous Alishan sunrise for your final morning before checking out.

For other sights and trails in the park, you’ll be able to fit those in on the arrival day and after sunrise on the final day.

Doing the sunrise AND Mianyue Line in one day is possible but makes for a big day.

You’ll have to hike or ride the Chushan Line up to the sunrise viewpoint, then hike down to Chaoping station (30 minutes) and start your Mianyue Line hike from there.

If you only hike part of Mianyue Line (the part that doesn’t require a permit, which I’ll introduce below), that cuts the hiking time down to 4-5 hours, which gives you more flexibility in your plans.  

If you’re fast, you could squeeze this in before hotel check out time, but it would be tight, but just keep an eye on the time and turn back when needed.

For my visit, I arrived on the Alishan Forest Railway from Chiayi, which reaches Alishan at 3 PM. This only gave me a few hours to explore the park before sunset.

As someone who has already been to Alishan many times, this was enough for me. But if it’s your first time, it won’t be enough to cover much.

The next morning, I skipped the sunrise (I’ve seen it many times) and started Mianyue Line very early, because I wanted to beat the crowds and have the trail all to myself.

I left my hotel at 5:45 AM, around the same time that masses of people would just be arriving at Chushan for the sunrise (sunrise that day was 6:20 AM).

Because of my busy trip schedule, I only stayed one night in Alishan and wanted to leave Alishan right after Mianyue Line. However, since I would finish the hike around 1-2 PM, I would miss my hotel’s checkout time.

To navigate this situation, when I first arrived at Alishan, I put most of my luggage in a luggage storage locker at Alishan train station (Alishan bus station also has some – read more about using luggage lockers in Taiwan).

That way, I was able to hit the trails right after arriving in Alishan, save precious time, and wait till after sunset to check into my hotel.

Then, when I left my hotel the next morning to do the hike, I was able to take all my things with me in my day pack.

After the hike, I retrieved my luggage from the locker in the station, settled the locker fee (around TWD 200, coins only – I got change from the train ticket window) and left the park.

The Permit Situation

A permit is required to hike the full Mianyue Line, and only 350 permits are issued per day.

You can apply for permits 60-5 days before doing the hike.

The permits are NOT first-come, first-served. The way it works is that if less than 350 people apply for a certain day, they will all get a permit (as long as they follow all the application steps correctly).

Thirty days before, if the number of applications for a certain date has surpassed 350, then all the applications are thrown into a draw. It doesn’t matter if you applied first or last, you will only get to hike if your name is picked in the draw.

If 350 spots weren’t yet reached at that point (30 days in advance), there’s no draw, everyone who applied already gets to go, and more people can keep applying until 5 days in advance.

In my personal experience checking the site many times, it’s usually quite easy to get a spot on weekdays if you apply well in advance, but weekends (when many locals go) usually result in a draw.

However, demand for weekdays could increase after I publish this article, as more tourists will read it and start doing this hike on weekdays.

Check how many spaces have been filled each day on this calendar. Scroll to the bottom left to find a GoogleTranslate button and change it to English. Choose “Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve” (or 臺灣一葉蘭自然保留區) from the drop-down menu at the top. The number shown for each date on the calendar is how many people have already applied.

Why Is a Permit Needed?

It might seem like a permit is needed for this hike because it is slightly dangerous.

On the hike, you have to cross over a dozen train bridges with no railings, walk through a pitch black tunnels with piles of rubble inside, and climb across a steep slope where a landslide took out a section of tunnel.

But this is NOT why a permit is needed!

The reason for the permit is that part of the hike crosses through the Taiwan Aspidistra (Orchid) Nature Reserve (臺灣一葉蘭自然保留區, official site), a 52-hectare reserve established in 1992 to protect the Taiwan pleione (Pleione formosana, “一葉蘭”, or windowsill orchid).

The name of this flower comes from the goddess Pleione in Green mythology, as the flower is though to be elegant like a goddess.

The extremely fragile, single-leaf orchid gross in patches on rocky walls, at a very specific elevation of 2300 meters.

Also read how to apply for a permit for Yushan, Taiwan’s tallest mountain, and other hikes in Yushan National Park that don’t need a permit.

How to Do Half the Hike Without a Permit

I’m about to reveal a big secret here – you can actually do about half of the Mianyue Line, including two of the most exciting parts (the landslide section and the caved-in tunnel), without a permit.

You only need the permit to hike through the Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve, which starts at the Bridge No. 13 on the hike.

If you hike the non-permit section of the hike only, you could do it in 5 hours return from Alishan tourist village (where most hotels are located) or 4 hours return from Chaoping station.

If you plan to do this, please skip the permit details below and jump to “My Experience Hiking the Mianyue Line”. I’ll tell you in that section at what point you have to turn around.

How to Apply for a Permit

For those who want to do the full hike, here’s how to apply.

Step 1: Figure out your dates and when to apply

As I mentioned above, you can apply for Mianyue Line 60 to 5 days in advance.

Because this is not first-come, first-served, there’s no rush to be online at the exact moment the tickets are released, like other booking systems in Taiwan.

As long as you apply from 60-30 days in advance, you will either get a spot, or if they number of applicants surpasses 350, then you will be entered into the draw 30 days in advance.

Simply check the calendar (see image above) to see which dates are currently open for booking. In the above image, you can see that bookings are not yet open from March 23 onward.

Make sure to select “Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve” (or 臺灣一葉蘭自然保留區) from the drop-down menu at the top, otherwise you’ll be checking a calendar for the wrong hike.

Step 2: The 1^st and 2^nd Application Pages

The Mianyue Line application page is here on the Taiwan Nature Reserve Entry Page. Scroll to the bottom of the page, click GoogleTranslate’s “Select Language” function on the left, and change it to English.

Go back to the top of the page. On the right side, under Area Type, select “Nature Reserve” (in Mandarin this would be 自然保留區).

Under Select Area, choose “Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve” (in Mandarin this would be 臺灣一葉蘭自然保留區). Note: it used to be called “Taiwan Aspidistra Nature Reserve”.

Then click the blue “I want to apply” button.

On the next page, read through the long list of guidelines and click the button to agree to them at the end.

Step 3: Fill in the Forms

On the next page, you’ll need to key in your full name as it appears on your passport (or ARC for residents or Taiwanese ID card for locals).  

But there’s a catch here. Taiwanese IDs and ARC numbers have 10 digits, but my passport number only has 8 digits. When I tried to submit it, it didn’t work. The system will only accept 10 digits.

To overcome this, I hit the space bar twice at the end of my passport number. It worked!

Finally, enter your email. Make sure everything is correct, especially the email, before you click the green “Next step” button.  

On the next page, “Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve” should already show. Click the box beside “Mianyue Line” to agree to the safety warning.

Scroll down to Section 2 (Select your entry/exit point and estimated arrival time). For Entrance, select Mianyue Railway Line – Tashan Station (Alishan end). The system will convert the words to Mandarin – 眠月線鐵道 – 塔山車站 (阿里山端). The other option is for hikers coming in on a longer hike from the other end.

Input the time you expect to start the hike. The earliest time you can choose is 5 AM, which would be close to sunrise in summer but still very dark in winter.

If starting from a hotel in Alishan tourist village, you can enter a time one hour after you plan to leave your hotel (that’s when you will reach the trail entrance). If starting from Chaoping station, choose a time 30 minutes after.

For Exit, select the same words. Choose an exit time of seven hours later. The latest you can choose is 6 PM. Keep in mind, these times are just estimates and no one will hold you to them. But you should finish the hike before dark.

For Section 3 (Purpose or item of Application), select “Public needs for environmental education” (if doing this in Mandarin, the words are 民眾為環境教育之需要).

I know this step has confused many potential hikers into thinking they just can’t do this hike. But we are members of the public, and we surely need to be educated by doing this sweet hike!

Scroll down further to Section 4 (Select entry date). Click the small arrow to jump to the desired month and then click on your desired date.

If your date isn’t available yet, you’re checking too early.

If your date says “Waiting for”, that means it’s less than 30 days before it. If the number of applicants is still below 350, you’ll still be able to apply and should get the spot. If it’s above 350, that means they’ve already done the draw. If you apply, you’ll be added to a waiting list for possible canceled spots.

If you date is open and doesn’t say “Waiting for”, that means the possible draw is still coming. If the number of applicants is still below 350 at 30 days before, there will be no draw and every applicant will get a spot. If the number is above 350 at 30 days before, there will be a draw, with every applicant at that point getting an equal chance.

Scroll down more, read more regulations, and then click to agree. Click the green “Next step” button.

Step 4: Entering Group Members

One application can be used to register 1-15 people. In my research on Mandarin websites, I found some Taiwanese blogs mention that you aren’t allowed to do this hike solo. It’s not true – I even called to confirm this, and then I did the hike solo.

On this page, there’s an option to upload a roster of group members – don’t bother with this unless you are the leader of a large group and really know what you are doing.

In the table, you should already appear as the first member and Team Leader, with your name and passport auto-filled (for me, it also auto-filled those two spaces after the passport number). Fill in the rest of the details, including birthday (format should be year-month-day, such as 1981-11-16).

For phone number, only Taiwanese, 10-digit numbers will work. Since I didn’t have one when I was applying, I used the number of my last hotel in Taiwan. The number really won’t matter. They won’t call you.

For example, for Sunsweet Hotel (a beautiful hotel near Alishan region’s Eryanping Trail), GoogleMaps says their number is +886910611871. I removed the country code (886), and added a zero at the front (all mobile numbers in Taiwan start with 09). So the number I entered was 0910611871. I put this number in both phone number blanks. You can use it too, if you want.

For address, I put my Canadian address and it worked.

For Emergency contact, I put one of my Taiwanese family members here. But you could put your hotel name and the same number again and it will work.

If you have more than one group member, clicked “Added” on the side and it will add a spot for another person. Click the little trash can to remove any member.

When finished, click the green “Confirm members” button at the top.

If everything is good, there will be a popup saying “The member list has been verified. Please click “Submit Application”.

Then click the green “Submit Application” button to submit your application.

Step 5: Waiting to find out

Finally, you’ll be taken to the “Application Progress and Status” page, which says your application has been received and is waiting for review.

You’ll also see a table with the various stages of review (Initial Stage with application date, Lottery Stage with date this will happen if it does happen, Review Stage, Waiting Phase, and Final Phase).

There are a few more important buttons here. At the top-right, the “Download License” button is what you will later click to download and print your license. This button will be clickable 4 days before your hike.

In the table, the “Return application and modify” button allows you to return to and make changes to your application.

I tried to use this button when I realized I’d spelled my name wrong in the application. I had to go through every page of the application again, but it remembered all my data. However, for some reason, it wouldn’t let me change my name. So if you make the same mistake as me, don’t bother fixing it. They won’t ever notice or care.

And finally, there are buttons to cancel your application or apply for another hike.

Shortly after, I received an email from 林業署保護區域申請進入系統  (paapplysrv@forest.gov.tw) stating that my application had been received. The email contained a link back to the “Application Status and Progress” page. Save this email!

The next email came 30 days before my hike. It indicated that I had passed the lottery (actually, there was no lottery for my entry, because 350 applications had not been reached).

Three days later, I got another email stating that my application had officially been approved. This is the last email I would receive.

At this point, I clicked on the calendar, chose “Taiwan Orchid Nature Reserve” (or 臺灣一葉蘭自然保留區), clicked on my hiking date, and it showed a list of all those who had passed the draw and been approved.

My name is the first one on the list. It shows my application number (same as in the emails I received), application date (yep, I was the first to apply), my name (with all letters except N blocked out for privacy), and number of people in my group (1).

If your name is here but has a red X instead of green check, that means you didn’t pass the draw.

Step 5: Printing the permit

Four days before my hike, I returned to my “Application Progress and Status” (by clicking the link in the first email), and the “Download License” button at the top-right was now clickable.

I downloaded and printed my form (you only need to print the first of the three pages). The first page has two forms – the top one is the one to put into a box during the hike (I’ll explain how below) and the bottom one is for you to keep as proof.

I was able to print this just before leaving Canada. If you’re going to be in Taiwan when the day comes, you can just print it at any 7-Eleven. Here’s a video showing how (it switches to English when it gets to the iBon machine steps you need).

You’ll first need to email the document to ibon@ibon.com.tw. You’ll receive a reply with a QR code, which must be used within 72 hours. Then go to any 7-Eleven iBon machine and follow the steps in the English part of the video.

On the form, you need to fill in a couple items by hand. On the bottom row, second column, write the date and time you are actually entering the reserve (i.e. the time when you are putting the form into the box).  

On the bottom row, 4^th column, enter the number of people in your group (I wrote “1”). Don’t forget to bring a pen, or just do this earlier, with estimates. Note: I reached the box 2.5 hours after leaving my hotel.

My Experience Hiking the Mianyue Line

Before my trip, I was able to find a few simple maps of Mianyue Line trail and some Taiwanese blogs about it, but no online sources were super clear, for example, about where exactly this hike even starts.

Here’s the best map I could find but it’s not detailed enough. The Tashan trail map I shot (image above) at Tashan trail entrance is better for finding the start of the hike, but I’ll give you location pins below.

Initially, I planned to watch the Alishan sunrise first, then walk along the Chushan Line railway tracks to the Mianyue Line starting point. This option seemed very tempting to me, and I’ve walked down those tracks before (many years ago).

However, the park has tightened their rules about this, and you really can’t walk on the train tracks anymore.

Therefore, I decided to follow the rules and not take any shortcuts (except for one very small one) on this hike, as I will describe it below.

I also decided to just skip the sunrise and focus my day entirely on the Mianyue Line.

If you do want to see the sunrise first, hike Zhushan Sunrise Trail or take the early morning train to Chushan, then take the same trail back down to Chaoping station, and follow my below directions from that point when we get to it below.

Hotel to Tashan and Mianyue Line Trailheads

At the time I started my day, the masses of tourists would be already be at Chushan, waiting for the 6:20 AM sunrise. They board the 25-minute train ride about an hour before sunrise time.

To calculate the time of the sunrise for your visit, you can’t just Google it – or if you do, you need to add about 20 minutes (for the sun to rise above the mountains).

You can also check a more precise sunrise time for sunrise at Chushan viewpoint on the Alipedia app (see my other recommended apps for Taiwan).

I decided to leave my hotel at 5:45 AM, when the sky would just be starting to lighten. All the tourists would already be on the train to Chushan (instead of crowding into 711, where I wanted to buy breakfast).

Then I would also be able to skip ahead any of those who would be hiking Mianyue Line after watching sunrise. I’m an expert at avoiding people!

It took me 25 minutes to walk from Dafong Hotel, my most recommended hotel at Alishan (see on Booking / Agoda), which is on the street with many hotels in the tourist village, to the official trailhead of Tashan Trail (enter this pin on GoogleMaps to get you there).

From my hotel, I took the staircase from the hotel street up to the large parking lot and tourist shops. This staircase can be found right next to Dengshan Hotel here.

Then I took the car road on the side up to the highest 7-Eleven in Taiwan (here), which was pleasantly empty of crowds (thanks to my careful planning) and was being protected by a large, friendly dog who, according to my Facebook group members, is always there.

I stocked up on breakfast, drinking water, and lunch and snacks for the hike. There’s nowhere to buy anything on the hike.

From there, I crossed the street and walked up Alishan Trail, which follows the car road into the park.

I eventually followed the signs to cross the car road and walk past Plum Garden, Alishan Police Lodge (with its cherry blossom trees), Chaoping Station, and finally, Alishan Gou Hotel (another great hotel option).

If you’re coming from sunrise, the Zhushan Sunrise Trail will end close to Chaoping station, so join us from there.

Just past Alishan Gou Hotel, I could see down the Chushan Train Line, which is also the way to Mianyue Line. In the past, people would start their Mianyue Line hike here, by simply walking down the tracks, which would be much easier and faster than what we have to do now.

However, you really aren’t allowed to walk on the tracks anymore – there’s now even a fence and sign saying your can’t (see pic below).

Instead, I had to take the trail to the left to the Sister Ponds, which in the daytime is usually packed with tourists.

The trail descends down into a forest of giant, ancient trees, where I saw some cute little statues of lumberjacks cutting timber.

About five minutes down the train, and 25 minutes after leaving my hotel, I reached the official trailhead of Tashan Trail (塔山步道, here), just before the first of the two ponds.

I would need to follow Tashan Trail for about 30 minutes to reach the start of the Mianyue Line. This is the only way you are allowed to get to Mianyue Line now.

I climbed Tashan Trail up through the forest. The trail returned to the Chushan railway line and crossed a bridge over it. Then, for about 25 minutes, Tashan trail would follow the railway line.

Except instead of being flat like the railway line, Tashan Trail goes up and down and up and down on the hills next to it. Due to all the up and down stairs, this was actually the most tiring part of my hike that day.

But I should note, one reader mentioned they still really enjoyed this part of the, and without it, the overall hike would actually be too easy.

Anyways, it would be SO MUCH easier if you could just walk on the tracks, and I was very tempted, especially knowing that no trains would be going by at that time because I knew the schedule.

Also – watch for monkeys!

I passes several spots where I could have easily gone onto the tracks (see above photo), but I didn’t. But here is where I cheated: at the very end, just a few minutes before reaching the Mianyue Line turnoff, I gave in to temptation.

By going down onto the tracks, I was able to get the below photos of the spot where the Mianyue Line turns off (to the left) from the Chushan Line (right).

This is the official start of the Mianyue Line trail, although the typical figure stated for the length of Mianyue Line (9.2 km), I believe, is actually measured from Alishan station. The exact spot of the turnoff is here on GoogleMaps.

If I hadn’t broken the rules for a couple minutes, I would have crossed a wooden bridge over the tracks of the Chushan Line (see two photos above), then gone a little further along the side before the trail finally comes down to let hikers actually walk on the tracks of the Mianyue Line shortly after the turnoff.

From this point on, the Mianyue Line trail would be almost totally flat and I would be walking on the train tracks the whole way.

Mianyue Line Turnoff to First and Second Tunnels

Shortly after a wooden platform (image above) where hikers are first allowed to come down from the side and start walking on the tracks, I reached several signs mentioning the rules for the area (image below).

The bottom of the middle sign says in Mandarin that a total of 9 people have fallen off bridges on this hike over the years, so try not to be #10. They don’t have room on the sign for two digits.

The first 15 minutes or so of the hike were through the forest and were a little boring. But then I rounded a corner and the impressive Mianyue Line First Tunnel (眠月線第一明隧道, here) came into view.

This is a picturesque train tunnel carved into the side of Tashan (the tallest mountain in Alishan), with arched openings framing magnificent mountain views on the left.

Because I was arriving so early in the morning (7:00 AM), there were long shadows – I would get my best photos (see cover photo of my article) on the way back.

A section in the middle of this tunnel was totally destroyed by a landslide in the 921 Earthquake.

That spot is called Collapsed Section (崩塌處) and is even labeled here on GoogleMaps. This is one of the most famous parts of the whole hike, and you don’t need a permit for it.

While it might look kind of scary in the photos, I can assure you this part was no more difficult than going down and then up a ladder.

After climbing across the collapsed bit, I walked through the rest of the tunnel, with more impressive views the whole way.

At the end of the tunnel, the path went through a section of tall grass for a few minutes before reaching the Mianyue Line Second Tunnel (眠月線第二明隧道) a similar and equally beautiful tunnel, with no landslide damage.

I didn’t notice this until my return hike, but you can see Yushan (Taiwan’s tallest mountain) from around the end of this tunnel – just make sure to look back!

Both of these tunnels can be seen from many places around Alishan tourist area, as in the below photo. I also saw the tunnels towards the end of my Alishan Forest Railway ride from Chiayi to Alishan.

Note that some local hiking groups will camp in either of these two tunnels.

Tunnels, Bridges, and Orchid Reserve

Right after the first two famous tunnels with arches and mountain views, the numbered tunnels began.

In other words, the first fully enclosed tunnel was labelled Tunnel 1 (第1號隧道). I almost but didn’t quite need to use my headlamp for that one.

But up next was Tunnel 2 (第2號隧道), which was pitch black, so I had to use my headlamp.

Then, right in the middle of it, the tunnel has totally collapsed, so I had to climb up over a huge pile of rubble.

There was just enough room for me to squeeze through to the other side. It was awesome!

And if you’re worried about spiders – I didn’t see a single one in any of the tunnels all day.

At the end of tunnel 2, I reached Tashan Station (塔山車站, 2350 meters). I found a single tent set up on the long wooden station platform. There was also a simple outhouse here.

The railway line split here, with the left side shortly coming to an end near the outhouse, so I followed the line to the right. I then went through Tunnel 3 and a particularly atmospheric, partially caved-in Tunnel 4.

After that, I reached the first of many bridges to cross.

Strangely, I found that the first bridge of the hike was labelled Bridge 11 (第11號橋樑). I suspect that the first 10 bridges are counted from Alishan station, not from the Mianyue Line turnoff.

At 8:00, or two hours and 15 minutes after leaving my hotel, I reached the sign for the Taiwan Aspidistra (Orchid) Nature Reserve (here) and box for leaving my permit. It was just before Bridge 13.

If you don’t have a permit, this is the furthest you are allowed to go. I didn’t see any park staff checking permits all day, but I heard that sometimes they really do, and there are fines.

After Bridge 13, I was vigilantly on the lookout for the orchids, but I didn’t see a single one. They are supposed to bloom from March to May, and I was there in the 3rd week of March.

But it’s worth noting that in 2025, when I did the hike, there had just been an unusual cold spell the week before.

I thought one of the coolest views was at the point where Bridge 16 went out from Tunnel 9.

When I later looked closely at my photos, I realized that there might have been some orchids behind me there. I missed them because I was so focused on the view!

You can see the patch of purple flowers on the cliff to the right of the bridge in my below photo.

Several Taiwanese bloggers said they thought Bridge 19 was the most beautiful of them all, but I didn’t think so.

Bridge 22 was a particularly tall one. You can’t tell in my below photo, but jumping on it was scary…

Mianyue Station and Shihou Station

After Bridge 22, I reached Mianyue Station (眠月車站), where there were a few dilapidated old station buildings.

Here I also saw a Mikado pheasant, the unofficial national bird of Taiwan, which also appears on the TWD 1000 banknote (read more about Taiwan’s currency).

Not much longer after that, I reached an old sign for Shihou Recreation Area (石猴遊憩區), where I started to see some scattered equipment from Shihou Station (石猴車站).

Looking up, I could see a large, rocky cliff that gives the station its name. Shihou (石猴) literally means “stone monkey”. As you can see here, it really used to look like a monkey, until the head fell off, that is.

Just a few minutes further down the trail, the train tracks finally reached the actual Shihou Station. The train tracks are all twisted before the reach the station, while the station itself is fenced off and has huge cracked floors inside.

A restroom building next to it also shows evidence of destruction from the 921 quake. Don’t try to use it – if you actually need the toilet, there’s an outhouse a couple minutes further down the tracks.

The time was now 9:15 AM, or 3.5 hours after I had left my hotel. I had an early lunch while gazing upon the station ruins.

Before leaving Shihou, I wanted to try to climb to the top of the monkey’s head, which was mentioned in some Taiwanese blogs. I never actually made it, but while trying, I found a cool lookout point.

Returning a few minutes back to the sign for Shihou Recreation Area (石猴遊憩區, visible at back of above photo), I noticed a set of stairs just past it and took them up into the forest.

After just a few minutes, and passing a sign for a Chinese pear tree (misspelled as “peer tree”) and one saying not to pick flowers, right after the latter, I turned left and followed a barely visible trail up to the top.

This took me up to a stone ridge with a pretty epic view of the whole area.

For me, this felt like the true end point of my hike. I was now ready to head back. I left this spot at 10 AM.

The return hike was just as fun and beautiful, but I took very few photos, except at the first two tunnels, which had much better lighting when I returned.

I set a pretty fierce pace the whole way back – I was headed to Yushan later that day and eager to arrive there before dark.

I made it back to the Mianyue Line turnoff at 12:00, the Tashan trailhead at 12:30, and Chaoping train station at 12:45. If you’re walking at a more leisurely pace or stopping for lots of photos, expect it to take a bit longer.

From there, I hopped on a train to Alishan (six minutes, on Wednesdays you’ll get to ride in a wooden Hinoki train car).

I picked up my luggage from the train station the walked out of the park to Alishan bus station, where one of my recommended private drivers had just agreed to pick me up even earlier than we’d originally scheduled, after finishing the hike a little faster than I’d expected.

You might think I’m nuts, but from there, we drove to Chiayi HSR station, where I rented a car that I had booked here on Klook, and then drove BACK past Alishan (where I caught the tail end an epic sunset here) and on to Yushan, which I’d be hiking the next day.

Why did I do all that backtracking? Well, I really wanted to ride the Alishan Forest Railway to Alishan for the train experience, but then I needed a car for getting to Yushan and all my plans after it. It made sense to me!

If you made it all the way to here, thank you so much for reading and I hope you have an amazing hike. Let me know in the comments how it goes or if you have any questions!