Taolin Canyon, Pasikau River (Luye River)
A photo of Lower Taolin Canyon, just beyond Lower Taolin Hot Spring.
This trip report chronicles a trip made up the Luye River, also known as the Pasikau River in 2021. Our group visited Lower Taolin Hot Spring, Taolin Canyon, Taolin Waterfall but did not make it to Upper Taolin Hot Spring.
A Brief History of the Pasikau River Watershed
Laipunuk and Neibenlu Police Road
The mountainous region where the headwaters of north fork of Pasikau River meet the Central Mountain Range was one of the last frontier areas to be explored and later annexed by the Japanese, and prior to that, was the home of the Bunun, one of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. Known as Laipunuk (Mandarin: 內本鹿 or “Neibenlu”) in Bunun, the area was home to twenty Bunun villages which centered around the midreaches of the Pasikau River (北絲鬮溪; known in Mandarin as: 鹿野溪 or ”Luye River“). According to one Japanese census conducted at the time, 165 families totalling to 1597 Bunun people lived in this area.
In 1924, as the Japanese began to extend their colonial reach into the region, construction began on what became one of Southern Taiwan’s several historic cross-mountain roads, the 126-kilometer-long Neiben Police Road (內本鹿警備道路). The road would connect the Liugui District of Northern Kaohsiung to Luye Township in the East Rift Valley in Taitung. Construction on the Taitung side took place over the course of eight months between June 1924 and March 1925. During this time the Wenquan (present day '“Hongye”), Qingshui (present day “Shangli”), Songshan (Mamahav Waterfall tributary), Jiajiadai (tributary between upper and lower Taolin hot springs), and Taolin police stations were constructed. Upon completion, the road successfully connected Kaohsiung to Taitung. Upon completion, the Japanese forcibly relocated the entire Bunun population living in the aforementioned mountain villages to the plains of Taitung, and subsequently, after 1941, the road fell into disuse.
Even when the road was maintained, the section of the road traveling from Feng Police Station, passing through Jiajiadai, Taolin, Ju, and ending at Shou Police Station was known for being difficult to cross as a result of the number of cliffs and landslides that had to be traversed, as well as general steepness. The road varied from 1 to 2 meters in width. Over the past several decades it has become probably one of the least traveled traverse trails in Taiwan.
In recent years, Bunun have begun to regularly traverse the Neiben Police Road in order to learn about and pass on their cultural traditions.
Further reading:
Steven Andrew Martin’s Publication on the Laipunuk Region & Video
History of Neibenlu (Ministry of Culture)
Laipunuk Blog (Bunun-run)
Pasnanavan Historic Trail (Indigenous Peoples Cultural Development Center)
Taolin Hot Spring
This river trace follows the section of the Taolin River between the Qingshui and Taolin police stations. One alternate route to the Taolin area would be by walking the unmaintained Neibenlu Police Road from it’s east entrance to the Taolin police station, and then descending into the canyon.
The Pasikao River has many tributaries. Currently, there is no useful standard for naming, some are known only in Bunun, some only in Japanese, and some only in Mandarin.
Pasikau River Place Names:
Pasikau River (北絲鬮溪) [Bunun]; or Luye River (鹿野溪) [Mandarin]
Laningavan River [Bunun]; or Langsu River (浪速溪) [Mandarin]; or ナニハバン溪 [Japanese] ｜ Full Canyoning Descent Photos
Masuvano River [Bunun]; or マスワノ溪 [Japanese]
Halipusong River [Bunun]
Jiajiadai River (嘉嘉代溪) [Mandarin]
Malalaou River (瑪拉拉歐溪) [Mandarin]
The Trip
In 2021, the drought from winter extended into late May. With an ideal weather-window — Taitung was in the 20s at night and there were several days of blue skies on the forecast — I invited two friends, Jocelyn and Cheng-wen, who happened to be traveling on the East Coast to come with me. The both lacked river tracing experience, but one was an accomplished hiker and the other often climbed in British Columbia. Their indigenous guide, Emas from Jiqi (a small town on the coast south of Hualien), also agreed to come. He later told me he was curious to see what another tribe’s mountain area looked like.
Our plan was to minimalist camp just past Shangli Hot Spring on Day 0. On Day 1 we planned to hike to Lower Taolin Hot Spring, and possibly Upper Taolin Hot Spring if time allowed, then turn around and float back as far as we could before walk back to camp as it got dark. The original plan included exiting on Day 1 as well, however that ended up being veto’d in favor of crashing around the fire again on Day 1. Our GPSs read around 40 kilometers walked for Day 1 without exiting from Shangli.
Day 0 (4km) - Qingshui Bridge to Shangli
Setting out from Qingshui Bridge on the evening of Day 0.
We arrived at Qingshui Bridge a bit later than planned at nearly 5:00 PM. There was just enough light left to walk to Shangli and set up camp.
Day 1 (~40km) - Shangli to Taolin to Shangli
This trip was possible in part because the weather was forecasted to be excellent for two days straight. This meant hiking shorts and a short-sleeve polyester shirt were fine during the day, and even into the night if sleeping next to a fire.
We woke up at 5:00 AM to pack up, with the goal of leaving by 6:00 AM.
The fire was still going on the morning of Day 1.
After waking up, we packed what we needed for the day including dry packs, inflatable tubes, dry snacks, wet suits, headlamps, et cetera, and headed upriver. I took a bivy sack just in case, but no one else had one. We ended up leaving just prior to 6:30 AM, and still hoped to go as far upriver as possible.
The valley was lit quite dramatically as we set out. The morning temps were still chilly.
A broken-down Jeep was discarded below one of the suspension bridges of the Neibenlu Old Trail. Not very LNT.
Mamahav Waterfall
An aerial view of the bend where the Mamahav tributary meets Luye River. The waterfall comes down from river left (photo right) before the canyon.
Mamahav Waterfall wasn’t at its most spectacular that day.
From a little farther downriver, Neibenlu Police Trail could be seen carved into the northern cliff on river left.
Water levels were extremely low. Photo taken by Mamahav.
Laningavan River
After about an hour of hiking, we reached the confluence with the first large tributary of Luye River. From Bunan research, we can derive that the river shares the name of the Laningavan settlement that existed along it’s banks. In Mandarin, the river is occasionally referred to as “浪速溪”, but the etymology is unclear. Laningavan River flows down from the southern face of Meinaitian Main Peak (“美奈天主山”). Recently, a Japanese and Taiwanese joint team descended this entire river by canyoning. Their trip took them 4 days.
Photos their trip can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/ryoji.onishi/posts/3267697863275189
The confluence of Laningavan River and Luye River. If river tracing, the first 10-15km is flat, so perhaps multi-day canyoning is a better way to enjoy this river.
One or two kilometers beyond the Laningavan confluence there was a massive landslide that stretched around a kilometer and had to be traversed. While it wasn’t technically challenging, it did slow us down.
The landslide is on river right. On the way back down we avoided traversing the landslide by crossing the river twice.
Halipusung
The Luye River riverbed became wider again around the Halipusung settlement. It continued until the confluence with Malalaou River by Lower Taolin Hot Spring.
Within three hours of departing, we reached the Malalaou River (馬拉拉歐溪) confluence. Upon reaching the confluence and turning north to continue up Luye River, we quickly arrived at Lower Taolin Hot Spring.
The view downstream at the Malalaou River confluence.
Lower Taolin Hot Spring
The travertine “cake” at Lower Taolin Hot Spring. This formation is caused by the precipitation of calcium carbonate dissolved in the hot spring water. The shape changes as it is washed away by floods and reforms during droughts.
Lower Taolin Hot Spring seen from a distance.
We rested at lower Taolin for about half an hour. At this point, we had been walking for three hours straight in close to 30-degree weather. We would eventually nearly all suffer from various degrees of mild heatstroke.
I convinced everyone this was not yet the destination, and we set out for upper Taolin.
The Jiajiadai Area
Beyond Lower Taolin Hot Spring is where Luye River really starts to become dramatic and otherworldly. Just past Lower Taolin Hot Spring, the river immediately narrows into a 10-meter-wide canyon before opening up again but to a smaller scale than before. From this point on, hot spring outcrops begin to appear along the riverbed all the way to upper Taolin.
The Jiajiadai confluence.
At Jiajiadai, the canyon periodically narrowed wherever harder bedrock resisted erosion.
Just beyond the Jiajiadai Creek confluence, the river fills with talus and efficient movement begins to require a bit more effort. Still, there are no dead ends and route-finding is rarely necessary.
The state of Luye River beyond Jiajiadai. The river begins to gain elevation and movement becomes more involved.
Taolin Canyon (also known as “W Canyon”)
In between Lower Taolin and Upper Taolin, there is a distinctive gorge referred to in Mandarin as the “W-shaped Canyon”. From 蚯蚓’s and 小虎’s trip records, one can gauge that this part of the canyon is now far easier to traverse than it was in the past. Continuous flushing of the Luye River watershed over the past decade has transported massive amounts of sediment from the upper reaches of the river and deposited it here. Consequently, the first section of the W-Canyon has become flat. At the end of the first bend, a massive chockstone blocks the way to a massive boulder field.
300-meter-high walls isolate the W section of Luye River.
Looking upriver at the first bend of W Canyon.
The massive chockstone appears at the end of the first bend. Beyond the chockstone, a field of building-sized talus.
The video below was taken from the end of the first bend looking downriver.
Taolin Waterfall
Where the chockstone is wedged, the canyon turns 90 degrees to the west. Beside the chockstone, there is a waterfall that was previously the one way forward. One past geological survey successfully ascended over the waterfall by using a grappling hook. Sadly, for that expedition, no photos exist from beyond the waterfall.
River Height Comparison
On the left is our photo from Spring 2021. On the right is a photo from 小虎's expedition around 2015. Note the highlighted contour lines on the bedrock. At least 2-meters of sediment have been deposited downriver of the chockstone over a period of 6 years. These changes are a testament to the relentless weathering that Taiwan’s rivers experience.
A climber / geologist throws a weighted bag to secure a rope for ascending. (Photo by Xiaohu 小虎）
During Xiaohu’s geological expedition it was a darker place. (~2015)
The waterfall looking amazing in the afternoon sun. (2021)
The past three years have seen teams climbing up the left side of large boulders that enclose the waterfall. Settling ropes to assist teammates might be required.
Logjams = anchors. I used this log wedged in between boulders around the chockstone to assist the others up.
Another large gap required partner assists.
After climbing past the chockstone, Emas and Jocilyn decided to rest to avoid a more serious case of heatstroke. I decided to continue route-finding to search for an efficient path through the talus field. I ended up making two trips up, one alone, and one with Cheng-wen who was still willing to fight the sun. In the end, stopped around 500 meters short of Upper Taolin Hot Spring at a short chute well out of range of the other two. In the interest of keeping this trip relatively safe — it was already past 3:00 PM, meaning we were most certainly walking for hours in the dark on the way back to camp — we decided to head back to meet Emas and Jocelyn, and begin slowly heading back.
The water takes an interesting path through the talus. This trip was taken at very very low flow. At higher flows one must be very careful of entrapment as there were clearly numerous siphons and sieves.
Emas in the lower section of the talus field. Photo was taken on my trip to scout for a way to Upper Taolin Hot Spring.
Emas and Jocelyn were still resting in the shade underneath a boulder in the lower section of the talus field when we returned. We carefully down-climbed from the chockstone boulders and slowly began making our way downriver and back to camp. According to multiple GPS records, the one-way distance from Shangli to Taolin is around 18 to 20 kilometers. Total trip length on Day 1 ended up being around 40 kilometers.
The Return
We started heading back around 3:30 PM. As we learned, floating isn’t necessarily faster than walking, especially in areas where the river snakes significantly. At certain points, Cheng-wen walked as fast if not faster than the rest of us who were floating.
Emas didn’t want to wait and inflated his raft while still in Jiajiadai.
Emas, are you sure about that?
Cheng-wen’s inflatable was punctured by either a rock or rebar while it was still light out. Having realized that floating wasn’t really a time-saver, anyway, we all packed away our tubes and started walking from just past Halipusung. The sun went down before we were able to reach the landslide.
By the time we got back to camp at 8:28 PM, Emas and Jocelyn had decided to give up. Cheng-wen and I wanted to head back to the car but 2-2 was a stalemate. Since there was no harm in staying an extra night — the weather was good and we still had some corn leftover from the previous night — we decided to crash for the night. Before going to bed I walked for a kilometer to get cell phone reception and confirm with our safety contact that we were fine and would be spending an extra night in the river.
Total time for Day 2 was only 14 hours, not bad.
Day 2 (~4km) - Shangli > Qingshui
We woke up early hungry from not having a proper dinner and quickly drove to Luye where we ate two breakfasts in a row.
References:
https://www.stevenandrewmartin.com/taiwan/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297068025_Laipunuk_Nei_Ben_Lu_-_The_last_frontier_of_the_Taiwan_aborigines_during_the_Japanese_occupation_on_Taiwan_Ethnographic_narratives_of_a_Bunun_elder
http://tcmb.digital.ntu.edu.tw/memory/flora108/2-1.html
http://tcmb.digital.ntu.edu.tw/memory/flora108/2-2.html
http://tcmb.digital.ntu.edu.tw/memory/flora108/2-3.html
