Dongyanshan national forest recreation area，Beautiful landscape trail.
The Dongyanshan national forest recreation area Self-Guided Trail is near Taoyuan City and is a beautiful forest trail attraction. The trail passes through the Dong’eyen Mountain Triangle Point, which is considered an easy and well-traveled route suitable for strolling and trekking, and in addition, the Intellectual Trail and the Scenic Trail in the park are also recommended to complete the scenic routes together!
Table of Contents
Parking Lot Scenery
When I arrived at the parking lot in the morning, you might think, what is there to photograph in the parking lot…? Although the mountain is not that high, but the beautiful scenery made me press the shutter, and I started the whole day with good weather and good mood!
Visitor Center（遊客中心）
We went there on a normal day and the number of tourists was surprisingly low. I thought there would be a lot of tour groups just like in Xitou, but I knew that the trail would not be crowded today just by looking at the quiet visitor center.
There is a small wooden house next to the visitor center, I don’t know what it is for, but I took a picture of it because it looks good.
Dongyanshan Self-Guided Trail（東眼山自導式步道）
At the beginning of the trail, you can see dense forests on both sides. The elevation is not too high at around 1,000 meters above sea level, and apart from the tall cedar trees, the short bushes are also quite thick.
After a short walk, you can see this special installation art design, thinking that those who sit on the chairs to rest may get sunburned with zebra stripes ~ (Netflix photo stop)
I especially like the color of the ground next to the trail, which matches well with the green bushes. Walking along the well-planned trail, I enjoy the sunshine and the sound of many birds chirping!
Part of the trail is a comfortable wooden walkway.
The steps in the photo below are made of semi-cylindrical wood, and then each semi-cylinder is fixed with two small upright square pillars in front of it, and each step is fixed in the same way, I think it’s a very nice design. I think this is a nice design.
Interlocking tree roots become climbing steps (root ladders).
Walking up this wooden staircase will lead you to the East Eye Triangle, which is the steepest part of this self-guided trail, and there are wooden chairs along the way for resting.
After the triangle, it’s all downhill.
Although the elements of the scenery are cedar trees + walkway + bushes, it’s never boring to look at.
I do not know if you have found a thoughtful design is not uphill section, that is, after the triangle point of the downhill steps, almost all have non-slip mats (on the wooden trestle), although I do not like this kind of artificial elements in nature, but really have for the safety of tourists to think more!
Restaurant（餐廳）
As soon as you come out of the self-guided trail, you can see the restaurant, which is only open during holidays. I checked the information before I left and bought rice balls for lunch.
I love this tree in the restaurant – it’s a maple tree, if I remember correctly.
Forest Intellectual Trail（森林知性步道）
The Intellectual Trail is located at the back of the restaurant and is connected to the self-guided trail, so you can continue walking afterward. I sat down next to the restaurant to eat my lunch before continuing the walk.
Compared with the self-guided trail, the Intellectual Trail is super easy and almost flat, so if you want to enjoy the scenery but don’t want to climb the slope, you can take this one, it’s just a bit short and you may finish it in one go.
At the end of the trail, there is also a display of a wooden horse trail, a tool used for logging in the early days.
Dongyanshan Forest Road（東眼山林道）
The Knowledge Trail will connect to the East Eye Mountain Forest Trail. When you reach the gravel section, you are on the East Eye Mountain Forest Trail.
This road leads to the restaurant, there may be cars passing by on the forest road so be careful.
This is not a major scenic trail, so I think the scenery is ordinary ~ I just didn’t want to go back the way I came, so I just walked around. Compared to the main scenic trail, you can see the blue sky and white clouds!
Scenic Trail（景觀步道）
After walking to the restaurant through the East Eye Mountain Forest Trail, you can take the scenic trail back to the Visitor Center and finally back to the parking lot. This is also the last trail of the trip. At the beginning of the trail, you can see a small cabin among the trees, and the grass in front of the door is overgrown, I wonder if it is a storage room.
After a short walk, you can go back to the familiar woods again, and there is almost no climbing in this section! The least strenuous way is to take the scenic trail from the Visitor Center, then take the Intellectual Trail, and then return the same way – it’s almost a flat trail.
This bridge is about 1/3 of the way there, and it’s supposed to be for landscaping (there’s no stream), so it’s kind of a landmark for photo ops.
The light was shining through the trees on the trail we were going to pass through, so I thought it was a great coincidence and had to record it.
The wooden installation is on a cedar tree, there is no place to walk up (just for viewing~), it feels very much like the structure of a cabin in the trees, just need to add the boarded up walls and the roof! After this, we will soon reach the visitor center, and then we are ready to go home. I think it took me one day to walk around these places and take pictures.
Dongyanshan Trail Route Map
Share the day’s routes:
- 先到遊客中心會看到自導式步道的入口
- 走到自導式步道最高的東眼山三角點，然後再往下走到餐廳
- 走餐廳後方的知性步道
- 知性步道走完就接到東眼山林道回餐廳
- 最後由餐廳走景觀步道回遊客中心，結束行程。
- You will see the entrance to the self-guided trail（自導式步道） at the Visitor Center（遊客中心）.
- Walk to the highest trig point on the self-guided trail（自導式步道）, East Eye Mountain, then down to the restaurant（餐廳）
- Intellectual trail（知性步道） at the back of the restaurant（餐廳）
- After walking along the Intellectual Trail, you will be taken back to the restaurant at Dongyanshan Forest Road（東眼山林道）.
- Finally, take the Scenic Trail（景觀步道）from the restaurant back to the Visitor Center to finish the tour.
Google Map：
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