The Zixia Hiking Pass on Liuyi Mountain 六義山 is a low-altitude forested trail in Tainan. Although the elevation is not very high, the trail climbs from 300 meters to nearly 800 meters high, making it not a very easy walk, and along the way, you have the opportunity to view the Nanhua Reservoir, and the forested atmosphere that surrounds the trail is a great enjoyment! It is a day trip to take pictures of the scenery, train your legs, and enjoy the ecology.

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Liuyi Mountain (六義山紫霞登山口)

There are four entrances and exits to the Mt. Liuyi hiking trail, namely, Zixia, Baiba, Gongguan, and Side, of which Zixia is the lowest, which means it’s relatively tiring to climb from there, so I decided to start from Zixia that day to practice my legs and to get the most pictures of the scenery.

At the entrance, you can see a house, and beside the house, there are long benches for mountaineers to rest! (There is really a sign for mountaineers to take a rest.) In front of the house, there is an open space for parking, but the chassis of the car has to be a bit higher before you can drive in.

With a total climb of almost 500 meters, the route was not easy, it was uphill all the way from the beginning, and didn’t give people a chance to take a breather…. The uphill section at the beginning is the most dangerous in my opinion, because of the slippery moss on the stone staircase, coupled with a lot of fallen leaves, it’s really very slippery, and fallen leaves and moss are really insurmountable, right? I think that’s why there was a rope on the side, but…. The rope is also covered with moss.

The stone staircase is not too long, and after a short walk, you can enter the land section which is easier to walk.

On the way, I met a small praying mantis of about 1cm! It took me more than 10 minutes to get a good shot of him, it was hard to get a good shot of him jumping around all the time, and I also recorded a few seconds of him shaking ~ you can see the video link at the top.

Bamboo forests are common at low altitudes.

As we climbed, the trail became more and more light.

After exerting a lot of energy, I finally made it out of the forest, and after seeing the sky again, I felt like I was about to reach the top, but in fact, it was just the beginning. This time, I climbed with a friend, and as usual, I walked at the back, so that I could be photographed in the picture!

With blue sky and white clouds, it is only hot in the summer at the low altitude in the south. This section of the trail is considered to be more sunny, so it is recommended to put on some sunscreen protection.

Although it was sunny, the view was excellent! Look to the side and you’ll be able to see the Nanhua Reservoir.

On the same stretch, the light for the return trip in the afternoon had been obscured by dark clouds, making it kinder to those descending the mountain!

Leopard Butterfly, the beautiful wings are very similar to the leopard pattern, when I got home, I googled it, it is really called Leopard Butterfly… In the whole hiking trail of Liouyi Mountain, this area has the most butterflies, it should be due to the fact that a lot of white flowers are blooming (it should be the flower of Xianfeng Grass), and there are quite a lot of other butterflies….

After a series of uphill, finally have a chance to breathe, the next section of the road occasionally have to adjust the rhythm, in fact, this whole road there are a lot of sections can not even see the trail …, weeds grow too fast to drown the trail, the following picture can slightly see the ability of grass ~ more dense grass than the following picture I did not see. ，野草長太快都把步道淹沒了，下面這張圖可以稍微看得出小草的能力～比下面這張照片更茂密的草地有很多，由於不好構圖我就沒有拍了。

The last part of the first half has an outlook ~ and then we’re going to enter the forest again.

The morning sunlight penetrates the trees.

You have to be really careful when you walk through the thick weeds that overwhelm the trail and the fallen bamboos.

Small wildflowers are also my favorite targets, although I don’t know the names of them without researching, but in this green world, there are more different colors to decorate this forest ~ it will always make people notice them.

This part of the forest is my favorite part of the trip. Gentle terrain, dense forest, and good photos (the trees are relatively straight, so it’s good for composition!). It took me a lot of energy to get here, but seeing this view really helped me to get back to my feet. There’s still a lot of climbing to do.

The climbs in this area are probably like the one in the photo, just a small ascent with little effort! You can also sit down and rest on each wooden staircase. This forest area is near the Baiba trailhead, so if you don’t want to spend too much time on your feet, you can choose to start from here.

Looking up, the sky is almost blocked by leaves.

I took a few pictures of my friend’s back as we left the forest. The color of his clothes kind of blends in with the forest.

In this forest of light and shadow, there are many reptiles and insects, among which the wood-climbing lizard is the most commonly seen (I didn’t know its name until I looked it up on the Internet).

dam pavilion(觀壩亭)

After reading the route map at the entrance, I decided to take a rest at the Kwanba Pavilion, which is quite far away from the Zixia Climbing Pass…. I took many breaks on the way.

The front of the pavilion is not blocked by trees, and occasionally the wind blows through – it’s a relatively comfortable place to be on a hot summer’s day, and I realized later that this was the best place to have lunch that day, and it’s hard to find such comfortable seats in other places.

The view from the dam pavilion is overlooking the Nanhua Reservoir.

After a short break, it was still an uphill climb, but the trees on both sides of the trail provided adequate shade.

If no climber passes by, these steps may be covered by grasses soon. I personally think that these grasses are helpful to the trail, as the soil between the steps is often lost due to trampling or rainfall, and then the wooden steps will become an obstacle that is not easy to walk on.

Whenever you go to a place with an outlook, you basically reach the high point of the stage, and can walk a small section of gentle road～.

Charming Pavilion(攬勝亭)

Looking at the route map to find the Pavilion of Victory, found a pavilion on the non-mainline trail, at first I thought it was the Pavilion of Victory, but later realized that I was looking for the wrong one, and that this elevated structure was the Pavilion of Victory (I think it should be called the Pavilion of Victory), the staircase of the viewing platform is very narrow and can only be walked by one person at a time, the mountaineers are very courteous to each other~.

When I reached the highest point of the Pavilion, I thought I could still see the Nanhua Reservoir, but it was completely blocked by the dense forest. The photo below shows the other direction of the Nanhua Reservoir, which is a more promising direction.

Watching passing mountaineers from the observation deck.

After passing the Pavilion, there is still an easy flat area with a small plum orchard, but I don’t understand why there are no green leaves growing in summer.

Maybe it’s not far from the top of Mt. Liuyi, and we’re starting to meet more mountaineers. There are four mountain passes, and people are coming from all over, right?

This is the last look at the Namhwa Reservoir before the end of the gentle road, which seems to be close at hand!

Monument to the Sixth Soldier (六義士紀念碑)

After the last uphill section, you will reach the highest point of Mount Liuyi. After a period of adjusting to the gentle trail, you have recovered a lot of physical strength, but you are looking forward to this section of the climb, looking forward to what kind of scenery you can see when you go up!

Looking back, the Nanhua Reservoir is gradually being flooded by the forest.

The ground is full of light spots, swaying with the wind!

There is a large lingzhi hiding in the groove of the trunk of a big tree. It is particularly easy to find some interesting things during the climbing process, mainly because it is more common to stop for a rest during the climbing process, so I can take this opportunity to observe the surrounding area more often.

When I saw the red monument, it means I reached the top of Mount Liuyi. I sat down for lunch at a rocky outcrop near here, and as I mentioned earlier, the first pavilion (Guanba Pavilion) is the best place to eat. I was sweating quite a bit walking from the Zixia trailhead, and originally I planned to come back to this place in winter with my friends, but I couldn’t resist… I decided to come here in the summer, but it was really hot. If you want to come here too, I suggest you to come here in the winter, it will be much more comfortable!