Yangmingshan National Park is one of the nine national parks of Taiwan, located in northern Taipei. It features multiple peaks and tourist attractions. During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, it was called Caoshan or Grass Mountain due to its grassy terrain.
On this day, my destination is Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑), a post-volcanic geological landscape in Yangmingshan. Here, you can see an active fumarole continuously blowing steam.
Hot Summer Ride
I didn't pay attention to the weather today because I was only looking forward to a sunny day. To my surprise, it was already as hot as 34°C by 10 AM.
The starting point of the climb is around 25 km from my place, exactly at The Grand Taipei Hotel, shown in the picture above.
It was so hot that I had to stop to cool down a few times. My first rest stop was in front of this temple. Fun fact: the temples in Taiwan often have free water refilling stations and toilets, and sometimes they even offer you food!
And that's why I stopped here. Thanks to their cold water!
It was around noon when I reached halfway up the mountain. From this altitude, I could already see the city of Taipei.
And I made another stop, to eat my lunch and cooldown. I ate few icecreams!
After having my lunch and resting for a couple more minutes, I continued riding until I finally reached the last kilometer to my destination. It was a bridge where I could see a view of the flower farm.
It is another attraction here in Yangmingshan. They grow beautiful flowers like hydrangeas. There are also sakura trees around that bloom during autumn.
Xiaoyoukeng
This is Xiaoyoukeng, or at least a part of it. I arrived here around 2:30 PM, standing at about 800m above sea level.
It wasn't my first time coming here, as this is my official destination when I am training myself for a more challenging ride. The picture above was taken about a year ago, and the one below is from today.
Even though the weather was scorching hot when I started the ride, I arrived at this place completely covered with clouds, and it was starting to pour. I didn't stay here for long. I just ate my banana, enjoyed the view, and then left.
Lengshuikeng Hot Springs
As I was about to leave, I decided to break from my usual route. Instead of returning the same way I came, I made a loop around the mountain to visit another place: the hot springs at Lengshuikeng.
As I mentioned, Yangmingshan has post-volcanic activity, so you can find hot springs around the area. This is also another attraction of Yangmingshan.
Just about 5km away from Xiaoyoukeng, I found this hotspring with a public foot bathe. So I stopped here for awhile to enjoy the warm foot bathe and to relieve the pain from cycling for long hours.
