Pingxi Valley Sites: Lingjiao and Wanggu: Waterfalls and Coal Mines (嶺腳 + 望古)
Tiny japalura lizard at a waterfall near Wanggu
Lingjiao
The next stop down the valley is the tiny village of Lingjiao. This place is famous for its large waterfall, which I wrote about in this post.
The large and famous waterfall in Lingjiao
The other attraction in the village is the pretty red brick Tsai Mansion from the 1930's. It's currently abandoned and looking a little sorry. There were signs a slow restoration is underway though since my last visit two years ago no real progress has been made.
The house was built by a wealthy man named Tsai Chuan who owned the Yong Chang mine. Wolf Shepherd explored this coal mine, in the hills north of Lingjiao. According to the sign by the gate many descendants have migrated out of the area and the house is in the care of Mr Tsai's grandson. This grandson seems to be doing a pretty poor job as a steward and I can only speculate some sort of family dispute, money trouble, or loss of interest has led to its current state.
Tsai Mansion stairs and some installation in the garden
The interiors were accessible (though I didn't try the rickety stairs) and are quite original looking. An old piano sits in the living room and is in need of some extreme tuning.
At the end of a long steep road above the village is the Guanyin Dripping Water Cave. Frankly though neither the temple or cave are worth visiting. The rock that allegedly looks like Guanyin just looks like a lumpy rock and the temple is an unremarkable modern building.
The only worthwhile thing up here was the view
Apparently that lump of rock in the center of this image resembles Guanyin
Wanggu
Little more than a few houses and a train station Wanggu is a short way down the tracks from Lingjiao. The main attraction here is Wanggu Waterfall. This mid-sized waterfall is really a series of waterfalls in a wooded glen. The lowest waterfall has a large pool but for some reason there is exposed re-bar here so watch out while swimming. The short hike up the valley is pretty and it's usually much less crowded than either Lingjiao and Shifen.
Wanggu Waterfall at very low water level
One of the upper level waterfalls
Next to the station is the remains of the large Qinghe Suspension Bridge.
The Qinghe Coal Mine is quite a long way up a valley on the other bank. At the moment just the mine offices and the tunnel entrance remain. They are now a private residence and behind a locked gate. I couldn’t see anyone around to let me take a look around. Despite how small this site seems it employed 322 miners at one time and produced a lot of coal before closing in 1991.
Qinghe Mine offices
A little further up the same valley is another series of waterfalls and a large pool which is fine for swimming.
Lower waterfall pool. A ropeswing is on the far bank
You will need your own transport to reach this one. I’ve also given it the nickname snake waterfall as on several occasions friends have spotted water snakes swimming around in the pool. These are most likely the harmless Asian water snake but for anyone a little afraid of snakes sharing a swim with them may be uncomfortable.
Asian water snake found chilling on a rock at this waterfall
The waterfall’s really called Huiyao and it has a few levels and a fun little rope swing. It's already on a few large blogs and Google Maps so I'd say this secret is long out and I’ve seen groups of foreigners each time I’ve visited. This stream alone has at least four nice waterfalls so I don’t think overcrowding will be a problem here. It's best to wear river tracing shoes if you want to climb between the levels.
The upper tier of Huiyao
At the end of the road the Mumu and Shikongzi Historic Trails begin. I was looking for the mine in this blog so didn’t complete the whole trail but it looks as though it’ll be peaceful and scenic. A short way into the hike there’s a coal sorting structure and a hoist room. Here coal would be moved from one cart railway to a lower one and then be taken down the valley to the suspension bridge and station.
An old hoist room
Around the corner is a very tall bridge which would have had a cart railway running across. Some rickety planks lead to the mine site on the other side.
The tunnel entrance has long since collapsed here and I just found the bathroom block and remains of another structure. There should be a machine room around here somewhere too but I think I missed the turn off for that.
The old bathroom block and an unknown structure
A little rickety but didn’t feel unsafe
Returning across the bridge I walked up the Shikongzi Trail. This was fairly easygoing and the riverside was beautiful. After passing a small photogenic waterfall I reached Shikongzi Falls. There’s a deep clear pool here and the lack of thick tree cover makes me think this would be a great summer swim spot.
Shikongzi Waterfall
The last waterfall I tried to reach was the large Wanbao Waterfall. I was surprised that I’d never heard of this waterfall until recently and that I hadn’t noticed anyone I know visit it. It’s not very far from the main 106 road. During my attempt to visit it became clear why it’s not well known. It seems the land around it at least is privately owned and short of river tracing to it (which I will do come summer) you can’t really reach it. I tried a path going up and around the private site and followed an irrigation channel on the opposite bank but sadly neither worked and I had to make do with viewing a snapshot of the waterfall through a locked gate. It seems at some point the area was developed for leisure but the viewing platforms and shelters have long since been abandoned.
The bridge is also part of the private estate. Wanbao Falls is beyond
Glimpse through the gate. It looks like it’s one of the more impressive waterfalls in the Pingxi area
On the other side of the main Pingxi Valley I drove into the mountains to find one more mine. However the entrance was sealed up. Fortunately there was a cute puppy and some dramatic cliffs so it wasn’t a total waste of time going up there!
Sealed entrance
The locations for these spots are as ever on the Hidden Taiwan Map. The adventures that make up these entries are often posted as Instagram stories at tomrookart first. So give that a follow too as it can sometimes be a year or more before stuff turns up here! I keep this project free of intrusive ads but it does take up a fair bit of time. If you would like to support it please either buy some of my work here (use code hiddentaiwan for a discount). Or book through this link at My Taiwan Tour, who cover a huge range of places and experiences in Taiwan.