FOODBABY

A 4-in-1 adventure on Stegosaurus Ridge, Dagui Waterfall Teapot Mountain, and 古早風味甕仔雞 Chicken Restaurant in Ruifang

Just two weeks after the toughest hike of my life, I found myself on a mountain again facing jutting rocks going straight up into the sky before dipping into the mountain and ocean below.

Stegosaurus Ridge is known as Taiwan’s toughest day-hike, and I can see why. Although it was difficult it was incredibly exhilarating, with so much to see along the way.

Our Stats
Hike Time: 7 hours (1 hour rest time, including our swim in the waterfall)
Hike Distance: 8.3KM
Hike Elevation: 931m
Total Cost: 300NTD (Taxi ride back to parking lot) + 700NTD(Dinner)
Transportation: I drove, but you can also take the bus or rent a car.

How to get to Stegosaurus Ridge (劍龍稜), Nanzhilin Trail Entrance

We decided to drive from Taipei, although there are public busses that can also take you there. It was a short 40 minute drive, taking us to a free parking lot where you can easily access one of the hike entrances, Nanzhilin Trail.

Starting the Hike

From the entrance there’s a 30 minute walk up wooden stairs reaching 990 meters in and 196m elevation. There’s a little hill with a giant sundial, Taiwan flag, and the first cliff where you can see the ocean.

Rivertracing to Dagui Waterfall (大鬼瀑布)

From the first cliff, we took a path that lead into the river. We ended up river tracing, climbing over boulders and crawling under giant rocks. At this point we had given up on keeping our shoes dried and started wading. (This is also the point where I started considering buying new waterproof hiking shoes.) At 11:40AM we reached the waterfall. We ended up spending a good 40 minutes here, snacking, swimming, and doing flips into the deep waters.

Definitely recommend getting waterproof shoes for future hikes. My Goodyear hiking shoes were not and I had to finish the rest of the 5 hours in wet socks.

While we were resting, we noticed a couple other groups arrive that didn’t look like they had made it through the difficult trek to get here and realized there was a much easier path through the forest. So we took that path on the way back up.

1PM 劍麗稄起攀平台

In just 10 minutes of uphill trekking, we were on top of the mountains again and the waterfall was just a speck in the distance. We pushed on as we still had 5 hours to go.

1:40PM 劍龍稜381峰 – Start of the Ridge

This is where the ridge started. Forest gave way to rocky cliffside where it became more like bouldering than hiking. At some points we were straddling rocks to get through the ridge. This section took around 2 hours to get past, as you definitely want to go slowly and safely. You’ll need to find the right path to walk on, and make sure you never slip. The ridge juts straight out on a slight angle.

2:30PM 555 Peak

On the very back of the Stegosaurus, you’ll find a large yellow sword wedged in between the spine. Here you’ve reached the 555 peak, one of the landmarks of Stegosaurus Ridge.

3:00PM Serration Peak

The two peaks started a debate between us on what defined a peak on a mountain. Clearly 555 peak was meant to be the main destination of Stegosaurus Ridge (marked on the maps), but Serration Peak was much more impressive and at a higher altitude than 555 peak.

It definitely had less space to rest as it was all jagged rocks and majority of the climb was crawling sideways along the walls of the ridge. As we were climbing, the clouds cleared up and we luckily got 30 minutes of clear sky where we could see the ocean, teapot mountain, and the trail we had just come from.

4:20PM Cave

Just when we thought the hike was almost over, we came across a cave which we had to slide down through a crevice using a chain, and crawl out from the other side. It had started to drizzle so the rocks were slippery.

4:40PM Tea Pot Mountain Gazebo

20 minutes later, we were down the trail – we had to go slowly as the rain made it very slippery and most of the downhill was done on ropes and chains. There is a lovely gazebo at the top of Tea Pot Mountain, from here you’re still above the clouds and can watch the sunset.

4:50PM Tea Pot Mountain (Mt. Wuerchahu) Trail Entrance

A quick power walk from the gazebo and we made it off the mountain! Stegosaurus is a 2-in-1 hike adventure, from scaling the long rocky ridge, to a lavishly green hike down teapot mountain. Once we were off the trails, we rested at the temple picking up drinks from the vending machine and using the bathrooms. The busses were difficult to catch and ubers hard to come-by, so we asked someone at the temple and they were able to find us a driver to give us a 300NTD ride back to the car park.

6:30PM 古早風味甕仔雞 Restaurant

For a good last hour of our hike, we couldn’t stop talking about food and Reynauld suggested a popular chicken restaurant nearby. If you haven’t had chicken in Taiwan, especially on the coast or up the mountains, you are missing out! It’s become a tradition after a hike as it’s the best meal you could have. Must-orders are a main chicken dish (roasted, baked, or in soup) with sides of mountain vegetables, tofu, and ofcourse fried rice/noodles.

Not only is 古早風味甕仔雞 really good post-hike, but it’s a very popular restaurant and a must-try if you’re in the area. We ordered enough food to feed all of our families.

What we ordered
2 of their famous roast chickens, call ahead to book it as it takes a while to prepare.
Salted egg-yolk calamari
Stirfried Noodles
Mountain Fern
Water spinach
Fried Burdock
Stirfried Tofu
Teppenyaki Beef
Kungpao Chicken
Sweet fried almonds
Total Cost: It came out to be around 3500NTD, $110USD (or 700NTD each).

See clay-pot chicken soup after a hike in Xindian or the juicy chicken we had after Crocodile Island.

Gear / What we packed

Leggings
Sports Bra
Light Jacket
Down Jacket (it gets cold at the top, especially on breaks)
Gloves for ropes (I didn’t end up using them)
Sunglasses (It gets sunny on the way up there too!)
Sunscreen
20l Bag
2l Water (I ended up running out)
Electrolyte Tabs
Hiking shoes (I should have brought waterproof ones)
Quickdry Towel
Lunch: PBJ Sandwiches from 7/11
My Fujifilm Camera
Insta360X3 (Takes great shots of the ridge)
Drone (Incredible footage of the waterfall and lengthy hike)
I opted out of bringing my hiking stick as I didn’t want it to get in the way while climbing.

Itinerary

Nanzhiling Hike -> Dagui Waterfall -> Stegosaurus Ridge Start -> 555 Peak -> Serration Peak -> Cave -> Teapot Mountain -> 古早風味甕仔雞 (Chicken Restaurant in Ruifang!)

Maps

You can book a chartered car which covers 4 people and 8 hours. (Make sure to select the right type of charter, and specify pick-up/drop-off. Stegosaurus hike starts and ends in different places).

Nanzhilin Trail (Start of the hike)

Stegosaurus Ridge

Dagui Waterfall

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you’ve tried this hike or are looking to visit. Don’t forget to subscribe to my youtube where I cover more of the hike with fun drone and insta360 footage.