Hiking Favorite: Sandiaoling Waterfall Trail

You’ll get wet, muddy and land on your butt a few times, but it’s an incredible hike. Located on the Pingxi Rail Line, this trail starts at Sandiaoling Station and terminates at Dahua Station. In total, there are four waterfalls on the trail and it’s possible to add a fifth by continuing on to Shifen once you finish the hike. Along with swimming under the waterfalls, you’ll get to play on braided rope bridges, climb log ladders and walk through fairy portals.

The first waterfall, Hegu Falls, is a medium-sized-double falls that’s very pretty and easy to get to. Continuing on from Hegu Falls, the trail really comes alive with moss covered rocks, over-hanging trees and the sound of water in the background. After swinging across the rope bridges and maybe even stopping for a swim, you’ll come to the main attraction: Sandiaoling Waterfall. This 30-meters-high waterfall shoots out over a massive overhang, so there’s plenty of room for exploring behind the fall’s curtain.

Sandiaoling Waterfall is mesmerizing; we could have easily spent an hour watching the water curtain fall and then dissipate on the rocks below. Unfortunately, we were also trying to outpace a loud group of women who had paid for a guided hike. Hearing squeaky voices gain on us, we stuffed our faces with a little bit of lunch and moved along to the head of the falls.

Imagine our surprise when we found another waterfall waiting at the top. Turns out, the head of Sandiaoling Waterfall doubles as the base of Pipa Cave Falls. Pipa Cave and Sandiaoling Waterfalls are very similar. Both shoot out over massive overhangs and Pipa Cave is only a little smaller than Sandiaoling, resting at 25 meters. The base of Pipa Cave Falls is more fun to explore, getting your feet wet and climbing around. Just don’t fall off the edge; the rope is there for a reason.



From here, make your way to the head of Pipa Cave Falls, you’ll be rewarded with the ability to hang out and walk around under the overhand. Again, just don’t fall. This is the last main waterfall, so enjoy. When you’re ready, keep moving up; you’re almost at the fun rope/log ladder or what’s left of it. When a hiker was badly injured, the ladder was deemed a safety hazard and has since been replaced with some gaudy metal stairs. They did leave a small section of the ladder in place though, so you can imagine what the whole thing would have been like previously. Honestly, they were probably right about the safety hazard, but that doesn’t make the metal stairs any less boring.

Soon the trail spits you out onto an actual path. (From this point onward, everything becomes less scenic and more dangerous. I wouldn’t be surprised if most people turn back instead of continuing on to Dahua Station.) There are two options. To exit the trail, follow signs for Dahua Station. To check out the actual head of Pipa Cave Falls, go the other direction. It’s a good spot for another swim and not too far out of the way. Still being chased by the sound of female voices, we continued on to Dahua Station.



The path soon turns into a road, but you don’t stay on this very long. After five minutes, you’ll see a trail that takes you back into the woods. Take it and stay on it until you come to Xinliao Village. Here, the path turns back into a road and you want to go left at the fork. Soon, you’ll arrive at a large, ornate gate that’s guarding the entrance to an abandoned car park. Next to the gate, there are some stairs. Take them. This five minute detour leads down to a small abandoned shrine, overlooking the fourth and final waterfall of the trail. It’s small, but pretty.



Make your way back up the stairs and into the carpark. There’s an abandoned ticket office with a set of stairs next to it. The stairs are the entrance to the last and most dangerous part of the trail, which mostly consists of overgrown, loose steps that are incredibly slippery and just want to kill people. When possible, walk on the mud, leaves, anything but the actual steps and you might make it out alive.

Assuming you don’t die, the trail is almost over. Cross the red pedestrian bridge straddling the Keelung River and soon you’ll find yourself back on the train tracks. Follow these to Dahua Station. From here, catch a train to Shifen or begin the journey back to Taipei.



Total, the trail takes almost four hours to complete (not including swimming time). Bring food, small towels and a camera. There are no restrooms on this hike, so use them at Sandiaoling Station. An upside, though, is that most of this hike is in the woods, so you don’t have to worry about turning into a piece of bacon as you would on other more exposed hikes.

Getting Around

From Taipei Main Station, hop a train bound for Sandiaoling Station. As soon as you disembark, you’ll see signs for the trail. Follow them. As you exit the station, there are some overgrown, forgotten buildings next to the path that you can explore. Further down, the trail follows the railroad tracks to the town of Sandiaoling. These are active tracks, so keep your ears open and camera ready.



Follow the tracks until you pass an old white-washed school. Here, cross the tracks and follow the steps up. This is the trail head and there is a sign/map posted next to the tracks. On weekends, locals will be set up with food and drink stands. They may or may not be there on weekdays.



To get home, catch a train at either Dahua or Shifen to Ruifang. At Ruifang Station, get off and transfer to a train bound for Taipei. On weekends, you’ll probably have to make this trip standing up, so it’s best to wait for an express train. This way you’ll only be on your feet for thirty minutes versus an hour on the local train.