South Section Two Trail D4 Waypoint
7 Nov 2025 9 waypoints 11 photos 8.27 km
D4 Itinerary
Lulu Mountain
Leaving Lulu Valley Cabin, head toward the Lulu Valley trailhead; at the junction at Waypoint 42, switch to a light pack for the climb, and within half an hour you'll reach the Lulu Mountain Triangulation Point.
Coming down from Lulu Mountain back to the trailhead, about three hours further brings you to Tianchi Pond for a rest — plenty of shade here, a gentle breeze, cool and comfortable. There are quite a few small ponds today; wander around near the lakes or the surrounding forest and you might just pick up a shed antler.
Leaving Tianchi Pond, another hour or so brings you to Tafen Pond — similar to Jiaming Lake, with open meadow nearby, so watch you don't get too much sun.
Tafen Mountain
From Tafen Pond, a steep climb of about 150 meters brings you to Tafen Mountain, with a great, unobstructed view from the summit. Since the trail ahead isn't easy, recharge here and make sure you're focused enough for what's coming.
The original path from Tafen Mountain to Tafen Valley Hut has collapsed; although the folks from Yushan National Park Headquarters have cleared a path and marked a new route, the soil along the whole new route is still on the soft side, with quite a bit of loose gravel — keep checking the trail ribbons as you go, taking the descent one stretch at a time. After a long contour section, you'll finally see Tafen Valley Hut out on the meadow.
From Tafen Valley Hut onward, you can see sika deer almost every night; on the way down to the hut, I even saw deer running across the meadow. To the right in front of Tafen Valley Hut, there's a pipe bringing in running water, feeding into a basin said to be over two hundred years old — it works like a fridge, good for chilling a cola or a beer. Also, there's a lot of juniper near this hut; once you change into camp sandals your feet are more exposed, so watch your step.
Trail Log
40 I switched to a light pack here
3,307 m2,666↓27 min 400 m ↑62 m ↓37 m
41 Lulu Mountain Triangulation Point
3,307 m2,666↓52 min 380 m ↑37 m ↓51 m
42 Better to drop your pack hereMentioned in text
3,307 m2,666↓3 h 7 min 3.38 km ↑90 m ↓467 m
43 Tianchi Pond
3,307 m2,666↓1 h 0 min 810 m ↑45 m
44 Tafen Pond
3,307 m2,666↓32 min 550 m ↑138 m
45 Tafen Mountain
3,307 m2,666↓1 h 33 min 1.90 km ↓428 m
46 Tafen Valley Hut
3,307 m2,666↓15 min 0 m
47 Dry pool
3,307 m2,666↓1 h 59 min 0 m
48 Said to be a 200-plus-year-old water basin
3,307 m2,666
Start of record06:34 2991 m 0 km Lulu Valley Cabin
↓54 min 850 m ↑302 m
End of record14:59 2605 m 8.27 km Tafen Valley Hut
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