Lihdau Mountain Trail Introduction
Liudao Mountain is located at the junction of Xinfeng Township, Zhubei City, and Qionglin Township in Hsinchu County. It is named for its resemblance to the plowing head used by ancient people to till the fields. The mountain stretches from Neili Village in Xinfeng to the east side of the Zhubei Highway in an east-west direction, serving as the watershed between two major rivers in Hsinchu County: the Touqian River and the Fengshan River. The elevation is 156 meters, with a steep slope on the southern side and a gentler incline on the northern side. Initially, Liudao Mountain was covered with tea plantations tended to by farmers, but today these fields have fallen into disuse, although many old tea trees can still be found among the woods. The main trail and various access routes were originally winding paths used by local residents for tea picking or farming. During the 1980s, agricultural decline led to the gradual abandonment of the tea gardens on the mountain, and most of the tea-picking paths became overgrown with weeds. The once-busy Yuetao Wo Ancient Trail, which was often traversed by merchants crossing Liudao Mountain, is now seldom used. Liudao Mountain has turned into a desolate wilderness, with only the section near the triangulation point on the western side attracting occasional visitors for hiking, while the rest remains largely deserted.
