The traditional trail to Jade Mountain’s main peak comes to a fork roughly 200m below the final summit.
For those wanting a special experience, they can opt to take the less-traveled road to hike Yushan North Peak (玉山北峰) at this fork.
From this junction, North Peak is roughly 2.5km away (one way), and starts (and finishes) with a very steep gravel field that all hikers must hike up and down.
The hiking of Yushan North Peak ridge itself is relatively easy and if done in the right season, hikers may be lucky enough to see fields of local Yushan Rhododendrons, the most famous mountain flower in Taiwan.
Once at the peak, hikers will find themselves at the highest weather station in Taiwan, which is also where the picture was taken that is on the face of Taiwan’s 1,000NT currency note.
Once finished, hikers will hike back to the junction and do a quick ascent of Main Peak (if they haven’t already) before heading back down to Paiyun Cabin.
Like Yushan’s East Peak, it’s possible to include a hike to Yushan’s North Peak on the standard 2D/1N trip to Jade Mountain, this makes the second day of the trip very long and exhausting, and is generally too much for people who aren’t used to hiking for 8+ hours. Normally a second night at Paiyun is needed to bag this peak (but can make securing permits more difficult.)
For the truly adventurous, all 9 of Jade’s peaks (including the back 4 peaks) can be completed over 5+ days, but this is only for those who are comfortable at altitude and are extremely fit and experienced.
More Resources For Hiking Jade Mountain
- Jade Mountain Main Peak(玉山主峰), please click here. (Coming Soon)
- Jade Mountain Front Peaks (玉山前四峰), please click here. (Coming Soon)
