11.29 Mogan Mountain

Jiang Gong Ancient Trail 10km reverse hike, just in time for the best weather weekend The much-anticipated Jiang Gong Ancient Trail is now on the agenda To avoid crowds on the weekend, we set off early and navigated to 🅿️ Yucun P4 parking lot. P3 is free but a bit far. P4 is uphill with many guesthouses along the way, also offering paid parking spots. Followed the Erbulu navigation up the mountain. The ascent is stairs, a bit tiring but manageable. Once on the mountain, the path is much easier. Along the way, we saw beautiful maple trees, even the leaves of the phoenix trees were prettier than those back home. The weather was perfect—blue sky and red maples. Many people were checking in and taking photos, which turned out great 😊 With two kids in tow, we strolled slowly, explored, and took lots of pictures, gaining a lot~ (˶╹ꇴ╹˶)~ The memorable spots were the swing at the castle check-in, the power plant and the maple trees beside it, the Catholic church, the church café, the check-in spot near Goldfish Mama, Sword Pool Waterfall, Crane Spring, and the Zodiac Garden. I forgot the rest~ There were really quite a lot of people, and photos were full of people. Around 2 pm, we prepared to descend early since it gets dark early in the mountains. On the way down, we got stuck in a crowd as most people were descending too. The downhill path was tough—steep, slippery, narrow, with many stones of various sizes. You could step on the stones, but the muddy path without stones was very slippery, so the descent was very slow. Although it was around 3 pm, it felt cold and gloomy walking in the valley. We only got back to the parking lot at 4 pm. On the way down, we also met many people without hiking poles leading kids up the mountain, which was impressive. One reason is the path is tough, and the other is it was getting late. Not sure if they were staying on the mountain. The whole reverse hike was only difficult on the descent; everything else was very satisfying. Overall, it was worth it~ Understandable that weekends are crowded~~