Photo: Thunder24678, CC BY-SA 4.0 
Photo: 原住民族委員會原住民族文化發展中心, CC BY 4.0
Batongguan Traversing Historic Trail
八通關古道
A week-long crossing of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range on an old Japanese-era road through Yushan National Park, from Dongpu to Yuli.
At a glance
- Starts in
- Dongpu
- Ends in
- Shanfeng trailhead, Yuli
- Length
- 120 km
- On foot
- 7 days
- Countries
Taiwan
About the trail
A road over the mountains at Batongguan was first opened under the Qing dynasty and completed in 1875 to link the west of Taiwan with the east. Under Japanese rule a new traversing road was cut from 1919, with police posts along the way, and its eastern section was declared complete at a ceremony in Yuli on 22 January 1921.
Today the trail crosses Yushan National Park from Dongpu in Nantou County to Yuli in Hualien, over the high grassland of Batongguan, known to the Bunun as BaBahrasno, and past the sites of old posts such as Dashuiku, Dafen and Maiasang. Bunun names for places along the route, such as Oniyap for the pond at Dashuiku, recall the people who lived in these mountains long before the road.
Taiwan's national trail system gives a total length of about 120 km and says the full crossing takes about a week. Snow covers the high ground from November to April, and the trail is administered by Yushan National Park.