Lengshuikeng 冷水坑

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Lengshuikeng in Yangmingshan National Park is a small area with hiking trails, natural hot springs, waterfalls, and wildlife. Even though the name means "cold water hole," the water here is not cold, and there are plenty of hot springs around including a public hot spring bath house. It is a quiet a pleasant stop on the mountain and worth a visit on your trip to Yangmingshan. 

Background:
The area known as Yangmingshan now was formed by volcanoes about 700,000 years ago, forming many mountains about 1000 meters or less in northwestern Taiwan. The park still features active volcanoes, vents, and hot springs.
The original name of the area was Caoshan (grass mountain 草山). During the Qing Dynasty, the area was used to harvest sulfur, and many of the hills were burned to help catch sulfur thieves. 
In 1927 during the Japanese era, Yangmingshan was made as the first national park in Taiwan, then known as Datunshan National Park Association. 
In 1950 after the ROC took Taiwan Chiang Kai-shek renamed the park after the philosopher Wang Yangming, and called the area Yangmingshan. 
In 1985, after resolving many land disputes, Yangmingshan National Park was officially designated as a national park in the ROC era. 
Lengshuikeng (literally "cold water crater" gets its name because the hot spring waters here are only 40 degrees centigrade, the coldest hot spring waters on Yangmingshan. Lengshuikeng has the only sulfur deposit sediment layer in Taiwan. Nearby are many hot springs and vents.
It is a popular stop in Yangmingshan and has two parking lots and visitor's center.

Hours:
The visitor's center is open from 9 AM to 4:30 PM.
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Price:
Free

How to get there:
By Car/Scooter: From Taipei, take provincial highway 2A north to Chungshan Hall, and take a right, then continue down the road up the mountain to the left until you reach Lengshuikeng. 
By Bus: From Shilin MRT Station, take bus S15 to Lengshuikeng Service Station.
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Map:
Please see below: 

Our Journey:

I have passed by Lengshuikeng many times but have only really been hiking inside once. I went on a very foggy day. It was so foggy that it was hard to see the traffic in front of us. 

View of the fog on Yangminshan. 

When we got to Lengshuikeng, there was kind of a break in the clouds. You can see the Lengshuikeng parking lot down below.

View of the mountain up to Qixingshan. If you keep going up the mountain you can make it to Menghuan Pond (夢幻湖).

The Menghuan Pond parking lot is small. These parking lots fill up fast on weekends and it is really hard to find parking.

There are free public hot springs at Lengshuikeng. You can soak your feet in the warm sulfur hot springs here. There are also indoor hot springs which are split between male and female only, because you're not supposed to wear clothes. Traditional Japanese hot spring.

The sulfur water flowing down from the hot spring.

Milk Pond 牛奶湖

"Milk Pond and Lengshuikeng Ruiyong Sulfur Mine"
"Does the small pool before you look as if it is filled with milk? In earlier days the site of the pond was one of the three major open pits where the Ruiypong Mining Company extracted sulfur. clear water flowed through the tow pits near Lenghshuileng, and the result is the emerald green grassy landscape we see today; but no clear water flowed through the put closer to Mt. Qixing, which accumulated rainwater and formed into a pond. With the passage of time, metamorphic minerals suspending in the water precipitated out and settled to form white sediment on the bottom of the pond, which with the sunshine gives the water its milky appearance. A high concentration of volcanic matter in the water prevents the growth of aquatic plants, forming a strong contrast with the verdant grassy mine-pit depressions where clear water has flowed through." 

View of Milk Pond.

Jingshan Suspension Bridge 菁山吊橋

As far as I know, Jingshan Suspension bridge is the only suspension bridge in Yangmingshan National Park, and traverses the hot spring river in Lengshuikeng. 

We visited on a very foggy day which made walking on the bridge kind of cool. 

On the other side of the bridge there are some trails that lead to a research pond. 

The pond areas are blocked off to make sure you don't disturb the natural environment I guess. 

If you keep going, the trails connect with Qingtiangang grassland and Juansi Waterfall. 

Complete fog as seen from the visitor's center.

More fog over the trail to Menghuan Pond.

People coming down from Menghuan Pond.

The small store inside the visitor's center, which closes at 4:30.

They sell hot things here, which is nice on a cold day.

Last view of the mountain to Menghuan Pond.

Thanks for reading and be sure to stay tuned for more of our blogs on Yangminshan to come!

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