About Huangjin Waterfall (黃金瀑布 [Huángjīn Pùbù]; Golden Waterfall)
The Huangjin Waterfall (黃金瀑布 [Huángjīn Pùbù]; translated as the “Golden Waterfall”) had to have been one of the more unique and unusual waterfalls we had encountered in Taiwan.
Not only did this waterfall have a pleasing size (it was wider than it was tall) with a vein-like percolating appearance, but its underlying rock had a striking bright brownish orange color to it.
Perhaps even stranger still about our experience with this falls was that just up the mountain was the popular mining village of Jiufen.
Jiufen was a very popular tourist spot that felt more like a United Nations of Tourists as visitors from all over the world would converge here.
Yet, down at the Huangjin Waterfall we hardly saw any foreign tourists, and I suspected that transport options might be far more limited despite this being a roadside waterfall.
It still didn’t stop this place from being visited by crowds of locals, taxis, self-drivers, some Chinese tour buses, and even the odd motorcycle gang.
The Golden Heritage
It seemed fitting that the Huangjin Waterfall would be associated with gold.
After all, one could say that this association could be drawn from the sulfur-tinted color of the waterfall’s underlying rocks.
The presence of the sulphur might be controversial considering that it might have been a byproduct of mining operations.
However, I suspect that the heritage of gold around this waterfall had more to do with the gold mining heritage during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.
Indeed, I had learned that my Mom’s side of the family, who were mostly based in the nearby city of Keelung (基隆 [Jīlóng]), actually had a personal connection with these mines in Jiufen.
One of her older brothers had actually lived and worked in these mines (initially for gold and later for coal).
She also had a granduncle who was commissioned by the Japanese government to survey the area around Keelung including this waterfall and the towns of Jiufen and Jinguashi.
By the way, Jiufen was written as 九份 [Jiǔfèn], which meant “9 portions”, and Jinguashi was written as 金瓜石 [Jīnguāshí], which meant “golden nugget” or something like that.
Experiencing the Huangjin Waterfall
The Huangjin Waterfall was as close to the definition of a drive-to waterfall as you can get in Taiwan.
The only walking required (if you’ve self-driven or taxi’ed here) would be to cross the road and walk along the railings.
We were able to view the falls from a variety of different angles within this lookout area.
Apparently, these railings were put in not that long ago when Chinese tour buses started showing up and getting themselves into preventable accidents.
Even with the railings, the falls was wide enough to make it difficult to capture the whole thing in one go, which gives you a little idea of its scale.
In each of our visits to this waterfall, we took roughly about 30 minutes away from the car, but it easily could have been shorter than that.
Of that time spent, it was pretty much taking pictures of the falls while also looking further down the hill towards the ocean and the nearby Keelung Mountain.
Authorities
The Huangjin Waterfall resides in the Ruifang District near the city of Keelung in Xinbei (New Taipei City), Taiwan. It may be administered by the Ruifang District Government. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting this website.
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