Beidawu – 北大武山

Sunset near the Kuaigu Cabin

Having failed to get a permit in the Yushan National Park because of the snow season, we headed a little further south to Pingdong County to hike Beidawushan which is Taiwan’s southern most Baiyue (top one hundred mountain). In the past this was a reasonable 2 day hike, but a large landslide caused my Typhon Morakot means the trailhead is much lower and further back making it a much tougher walk. We did it in 2 days, but if you’ve got the time, I think 3 days would be more enjoyable.

Although it’s one of the smaller Baiyue (3092m), Beidawu is a mammoth rock that rises sharply from the ground. The strip of land that it lies on is only 80km from the west coast to the east coast and on fine days you can see both (or so I hear!)

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Nenggao Historic Trail 2

A view of Nenggao Mountain on the Central Mountain Range of Taiwan

Neil and I revisited the Nenggao Historic Trail this weekend taking a group of 7 people with us.  This was a first go at guiding people on an over-nighter and we were lucky enough to have great company, weather and some fabulous views near the top of the Cilai South Peak.  It was a great weekend out away from the cities and into nature.

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The Baiyang Waterfall, Taroko Gorge – 白楊瀑布

The Baiyang Waterfall and suspension bridge

The fantastic Baiyang Waterfall trail in Taroko Gorge was once an easy walk along a flat wide road, but since the mountain above the first tunnel collapsed, it’s now a much harder and longer climb to get there.  The trail began it’s life back in 1984 when the Taipower Company built the road to explore the valley’s potential for hydroelectric power.  Outrage at the planned damming and diversion of water led to the project being shelved and finally abandoned in 1986 when Taroko Gorge regained its national park status.  The road was then opened up to the public as a hiking trail.

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100 Fun Things to do in Taiwan

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau have another competition on the go.  This time you need to write about a fun thing to do in Taiwan and provide 5 photographs.  There’s some good stuff on there, scooting through Taroko, wild camping, and lots of hiking including Daba and Yushan.  I wrote about Snow Mountain because I think it doesn’t get as much attention as Yushan despite it being a much more scenic hike.  However you can only write 100 words and so it was very difficult to say anything meaningful about it!  Hopefully my pictures will tell the story!  Here’s a link to it;

 

Hiking Snow Mountain

 

Enjoy and don’t forget to write about your favourite thing to do in Taiwan too!

Snow-capped peak of Snow Mountain in Taiwan

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The Sixiu, Taiwan

The Sixiu or ‘four shows’ are located at the northern end of Wuling Farm and are made up of four mountains, Taoshan, Kelayeshan, Chiyoushan and Pintianshan.  This group of mountains aren’t as famous as the neighbouring Snow Mountain or Dabajianshan which is great for getting away from the crowds and actually getting a weekend permit!

A lone Chinese Hemlock stands out on the trail

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Taipei Top Five Day Hikes

I often get people asking for good day trip hikes to do in and around Taipei so I thought I’d write about my own top 5.  They’re in no particular order and each one is very different and in terms of terrain and difficulty.  All can be done in a day by public transport with the exception of Beichatianshan.

One of the many views of Taipei 101 from the Four Beasts

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Jialuohu 2, Yilan County – 加羅湖

I recently took another trip to the remote mountain lake, Jialuohu 加羅湖 with Neil again.  This was our second trip here and both times have been fantastic.  Won’t write too much about the actual hike.  Anyone looking for details can find them on my original post – Jialuohu

Here’s a few photos from the trip. 

More photos from Neil here.

Jialuohu early morning

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Dabajianshan, Hsinchu County – 大霸尖山

Dabajianshan 大霸尖山 is one of the most distinctive peaks in the whole of Taiwan.  It’s barrel-like shape thrusts upwards, looking impossible to climb. It has fascinated people for centuries and even the local aboriginal tribe, the Attyal, believe that Daba is a holy mountain.

Heading back towards Dabajianshan

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Yangmingshan – Huangzuishan Ecological Protection Area – 磺嘴山

Within the Yangmingshan National Park, there are 3 ecological protection areas, Lujiaokeng 鹿角坑, Dream Lake 夢幻湖 and Huangzuishan 磺嘴山  and each one has its own unique features.  Lujiaokeng is an ancient trail at the end of which there is a huge waterfall.  Dream lake is a shallow lake the foot of seven star mountain, the highest in the park and Huangzuishan is a former volcano whose ancient, volcanic crater can still be seen today.

The peak of Huangzuishan

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A Cave, a Lake and a Peak in Chiayi County

This weekend we shot down to Chiayi straight after work for a fantastic 2 day excursion in the mountains near Alishan.  The scenery and hiking were second to none taking in a beautiful peak (Luchushan 鹿屈山) with views of a snow-capped Yushan, an earthquake created-lake (Shuiyang Forest 水漾森林) and an enormous cave, fittingly called the thousand people cave (Qianrendong 千人洞).

The Thousand People Cave

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