Bilu and Yangtou Mountain, Taroko Gorge National Park

Walking through a frost covered forest in Taroko Gorge National Park

Mount Bilu and Yangtou are located near the top of Taroko Gorge National Park.  Both peaks are above 3000m and can be done as individual days hikes, a mad single day traverse or a 2-3 day traverse with camping.

Day 1

It’s a long drive from Taipei to Dayuling for the start of the hike.  With the restrictions on the Suhua Highway, we had to come via Lishan and it took almost 6 hours to get there.  The trailhead starts next to the Dayuling Tunnel which is the intersection for Lishan, Hehuanshan and Taroko Gorge.

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Teapot Mountain and Banping Mountain

Teapot Mountain as seen from Banping Mountain

Teapot Mountain on Taiwan’s north coast has to have some the most amazing views you can get for a day hike from Taipei City.  The hike begins in the rejuvenated Jinguashi Gold Ecological Park. I remember visiting this area years and just thinking how depressing it was, but it’s now fully open and makes for a nice place to visit especially in the morning when the crowds aren’t too bad.

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Yuemeikeng Waterfall

The Yue Mei Keng Waterfall in full flow

Richard Saunders let me know about the Yuemeikeng Waterfall sometime ago and he mentioned that it was a relatively unknown and hidden place and so when I visited last year, I decided not to write about it to try and keep it that way.  But now it has been discovered by the masses and the trail is well tagged and well beaten, I think it’s OK to write a quick post.

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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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Some Upcoming Hikes

We’ve got two open hikes planned for February.  The first is to Snow Mountain on the 10th-12th and the second is to Dabajianshan on the 25th-27th.  February 27/28th are both holidays and so we’ve got a 4 day weekend then.

Snow Mountain is Taiwan’s second highest peak and a great climb.  Some amazing scenery!

Snow Mountain Facebook Event

Dabajianshan is probably Taiwan’s most distinctive mountain.  Look on the back of a $500NT note, that’s the one!  It’s a great 3 day hike to this huge mountain and back.

Dabajianshan Facebook Event

If you’re interested in joining us on either hike or on some gentler day trips around Taipei, then join the facebook group, Taiwan Adventures – Group Hikes.

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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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Permits

The permit system for hiking in Taiwan is quite very confusing.  There are short, easy trails that do require permits, dangerous ones that don’t and to add to the confusion there are two types of permits but sometimes you only need one and then sometimes you need both!

So to clarify all of this, here is a guide;

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Snow Mountain 2, Taiwan – 雪山

I blogged about climbing Snow Mountain during the winter earlier in the year so I won’t write many details of the hike.  Last time we went, the mountain was covered in deep snow and despite our best efforts we didn’t get to the top, just shy by 300m.  This time we got a permit at the last minute to be in the 369 hut for Friday night which meant that we had to drive to Wuling Farm after work, hike up to 369 at night, sleep for a few hours (earplugs recommended) then get up, hit the peak and come down on Saturday.  We got lucky with the weather.  It was cool and dry and we made it up and down ok but I would suggest to anyone wanting to do this hike to add an extra day/night.

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