The forests of Taiwan...Walami
We have written abou this trail before, so the shortened version is that it is an old wartime trail constructed by the Japanese and since turned into a cultural focal point for the Bunun people and more recently turned into the main trail in this part of YuShan National Park. The park is rather huge, with many trails that meander their way to the top of Taiwan, YuShan (Jade Mountain). And beautiful. This is a prime place to spot macaques, muntjacks, partridges and the part of teh island where...somewhere out there...the elusive sunbear lives. And the trail rocks..totally rocks! Steep clifs, numerous suspension bridges, waterfalls, mossy slopes, craggy outcrops, dense primary forests, cicadas, birds, frogs, fog, and every tree Taiwan has to offer from palms to pines, cloud trees to cycads. Ok, those are not actually trees....the Cycads....but you get the point! Lots of stuff to see....easy to get lost in the moment as you pound your way up through the mountain.
We arrived at the park office, obtained our permit, and then went to the police station to get the permit validated and whatever it is that they do. It takes them about 20 minutes to type out another sheet of paper that will allow you to simply walk the trail...good to limit use and to monitor use, and it gave us a chance to chat with the other officer on duty about just about everything he could think to ask. And he gave us tea. Nice place to visit, those police stations.
Left: Us, at lunch, along the Walami trail. Right: Trevor starting again after a hurried break on our way to the cabin.
On the trail...hike hike hike. We knew we were getting a late start, so we made good time when we could. After a while we got to our 'normal' turn around point, just after the third bridge. The 10 km point is where we normally realize that it will be getting dark soon, that we had better turn around because we dont have lights and we dont want to fall off the cliffs. Understandable. But today....shucks to your asthmar!! Lets go! We stopped for a minute, both chose to force our way to the top and readied ourselves to run back down the trail to make it to our scooter in daylight. Ready....set....go!
Stop.
Police.
Permit please.
No permit...we had left it in our scooter. Damnit!
We were told to turn around immediately, go back down and get off the trail. These police were monitoring the trail for permit holders, at the end of a multi day trek themselves. The did not seem amused by our claims that we had one but "forgot it". Yeah right....
We explained that we just wanted to go to the cabin, touch it and then return down. Not staying there, not sleeping on the mountain....but to no avail. Then, all of a sudden, the main officer got that look in his eyes and gave us the old 'just get out of here...keep going...' and off we went. No time to waste. As we arrived, triumphantly, at the Walami Cabin, the place that we had endeavoured to go to so many times before, we were met with a friendly welcome by those who had reached it earlier in the day (they were ultra suprised to find out that we intended to turn right around and go back down). We were offered, in the setting sun and dense fog that surrounded us, peanuts (no thanks, not hungry), tea (no thanks, no time) and Kaoliang liquor (proudly made in, and only in, Taiwn...um....what part of 3 hours of hiking still to do did they not realize?!?!?). We hung out for a picture and took off back down the mountain. We passed the police, themselves still decending the trail, and zoomed to our scooter in excellent time - legs pulsing, drenched in sweat and lungs gulping for air. As we arrived, go tthe scooter ready to go and were just about to leave the police made it to the trailhead....and we were able to proudly prove to them that we actually did have a permit and we, the Canadians, were not lieing to them.
Left: Us, at the cabin. Victory! All in all a 7 hour hike, round trip, in one of the purest parts of Taiwan. Right: map of the rest of the trail. the red box is where we are, to do the whole trail, one way, is about 7-10 days. We can dream....
Home, an excellent meal and a relaxed evening...with "Cloudy and a chance of meatballs" on our computer. Funny...simple, but cute movie. Cards, chess and chill time.
Post dinner festivities, listening to old "The Shadow" mystery shows on the
internet and playing the night away with cards and chess...
Butterfly Valley
Sunday, awakening the most relaxed we have been in a while, we took to our bikes and did the 30km trek to Butterfly Valley. Teh weather was perfect, sunny and clear for most of the day, and when the clouds did come in they were not giving us any rain whatsoever. Perfect. We rode all the way there in a somewhat uneventful, yet beautiful, way. There is a new bike path that connects one of the towns to all the little villages that dot their way up the rift valley that we were ever so pleased to be on. It mirrors the rail lines in places, and is an exceptions break from the roadways...totally a treat. When we arrived at the Butterfly Valley, we paid our entrance fee, found a place to eat lunch among the butterflies and chilled out. Then, up and away to poke our noses around the different areas, the trails and the butterfly enclosure that is always pounding with life. So many species, and we even got to see one butterfly (trying to) lay eggs. It seemed like a struggle. But ever so amazing.
Left: The season is back! They have started to harvest Day Lilies again, and soon the soups and stir-fry's of Taiwan will be supported by a healthy amount of flowers! This is a typical drying method, seen all over our village and the backroads of Taiwan, we suppose, for the entire summer season. Right: Crystal on her bike, with a scooter zipping by us.
Left: Our bikes on the bike trail from RuiSui to FuYuan (where the butterfly valley is). Above the bikes you can see the raised rail line. Right: Feedig time not only for the butterflies, but also the vast array of insects that call the valley home.
Left: one of the many caterpillars that crawl their way around the conservation area. Right: one of Taiwan's legally protected butterfly species.
After some tea and our fill of butterflies, we got back on our bikes and retraced our 30km home. All in all, an excellent trip...until...
*snap*
huh?
*snap*
what the?!?
*snap* *snap*
For crying out loud...I popped four spokes on my bike....FOUR! I mean, once one goes, I guess it is only a matter of time for the rest, but on my bike (a loaned biked) there seems to be always something broken. I was in la-la land of glee with the fact that it had been rather healthy of late....but....now I have a date with the bike store in Yuli. It was not enough to cloud the excellentnicity, the awsomnessedness of the day.
So, all in all...our bodies are sore! We made things that are the best representations that we could develop of veggie burgers last night (sunday) and some killer basil tomato tofu sauce to go with it. Good ride, good food. Good.
The remains of our veggie burger attempt sitting on our stove. On the right are the ever so amazingly tastey 'dragon wisker' veggies.
