HeHuan Mountain: Temporary Sympathy for Canadian Weather

After a four year hiatus from the HeHuan Mountain region (three of them because we were in BC, though!) we finally returned to the backbone of Taiwan, the road-accessible alpine region with rhododendrons, endless birds, epic sunrises and trees older than most languages (yet smaller than most 5 year old trees from Canada). And, of course, snow.

This is one of the only places you can drive to in Taiwan to see snow, and despite being a tropical paradise for a large chunk of the year, its a frigid wet place for the other chunk which makes perfect company at high elevations for snow. We ventured up and up and up this weekend, four hours through Taroko gorge and past, on the side of the mountains all the way to the green top of Taiwan. Green when we got there, white when we left. Foggy all the time.

5:30 am, with the greatest of attempts to see a sunrise....

The only way home...towed up hills, lowered down hills. Lives in the hands of a stranger, gravity and one chain.

An early morning birding find...

A break along the 4 hour drive up to snag some scenery on our cameras and stretch our legs. On the right, a common lunch/dinner place that we stopped at for lunch. Typical of Taiwanese eateries. Egg, tofu, bamboo, cabbage, chinese cabbage, carrot, mushrooms, seaweed, ... .

Me with a harvest worth of field mushrooms on the left; eating lunch on the right.

The fog encrusted mountain - cloud cover that was to be the bearer of snow later that night. On the right I am forced to cross the border of illegal again (if only for a photo op!).

Crystal and her Dad trying to force each other off the mountain...nobody won (and, luckily, nobody lost!) and an evening card game in the 3000masl drought of oxygen.

Morning comes...cold and snow. Lots of snow. Our first for Taiwan!!

Posing in the snow on the left; a view of the roadway from our room on the right.

Morning comes, and we need to figure out a way down the mountain. Bald summer tires on a rental car...along steep cliff faces roadways with intermittent barriers..hmmm.... . While we play and think, three epic travelers make their way down the mountain on their scooters (after we helped them push the two-wheeled death traps up the hill...)

Getting towed in the snow and fog...trying to concentrate.

Taroko: "Legal" hikes of Taiwan

Back to the glorious geologic wonder of Taiwan - Taroko Gorge. Mountains of marble, shale and schist, rivers of blue . A green film of biology - saturated with barking deer, macaques, endless avian critters, enough beetles to keep anybody struggling to keep up the count, snakes both venomous and not, spiders of all colours and sizes, pangolins (somewhere out there), mongoose and the elusive and possibly-behind-the-next-ridge-but-maybe-not Asian sun bear. And a whole whack of other stuff. And then some more.

Beautiful geology, blanketed by wondrous biology, and this weekend visited by four other mammals - us wee humans.

Friday was a Hualien night, as we opted for a Italian-esque dinner and night on the town. Early Saturday we rented a car and hit the road. After coffee, that is. Gas, coffee, then through rice fields, banana fields, taro fields, corn fields, a few more rice fields, some more rice and then to the towering majesty of Taroko (no place for fields of any kind here!).

Eternal Shrine on the left, an unthinkable sight in Taiwan on the right - a trail that is *gasp* open!

Meandering through the gorge, stopping for pictures of some sights and a few landslide remnants, we made it to TienXiang just a shade after lunch. Dropped out gear at the Catholic hostel - what I dub our 'heathen in a hostel' moments in Taiwan. Tea, break, digest...go. Splitting up, Crystal and I headed for a trial that we had previously tried but not finished, and her parents headed for another trail behind our hostel and the Buddhist Pagoda across the river.

Birds and cats....these cats were snoozing on our rental as it offered a nice warm napping place!

The roadway through Taroko Gorge.

Of their trip I heard tales of scaling craggy trail sides with the established ropes and chains (when Taiwan trails get slippery, these become your only salvation!), being served tea by the head Buddhist master while teaching the congregation the finer points of text messaging (I made that one up) and poking around TienXiang and it's curiosities.

Our part of the day started rather normally as we made it to the trailhead, suited up and started the trail. We were expecting a hearty trek but not one of Taiwan's most leg-killing kind. After 1km of straight uphill....I made the decision to consider this trail one of Taiwan's most leg-killing kind. Stunning, but tough! The trail from the ridge we got to was thereafter the regular up and down that one might expect from a mountain trail, and along the way we caught a glimpse of three barking deer (and heard a few off in the distance...so eerie!) a whack of birds and macaques. No snakes this time, which is probably a good thing... . We got a later start to this one and about 3.5 hours later we got to the other end of the trail...and were faced with the long walk back to the trailhead to get the car. This we dreaded but, after a few moments on the road, remembered the emptiness of Taroko at this time of day (during the mid-day times there can be a lot of people doing the tourist thing). Empty, just us on the road...monkeys, birds...awesome. We got to the car an hour later, drank a few hundred thousand litres of water and made our way back to TienXiang for dinner.

Crystal along the hiking trail...not long after this we discovered our first leeches of Taroko - trying to get at our flesh. Three only, so it was nowhere near the level of Borneo, thankfully!

Dinner was another extremely "Taroko" event - bamboo steamed rice, veggies and the regular dinner fare. And Taiwan beer. Then we retired to the hostel and played the night away with cards.

Sunday was a slower start but that is the point of staying at the hostel. The mornings are so epic - no noise, no people, just you, a glorious view of the mountains and the river, comforted by the morning sounds of birds and the heat of the morning sun. Totally worth spending a while with a few cups of tea and a camera. Mornings in TienXiang is the best time and the most spellbinding moment for me that Taiwan has to offer....if I could only experience one part of Taiwan, this would be it. So experience it we did.

Cards at night, with new found friends (both of which were trying to get the best spot on my lap....but I always have room for more kitties).

Crystal organzing some breakfast delights (porridge and tea) and me munching away on a starfruit with TienXiang and Taroko in the distance.

After eating and downing enough tea on the roof of the hostel, we packed and hit up the Lotus Pond trail. This, for some strange reason, was open. So was the extension that goes all the way through another valley to a village. In the years we have been in Taiwan, the Lotus Pond has been occasionally open, and the extension trail has never been open.. Something is going on in Taroko...they are opening trails! The danger! The DANGER!! This is one of the trails that the Japanese built in their battle to try to rid the mountains of aboriginal tribes - the took to hurculean efforts and lost numerous Japanese soldiers to try to build trails into the mountains so that they could do battle - eventually winning mostly - and so now we are left with a sordid historical reason for the trials, but absolutely grand trails.

And the grand trails gave us a really nice hike, during which we saw some stunning scenery, landslide damage and enjoyed the tremendous warmth of the sun peering at us through the clear blue sky. Its been rainy in Taiwan for the winter season, so this was a delight. The trail goes along a mountain side, a walkway that is basically carved into the side of the cliff, nothing below you but the effects of gravity (until you hit the river below, that is) and nothing above but a sheer wall of schist. Stunning, scary at points, but safe. I think.

The trail along the mountainside, along which we crossed two suspension bridges. A third suspension bridge that had fallen prey to a massive landslide was the reason that we had to turn around a little further ahead.

More bridge fun and discovering an old village just off the trail. Taroko people lived along here for quite some time until the Japanese incursions fought them out of the mountains - almost. There still exists villages in the mountains but nothing on the historical, pre-Japanese, scale.

More birds and scenery.

We kept walking at this point - trail closures be damned - but not long after this the trail got sketchy and jiggly legs kicked in. A little further up the trail another bridge was washed away, so we basically got turned around at the farthest point possible. A trail that was closed for a decent reason - another Taiwanese mystical moment!

Hike finished, back to the car...home. Our goodbye to Taroko said, we paddled our little rental car back to the city.

Illegal Sunrises of Taiwan - Alishan Edition

Pine tree, cherry blossom, and train route in the distant mountain face.

Alishan - Mount Ali - is a protected chunk of forest in the central mountains, accessible only via the west coast city of Chiayi (the only way that does not involve 5 days trekking over the main central mountain pass at about 3800masl) is famous for its high-altitude forest ecosystem, multiple species of cherry which, when in blossom, provide a bounty of red, pink, purple and white against the green background of the forest, and an old small-gauge train that meanders through the mountains, along cliff faces un-walkable by goats (ok, ok -hyperbole ... im sure a goat could handle it!) and finally a perfect place to watch a sunrise over the spine of Taiwan.

This is where we ventured this weekend, to walk amongst the giants of red cypress (the ones still left, more on this later), to see the blossoms, to ride the train and to watch the sun peak above the tallest mountains of Taiwan and welcome a new day.

All of this was our plan. It was a fun filled weekend, lots of travel and lots of time spent on our arses: train (2.5 hours) - highspeed train (1.5 hours) - bus (3 hours). But, once there, the frigid mountain air welcomed us and we took to the boardwalks, saw the sights, got to be in the midst of a historically important place and a hugely biologically important place.

If you into biology - and who isn't - this is one of the few places in Taiwan, and Asia, that salamanders still live. One is endemic to Taiwan, and all are protected because, you guessed it, they are going extinct.





Sunset through the high mountain pine forest.




One of the remaining old Red cypress trees.




A bird in the bush is worth two....nah, two birds in the bush would have been better, but I'm glad we got to see this little guy!

Hualein train station, packed.

The trip took an unexpected turn right at the beginning - Japan, earthquake and the tsunami. Being geographically close, and living on the east coast, Hualien City was on alert, schools were closed early and all trains were cancelled for a few hours. We rushed to make it through the throngs of others trying to exit the city (we live, actually, right on the ocean so any impact would have been bad news for us; however, no impact on Taiwan at all. All were safe) and made it to the train station - the same time that the rest of Hualien's citizens also made it there (or so it seemed! - to find out that all trains were canceled. Understandably, of course. No problem.

Off to an early dinner, back to the train station some time later to find that we had missed the first train that was back on the go (the one we should have taken) but made it to the second, lucky enough to find seats (or we would have had to stand for the 2.5 hours north!).

Crashed in Taipei, booked highspeed train for the morning.

Regular train that we finally made it on to, and a Taipei break along the way.

Hisghspeed ticket and us waiting to ride.

The highspeed train is, well, fast. What would be a 4 or more hour journey on a regular train took us a simple 1.5 hours. Nice. We stayed up late, and also booked the 6:00am train. Do the math...we were zonked. But once in Chaiyi we were awake, alive and found the bus that would take us into the mountains.

Three hours later, after a winding, perilous cliff trip we arrived at the gate of Alishan. The train that would normally take us here was not in service. Remaining damage from typhoon Marokot two years ago was still playing a role in Taiwan, especially in the high mountains where landslides and washed out villages, tracks, roads were the norm. So, with no train running we had to opt for the bus.

Cherry blossom and a second generation tree growing out of the carcass of the old one. Probably the same individual actually, so both visually appealing and genetically amazing!

Walking up to the forest trails while a Yuhina chirps away at us.

The forest now and the big reminders off a forest past.

The forest, the warning.

We spent the bulk of the day wandering through the forest, eyeing up remaining red cypress trees that ranged in age from 900 to 2000 years old, embedded in a forest of much younger age. During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan they found this forest to be perfect - cool, easily accessible (after the built the aforementioned railway up to it) and filled with trees that they could cut down and send to Japan. So, the logged its brains out. Anything worth cutting was cut, save for the few remained trees. Possibly it was only because of the result of world war II and the independence of Taiwan from Japan rule that the forest was left alone. So, now, there is a gorgeous forest, a biodiverse ecosystem and an important one at that. There just is not the gorgeous forest and biodiverse ecosystem that once was there. That forest is now houses and buddings in Japan. Still, its a stunning forest and the biology and history is amazing.

Crystal hiking along the forest trail that we kinda made as we went along, and the sunsetting on but still above the clouds.

Wasabi on the left, waiting for the 4:30 train to take us up the mountain on the right. I, for one, was freezing!

One other notable aspect of this area is that it is the one place (apparently) in Taiwan where they grow wasabi. And everything is wasabi themed - the main village monument is a big wasabi edifice, wasabi peanuts, wasabi tofu on the menu, wasabi for sale, wasabi to try, even wasabi magi. That means nothing to you, I know. But it does to me. Wasabi magi....mmmmm.

After a day on the trails, we slept (obviously). Next morning the alarms went off at 4am - these are hotel wide alarms that go off whether you want them to or not - to wake everybody so they can catch the morning train (4:30) to take you to the peak of the Alishan range to watch the sunrise over the main central ridge line. Totally cold, totally wonderful! A neat train ride packed with people all wanting to see the days first light.

Waiting at the upper platform, while others down below eat a quick breakfast of deep fried bread. And eggs. Boiled tea eggs (which are remarkably good, I should add!).

Early in the morning, people wait and wait and wait...you can see the corral area where people were herded because the other areas were dangerous. Sorry....'dangerous' as in not dangerous at all.

This is where a simple trip turns illegal. And in a fun way.

You see, in Taiwan everything is considered dangerous. Been there, written about that. Trails -deadly. Ocean - will kill you even for looking at it. Sunshine - don't even say its name for christ-on-a-stick sake! And, therefore, everything is either closed, off limits, closed or cosed. They build something Monday, deem it unsafe tuesday and close it Wednesday. Whatever is left open is regulated by so much paper work and permits and passes and bullshit that you simply just dont bother trying usually. Thus, we hike illegally all the time. Its the only way. We are yet to be caught, yet to be deported.

But sunrises, that's a whole new ballgame of curiosity for us. Once we made it through the darkness to the lookout, set ourselves up in a nice place where we could see both the spot where the sun would peak out above the clouds and Taiwan's tallest mountain - Yu Shan, or Jade Mountain - we were confronted by a park official. I will let you guess what he told us.

Yes...to watch the sunrise from our location was dangerous..we had to move back into a corral, where trees blocked our view and where there were 50 odd other people cramped in already. Standing near the cliff was simply impossible, we would die. This viewpoint was set back about 3m from the actual cliff face itself, and there was a sturdy log fence that would hold a horse in.

I said "no".

He pleaded his case: we were unsafe, nature is bad, we are unsafe, please move back to where the rest of the sheep *cough cough* I mean Taiwanese people were.

I said"no".

He repeated, louder and with more emphasis on the word 'danger'.

I said "no". But I also added at this time that Taiwanese always find something to fear, they close everything and that to be afraid is a waste of a life, yadda yadda...and that they have cried wolf too many times to us, we know this is safe and without physical carrying, we were not moving.

The argument ensued, all while I was standing and snapping pictures and half laughing at him each time he said 'dangerous'. Finally we made a deal - we didn't, but close enough. We moved back a few meters, and he got sidetracked by people down in the corral standing on the fence (because they couldn't see otherwise...). He left, we waited, then made our way back to the fence and the viewing platform area where we started. The next 20 minutes were sunrise glory, and we survived. And he never came back.

I guess it wasn't so dangerous after all, was it?

Taiwan is a treasure, but people here have to get on with lie and stop being afraid of nature. Its too beautiful to be afraid of.

Back down the mountain, packed, hopped on the bus in the warm morning sun and we went our separate way. I went north to Taipei and then back south to Hualein 9the only way to Hualien) while they went south to Kaoxiong. Now back to work!

Us, walking down from the sunrise viewing area...