Jiao-Xi Hike

The northern tip of the central mountain range, as seen from the ridge line in Jaoxi.


A long overdue visit to Yilan County this weekend started with ultimate frustration and ended in absolute wonder. We have avoided - and that is the correct word - Yilan County because it is known for rain, wet weather, wet air and rain. Although it is only an hour or so north of us, it is a chunk of the island that gets sea winds meeting mountains and the resulting onslaught of precipitation. If it is sunny in Hualien, sunny in Taipei, sunny everywhere....it will still be raining in Yilan. It always rains in Yilan.





However, we got a break. A sunny stretch lasted long enough to give us two beautiful days in the mountains that had until this point been unexplored by our boots.




A fractal of gullied valleys...a carpet of green covers a geologic story.


What we found was an amazing place - so glad that we didn't leave this off the list completely.




Birds (yellow tit...I think, vireo, streak breasted babbler, black drongo, whistling thrush...) were plentiful, some cool critters and a barking deer (that seemed to be not all that afraid of us at first, then took to scampering away silently as they often do when we meet one in the woods). All in all, it was a biological bounty with nothing but sunshine....and an awesome hike.





On top of the Catholic platform of faith...peak of prayer.....whatever the hell they called it. We called it "top" and it was an excellent place to gander at the valley below on both sides. One led into the interior of Taiwan, the other to the ocean.






But, it didn't start out that way. I will skip the long winded and exhaustive account and get to the juicy bits.





There is a forest park in the central mountains, in Yilan, that boasts some cool bird nesting grounds, some cool forests (old and rare) and a 20 km network of trails. We aimed to visit here but, found out as we were just about to get on the train, that you have to book in advance. One day? Nope. Two? Nope. Eight? Nope... . A month. A full 30 days in advance or you cannot enter. It is one of Taiwan's freakishly stupid attempts at park maintenance. Probably would need a Chinese guide, too. Not sure. They (Taiwan government and park officials) think that making it almost impossible to do anything but prescribed guided tours will 'solve' their failing attempt at environmental control. They are actually making it worse. However, this is the short version so I will stop this ramble with the facts only - we could not go to our forest reserve.




Plan B - forest park, close by.




In many parts of Taiwan you can't rent a scooter. In many parts of Taiwan you can rent a scooter. Without a scooter you are - unless you hook up with a tour bus and end up sitting with a bunch of yelling, smoking and uninterested Chinese tourists the whole weekend as you make photo stops at boring exhibits - you are lost. Without a way. So, a scooter was needed to get to our trailhead and forest park. Yilan....no scooters without a license. International license..still no good. Nothing. We walked around for what felt like ages until we got some info from the visitors centre, got a train to another little town (Jiaoxi) and were able to rent scooters there.





The first scooter had no brakes. Literally none. The absolutely ridiculous statement by the scooter man of "its ok....really" almost blew my mind. Um, no, its not, actually. We drove about 20m, turned around and told him we want another. Then he started to tighten the brakes (on scooters this is fairly easy). This would have been awesome except...the brakes still didn't work. A slightly disgruntled scooter man gave us a second scooter.




This one was much newer and nicer. I checked the brakes, they worked fine. We drive away, down the road to get some gas....then the engine stopped (after filling up). We drove a bit more....stall. We were averaging about 10seconds between stalls on a major-ish road. Weaving through traffic trying to manage one of Taiwan's infamous 5 way intersections, stalling, starting, stalling, starting, stalling....we made it back to the scooter shop. Angry, venomous at times, we demanded a real scooter. We got it, forced the dude to syphon the gas we just bought out of the old scooter and into the new one, and then we were off. With no problems. This scooter worked fine.





So, late, frustrated and at the breaking point....we puttered our way up the mountains and away from the city. We found the trail, packed our things and hit the dirt.

Part way up the hill before the proper trailhead, we get a nice view of the valley below and the ocean. On the right Crystal pokes around looking at critters and seeds.

Dragonfly catching Crystals attention, while I take a break on the way to the ridge top. The heat and the wind played games with each other, one moment dead heat and the next chilled!

Along the way we took a little side trail, which took us to some cool spots and let us see some cool birds, then back on the main trail....then to the ridge.

The trail was quite nice. We would totally do it again in a heartbeat, and there is a nice little cabin at the top stored with sleeping bags, cooking gear and water. Free. It would be the perfect place to watch a sunrise and a sunset, and for free you cant imagine a better price.

The only downside is that this place is here only because a devout christian years back thought that he saw god while hiking here, so he had a cabin built and a typical gawd awful crucifix made. The crucifix was fun to climb, and the cabin would be fun to stay at, but the godly overtones make it all that much more creepy. A couple of atheists in a Catholic hotspot does, though, make me giggle.

I can be jesus, too! So can you...

Sunset moments....actually these are pre-sunset moments. Shortly afterwards we realized the downclimb needed our attention, so we packed up and headed home.

We stayed at the top long enough to attempt to watch the sunset, then to realize that the clouds were coming in and that we still had the whole downclimb ahead of us, so we bid farewell and hiked down.

We found a cheap-ish hotel, grabbed some dinner and some local micro-brew and crashed.

The next morning we returned to the same park area, but checked out the more traditional (paved, popular) trails to two waterfalls and a nice lookout. They were stunning still, despite the touristy feel, and we got to see some more cool birds and critters.

Chasing the thrush...

One of the cool birds - the laughing thrush - decided that a good strategy to get the pesky human who is chasing it through the woods off its tail would be to poop on it. Projectile, on command, poop defence. It worked.

Cleaning poop....thrush poop.

Awesome, pretty, cool, curious. And striking the perfect pose.

In case you ever wanted to know what a hanging dried stomach looks like, peer to the left. On the right Crystal lounges with her coffee after our morning with the birds.

After a nice morning on the trials and our camera full of birdies and bugs, we settled down for a coffee, then hit town for lunch.

Flipping a coin - a mental coin - we decided to venture to the beach. The sun was blazing, the beach (as always) empty and we spent the next o hours poking around, looking at pufferfish, seashells, stuff, things, and the like.

Pufferfish.... everywhere! And on the right I amble along the beach looking for shells and oddities (and more pufferfish).

Ocean scene, and Crystal looking around for birdies.

Making our way back to the train station afterwards, we came upon another little forested area by the deserted ocean, so we poked around. Saw some more birds, more garbage (Taiwanese....) and more birds. And then some more birds.

Then home. A hot, sweaty perfect weekend in a beautiful chunk of Taiwan. The weekend was well worth the strife at the start.

Ahh....Taiwan.

Drink shop for post ocean walk re-hydration, while a man across the street waters his pavement. Yes - watering the pavement.

Bike Trip: Hualien to Shitiping to RuiSui to Hualien

A road drenched in sunlight, bathed in heat, and two empty days on our side allowed us to take a bike trip that we had been pondering for a while. We are working our way towards biking the entire eastern coast - not so much a mean feat, its just nearly impossible to do in a mere weekend, so we are piecing together the east coast weekend by weekend. This weekend we took the arduous, at points, 75km from Hualien City to Shitiping, a gorgeous fishing harbour and geological oddity south of us. We have been here before, but never by bike from Hualien. So, it was a must-do. Saturday we ventured south, camped on the coast, and then crossed the coastal mountain range and ended our trip Sunday in Ruisui. An amazing trip, gorgeous weather (Saturday, especially) and legs left asking us, politely, why the hell we do this to them. The hills....the freaking hills....

The trip started in the city, but soon left the confines of urbanization and entered the glory of the East coast and its natural beauty. Along the way we were able to hug the coast and watch the turquoise ocean lap at Taiwan's shores the whole day while we plodded our way south. The best part of the trip was an old section of the highway, now closed because of its perpetual damage. Closed to cars, open to anything else. That meant us! A long stretch of road, just to us this day.

Outside our house, bikes ready to take us away. A stop by the start of the ocean trail that would take us to the main coastal highway to check our gear.

Biking along the trail that connects to Highway 11, and along Highway 11 later in the day.

This is part of the section that is closed to traffic, so we had it all to ourselves - epic views, cliff faces and absurd road damage!

The east coast of Taiwan has two main arterial roads heading south; Highway 193, which goes inland between the two mountain ranges, and Highway 11, which follows the coast. Hwy 11 is much less developed, not near the train line, and gets battered by typhoons and coastal erosion. So, the road here at points is precarious, but stunning. Along the way there is constant repairs, damage and utter chaos at points (see above!) But, it is without doubt the best way to get from north to south if you are not in a rush.

Finally at Jici! A coffee break and lunch were exactly what was needed at this point of the trip.

After 4 hours of riding, along a part of the road that held more uphill than our heavily burdened bikes wanted to tackle, but did, we arrived in a nice little coffee shop in the middle of, almost, nowhere. Off our bikes, ringing out the sweat drenched clothing (ok, that was just me....) and sitting down to some juice (Crystal) and coffee (me) with a view. Below us was Jici Beach, our lunch destination. Only 5 km more, gloriously downhill, and we were sitting at a little shop chomping on some rice and cabbage.

Biking along the roadway some more...action shot styles. Crystal on the right sipping away at the local, cavewater coffee.

Back on the road for part two, re-sunscreened and re-energized and re-riced and re-cabbaged and re-tea'd. this stretch was a more pleasant, flatter (mostly!) ride that allowed us to enjoy the scenery more. Along the way it was all ocean, all the time....

Arriving in the village of Shitiping, basically a fishing harbour and a smattering of houses and stores to fill basic needs, we were beat. Its not so much the length as the hills and the heat. Not a complaint, merely an excuse to make our sore legs feel better!!

Shitiping, along with the houses and harbour has one other splendid attraction - a coffee shop. Coffee beans from the mountains in Taiwan, groundwater (sourced from a cave on the owners property) as the key ingredient and an epic view of the ocean. A perfect way to end a seven hour push south.

Biology and geology are the key ingredients to Shitiping - these are but a few tastes of the place.

Shitiping, along with the houses and harbour and coffee shop...., also has a perfectly quaint campsite. We grabbed a site (to the absolute incalculable confusion of the park staff who, in utter astonishment, couldn't understand why we would be ok with a campsite without electricity and lights...you have to experience Taiwan outdoors life to understand this...they repeatedly asked us "do you understand Chinese? This campsite has no electricity!" To which we responded, again and again "yes, I know. Why do we need electricity?".

To which they responded... "Do you understand Chinese? This ..." And on and on...

Until I blurted out "Canadian people don't like electricity!".

Then we left them and went to our campsite. They still didn't believe us...

The birds were crazy here, singing and prancing about, the sun setting over the mountains and the salty air humid and thick. Shitiping at its finest.

As beautiful as Shitiping, Hualien...Taiwan...is, there is always the garbage issue. Environmental education is earning its place in e school ethos slowly, and most adults not only don't understand what is right/wrong, but they don't teach their kids. So, schools and the science/environmental community have a hefty battle ahead, but a vital one.

Morning views - you cant see it in the picture on the left but there is a sea of birds there calling and chirping away in beautiful song, while we tend to our breakfast duties.

After a solid nights sleep we got up, ate, played on the rocks a bit, poked around for critters in the tide pools, then hit the road again, much to the chagrin of our legs. To we were going to head across the mountains to Ruisui, then take the train back to Hualien. A slight drizzle accompanied us, but other than that it was a pleasant ride. This mountain road is, while lacking in ocean views (obviously!) simply peaceful. Monkeys, birds, butterflies....nature abounds and it was just us and the empty road for the day.

A magi snack-stop along the way home...

Biking up the hill that accounts for the entire (almost) second half of the trip from the ocean to Ruisui...steady, but not too steep. On the right, the view of the SiouGuLuan River that empties the water from the rift valley into the ocean.

Snake, which we found already killed, was enough to call our attention and give us a short, slight scare. Still looking into this specific species....poisonous or not, it was cool to see!

This ride was much shorter, a shade over 3 hours, and we arrived in Ruisui in time for lunch. Hotpot, coffee, then to the train...and home. Wonderful ride, wonderful sights and a wonderful weekend. (then we whipped up some pizza!)