To our home away from home, Taroko National Park, once again.
We combined a nice bike trip, two hikes and some epic swimming this weekend, all under clear blue skies. The bike trip was our regular jaunt through Hualien, up the gorge and to TienXiang village...and once there we de-saddled, rested, ate some fruit, drank epic amounts of water and hit the trails.
The illegal trails, of course!
We started out early Sturday...primed with some porridgey goodness and some high octane coffee we hit the streets. Usually the Taroko trip takes two stages - the city stage and the park stage. The park stage is always epic and wonderful, and the city stage is somewhat boring. However, this time we found a new trail that meanders about a little following the river - not too much though - and makes almost half of the city stage a pleasant and car-free ride. Perfect! The fewer cars, the fewer green-monster trucks the better.
Once in Taroko (the ride, while awsome, has been documented many times before so ill leave it to those posts to explain the joy of biking through this park) made our way to the Chimu Bridge trail - sans permits, of course - and started trek. This dry river bed is riddled with massive boulders of pure marble, some the size of trucks. Being here illegally made it all that more fun and exciting.
After a long ride, a nice hike and a good dinner...we crashed. Waking up the next morning to yet another clear blue sky, and having time on our hands, we took to the trails again. This time it was not a river bed of massive marble, but a ridge crossing. Up and up into bamboo forests, along some cliff faces and then down again to a (now, thanks to a landslide that blocked the main access trail!) secluded swimming spot. We bathed, sunned, bathed. The frigid water calmed the shuddering heat of the morning nicely. Then some more walking...flat, totally flat, through a few tunnels, across a few cliffs and to a really cool tunnel with a waterfall inside. Inside. A curtain of water permeating through the bedrock and cascading down on you while you are inside a mountain. So freaking cool!
Alas, time was growing short and we still had the hike back to the hostel and the ride home ahead of us so we turned around, and started back up the ridge.
L: Skink R: fresh cooked corn as a mid-morning snack on the way to Taroko
The entrance of Taroko National Park...who stole my helmet?
L: Crystal taking nap, post bike trip and pre Chimu hike R: Crystal during the hike testing the waters
L/R: The view along the Chimu hike
L/R: More Chimu scenery...all marble!
L/R: More and more Chimu scenery, and a new frog (to us!)
L: Cool rock, with iron deposits leaching out along the bedding plane R: The cats came back....friends we met at our hostel
L/R: More cats that found our hostel room to be much more interesting than the outside world.
L: Us at night, letting the cool evening soothe our muscles. R: Taiwan/Chinese Bulbul (not sure which one...)
R/L: The next morngin the hike took us through a neat bamboo forest, over a ridge and down the otehr side to a river valley. Here we are perusing the bamboo...
L: The sunday morning trail. L: The river at the other side of the ridge.
L: Swimming R: Relaxing
