It must first be known that:
1) Taiwanese are afraid of nature
2) Taiwanese are not accustomed to rigorous exercise
3) Taiwan is an over-regulation=safety culture for all things outdoors
4) The trail types are very different than in Canada; "Walking Trail" is actually a road, "Hiking Trail" is actually a path in the woods, "Mountain Trail" is a well used path that has elevation gains along the way, "Epic Mountaineering Backcountry Climbing" is actually a regular fund, adventurous hiking trail.
5) Taiwanese are afraid of nature (yes, it is worth repeating).
Taiwan, for the record, has epic mountains and epic trails and astounding opportunities for adventure and excitement.It is just that those things that a Canadian hiker would submit as a day hike - anything relating to those trails found in Jasper or Banff, Kootenays, Smithers and the like - are regarded as life-risking and so regulated that people actually must not use them.
Here is what you need to have/do to hike an actual trail, in summary:
1) Own and carry a cell phone. On.
2) Hire a guide who is fluent in Chinese. If you are foreign and fluent, it doesn't matter. In case the Mountain Search and Rescue (two guys chewing betel nuts, possibly inebriated and smoking as they walk through the woods with a bandaid and some rubbing alcohol) come to save your life, they need to be able to speak perfectly clearly to you to see where it hurts, what is wrong. The open gash in your leg with the protruding bone isn't good enough. You need to articulate this in perfect Chinese.
3) Write down your daily plans, where you will stop for break, time leaving and returning, passport #, etc, etc. And they want to know his/her nickname, sex, birthdate, passport#, home #, cell #, ...
And to top it all off, the specifics of getting the appropriate permits are all different based on who you talk to or what you read. The National Park website, park rangers, park office, police (who do a lot of the permit granting), application form...all tell you different things. Different instructions. Different rules, same place.
It is absolutely arcane. It is understandable to want some basic info for a protected area, or highly dangerous area, but that is just the point - these trails are not dangerous. They are hiking trails. A hiking trial that will break a sweat and go uphill is a death sentence to Taiwanese. So they regulate it to the brim. And they fear it. Here is a quote from the park office in regards to a trail we asked about earlier:
I have asked some my colleagues but none of them have done this Mt. Sha
route. I hope you think twice before you make this trip. You might not listen to
my advice. This subtropical climate Taiwan is similar to Vietnam. If you have
seen the Vietnam War, the areas are like that. The forest here is similar to the
film scene. Some dot showed on the map this indicates that used to be the old
Forest Bureau logging road. Some route has disappeared.
And how do you get around all these asinine regulations?
You simply walk by the gate, ignore the sign and go about your lovely day in the backwoods of
Taiwan.
So it goes...
Through the forest, up the slopes, across the cliffs, down the valley, up the valley (where we saw a Crab-Eating Mongoose! It was, to be clear, not eating a crab as its name would suggest, but rather violently defending its pygmy deer carcass...well....skull....so, rocks in hand we trodded lightly as we passed and went about our day with thoughts of "those things dont attack, do they?" dancing about in our minds) across another cliff and up to a lookout platform. This platform was a special moment.
You see, hiking without a permit in Taiwan can get you into all sorts of trouble, ranging from "you have to go back to the trailhead" to "give me a tissue sample and your passport, you are banned from hiking in Taiwan and any other country that starts with a 'T'". And all the way in the middle of those two. So, we - being unsure of the reprimand we would receive and really wanting to keep hiking - decided that we would be stealthy at the appropriate moments. And the main appropriate moment was, at the 1/2 way point of the trail, an 'Outpost'. We assumed a couple of park rangers, a police officer and a hunger for validating park permits.
So, when we started getting close, we entered stealth mode. Walking softly, peering around each corner, not walking on loose rocks, not a word between us...slink and scurry... . Corner - stop, slowly peer around....nothing....keep going. And on and on. The tension was rising when we came to a battered sign that told us the Outpost was 0.1km ahead.
Super stealth. Breathing subdued. Holding on to the zipper on our bags to not mak a jingle that would give away our position.....tense moments....tense....and then.......then......then......a sign that read:
"this is the place where, in the late '40s, a police outpost once stood to
regulate the aboringines and protect travellers as they passed along the
trail..."
An empty plateau, the size of three school buses. Nothing. No park rangers, no angry police, no permit check. Nothing.
We were safe, and broke out in laughter and relief. The excitement and tension built up to such a feverish peak and when we realized that we could relax and not hide in the woods trying to avoid detection, we felt the rush. It was good!
Snack, then returned down the trail, across the cliffs, etc, all the way back to the trailhead. Hopped on our scooter quickly and zoomed away from the trailhead, never once being questioned by the park rangers or police. Excellent.
All the way back to the ocean, along the massive coastline highway to our evening destination, Ci Xing Tan Beach (Chee-Shing-Tan; Seven-Star-Lake). We pitched our tent, walked into the town for dinner, grabbed some bevvies and hiked back out to the beach towards our tent. Spent the night watching the stars (beautiful sky!!), chasing away approaching - and growling and grunting - dogs, swimming...sort of, playing along the beach and chatting away into the early morning. Sleep....perfect weather for camping.
Woke up to a gorgeous beach morning, nobody around. Hung out and watched the waves for a while, then packed up, grabbed a coffee in town (at a Giant bike rental stand which, as a picture tells the tale of, is where massive bus groups go to go 'Mountain Biking' around the beach. People, no joke, in high-heels, dress clothes and with purses rent bike en mass and go on 2-3 km circuits with a leader and a megaphone telling the group "how exciting this is". Then they stop for lunch, stretch and whine like they just climbed Everest, and feel rejuvenated by their yearly exercises now being complete....this is the level of outdoors ethic in Taiwan).
So we jammed along on our scooter back into Hualien City, checked out a cool Recreation/Nature area (the mantis and the fish ladder pictures) and then called it a weekend. Grabbed a train, got home and had some Hot Pot in RueiSuei, took a taxi home and slept.
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| Cixingtan Taroko |
So the lesson learned was:
Hike illegally, it is just easier. The permits are free, the park get nothing from it, but it takes you a week of paperwork and so many hurdles that it is just, simply, not worth it.
These boots will keep on trekking.....anywhere!!!
