On Saturday we embarked on another hiking adventure with Ben, Beth, and TJ. We caught the 6:40 am train from Taipei to Daxi, where we started the 16 km trail. The initial 5 km "Forest Trail" consisted of concrete steps straight up a mountain. After only 30 minutes, we were all soaked in sweat and well through our first water bottles. Thankfully, a mostly cloudy sky tempered the heat and humidity.
Once elevated above the woods, we came to the sprawling emerald Taoyuen Valley. Can you guess what animal we saw?
Wild water buffalo!
Most of the trail followed high grassy bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Turtle Island.
In the afternoon the sun came out, so Kalan decided to be very "Taiwanese" and use his umbrella as a sun shield.
The final section of the trail took us along a shaded stream and down the road to Fulong. We saw a sign warning us to watch out for poisonous insects and snakes, and sure enough...
...we found one!
From Fulong we caught a train back to Taipei. We were thankful to have one last long hike with the Barthelemys, who are leaving Taiwan mid-July. They have been our co-adventurers this past year, and we will greatly miss them.
This trail had some of the most spectacularly diverse scenery we've seen in Taiwan. We would highly recommend it to others--just know that it's strenuous in places. Bring plenty of water!
YingRu and I did this with a group of 25 people about a month ago. It is a lovely hike. I look forward to sharing adventures with you guys in the future. By the way, Fulong beach has a sand sculpture festival till the end of June. Did you guys check it out? I posted some pictures of it on facebook not too long ago if you want to see some of the sand sculptures. They are huge and really impressive. You can also go swimming in the beach there of course.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, very nice picture of a butterfly you captured :)
-Jaysun Minaglia