[Shuiyang Forest]
Mason was right, I was so tired last night that I really did get enough sleep to wake up super early this morning, excited to get another long awaited blog post done!
We're back from our hiking trip to 杉林溪 (Shanlinxi) this weekend! This is my first official hiking trip with just me and friends, without a real guide or having a group of people who we don't really know. It felt great to have everything under our own control, and allowing ourselves to be surprised or sometimes filled with wonder, or even to doubt ourselves, which made the whole trip so much more exciting!
[Occasional maps that blissfully appear along the way]
Our plan was to hike about 7 hours from the entry point in Shanlinxi, to make our way over the ridge first to 前峰 and then 鹿屈山 (Luchushan) mountain peak, and then head all the way to 水漾森林 (Shuiyang Forest) and camp there. And on the next day, we would maybe go around the lake, head to 千人洞 (Qianrendong) and then take the forest trail instead of the ridge to get back to Shanlinxi. But due to landslides and earthquakes that made the way to 千人洞 somewhat dangerous, we had to abandon this part of the plan ...
Maybe it was because we left a little too late that we hardly ran into ANYONE along the whole way to 水漾森林! Except for a few hikers on the top of 前峰 and a pair that arrived from our opposite direction also on 前峰, it seemed like we were the only ones on the mountain, hidden away from the rest of the world, with the entire place to explore and take in for our own.
We left Taichung around 8-ish and made it to Shanlinxi around 10? I didn't know that we had to pay an admissions ticket to get into the park itself, nor did I know about the 5 minutes bus that we were required to take to get to the entry point. Of course we could have walked but that would be quite a waste to begin a hike on asphalt. So we finally started at 10:20 on at the pagoda!
[The pagoda at the entry point]
The weather was pretty nice on both days, even at noon when we didn't have a burning midday sun hanging above us, probably because we were hidden nice beneath the canopy, and being immersed in mist all around mountain felt comfortably cool and refreshing. I had on just one tank top on both days, which kept raising doubt from fellow hikers whether I would be too cold, or that I might get scratched from the surroundings. None of these happened, but I am now covered with killing mosquito bites that didn't start to itch until the night I got back to Taichung. (It would be a better idea to have long sleeves on the next time I head into the mountains.)
[Up we go!]
[Huge boulder huge huge boulder!]
The start of the trail was a direct ascend right up, which we devoured with much excitement, only to be met with a large forest road that could have had cars pass. We later learnt that this was the road we would be taking when we get back, and the one we were on was like a short cut that cut through these roads. A while into the trip, we even heard a vehicle with loud speakers playing music that seemed really close by, and I started wondering how secluded could we really get from the rest of the world? Finally, when the music started fading away was I able to completely absorb the beauty of nature that we were immersed in.
[New hiking boots!]
I got to wear my new Scarpa boots and got them all nice and muddy. I love the sound of just our team, boots crunching in the forest trails, our steady breathing as we advanced, hearing beautiful birds singing in the distance, cicadas chirping all around us, and all the silence.
Much of the landscapes we experienced this time felt quite similar to ones I've been to before. Instead of thinking that they're too ordinary, I actually love the reminiscing and familiar feeling they bring. A few months ago, I went on a day trip also to Shanlinxi with 嘉旆 and her company. We took the outer route which started from a point in Xitou and took us close to the astronomy tower, and back going through the park itself. Much of the our hike this time, especially in the beginning, felt just like that previous trip. Obviously though, because we were at similar altitudes with the same vegetation growing around us. The main kinds of trees, 紅檜 (Red Cypress) grew mostly around Xitou and the higher we went, we saw more of 柳杉 (Cedar) which were the same kind of trees in the lake that died from too much water after the earthquake led to the forming of the lake. (It really is one thing to learn the names of plants in Chinese, and another to relearn them in English!)
[Gotta love all the greenery]
[One of the millions of pictures of adorable mushrooms I took along the way]
We stopped for a quick lunch in a small clearing in the woods around 12, having a simple sandwich. And then later headed straight up to 前峰, where we met the group of hikers gathered around their own lunches. For them, this was a day trip to 前峰 and back. A small trail towards the right led us to the triangulation point of this peak. After a few pictures we were on our way again, heading to the actual peak.
[Cambodian memories]
[Fern-vegetable patch]
[Lost in the mist]
This part after 前峰 is my favorite! Right after we took the left to go along the ridge, the surroundings were like a vegetable patch with firmly standing ferns, upright like soldiers, just like the tall standing trees around us, forming a minuscule forest on their own scale. It was just all too cute! I loved the magnificent trees that we started to come across, looking at least decades and decades of age, they stood proudly on their own, with moss-covered boulders scattered all around. There were large fallen trunks with lush green moss and even tiny mushrooms of all forms and colors that I couldn't help stopping to take pictures of . The ruins-like setting reminded me of the mystique beauty of Angkor Wat, making me wonder of a second, why did I make it all the way to Cambodia when similar settings could be found right in our own country? But then I think it is these kinds of beautiful similarities found in nature that resonates with our hearts.
[Way to Luchushan]
After yet another clearing in the forest, two ways diverged, one which would take us to the peak and another that would take us right to the lake. It was a real surprise that the way to the peak was only less than 10 minutes, so we left our bags and headed for the peak, which was the most secluded mountain peak I've ever conquered. All view was blocked by the tall standing grasses (not that we could see into the distance anyway with all the mist), and in the middle stood the small marker. Not much excitement compared to conquering a 百岳, but at least it only required 10 minutes back and forth.
Afterwards we started a straight descend through large patches of 箭竹林 (bamboos) which eventually morphed again into mist-covered forests, coming across two abandoned houses along the way (who?! would build them here and how were the materials brought here??). One large path seemed like it was cleared intentionally, maybe for timber, or just for hikers? It looked like paths towards 奇萊南華, and the descend through bamboos were like those before we came into the clearing on the beach in 綠島.
[Abandoned temple along the way]
When we finally started hearing voices ahead we honestly thought we were almost there! It was a group of hikers who were stuck trying to get through a rough descend, and they had children with them! Which was amazing. It started raining too as we waited patiently. Finally we decided to "overtake" them. We kept hearing voices saying that we were almost there, but I guess wherever you go, people would always tell you that we are almost there.
We finally made it to the lake before sundown! The first sight that we came across however was kind of confusing to me. There was an enormous blue canvas sheltering ordinary tents underneath which seemed to hold an entire party of people. I was confused by how so many people were here when we didn't even come across any on our way. We learned that there were people here making their business by renting tents and providing food to hikers (for $800 per night, including dinner and breakfast the next day). It wasn't because we brought our own tents and food that we felt cheated, but because of all the space they were taking up, that legally didn't even belong to them. And because this one guy was not only reluctant for us to camp near "his site" but he was also unwilling to help us when we had difficulties setting up our tent.
[Our makeshift tent on the right!]
The lake itself looked like it was a setting for a horror movie. The dead trees, mist and water. It was a beautiful site with all the mist, with the trees vaguely standing inside. We were too tired to take pictures though. And we were later preoccupied with our tent problem.
We had brought two tents with us, only one of which could hold four people, and it turned out that we forgot the poles!!! Which was a real OMG situation. For the next hour, we felt like architects trying to figure out how to set up a tent when all we had was the sheets, a few pegs and some rope. We could have draped the skin across a rope tied to trees, but all the nicer spots around the good trees were taken. In the end, we settled for making sure a hiking stick stood firmly, held by rocks of all sizes, and then draped the skin from its center, pulling the corners on all fours and thus creating enough space for sleeping inside. It wasn't waterproof nor much to keep us warm, we were pretty much exposed at where our feet lay, but that was enough for a night.
[Makeshift pole for our tent from our hiking stick]
[Morning the next day]
It's amazing how I could sleep in such condition for a night! True that I woke feeling too cold in the middle of the night several times. I woke to the orchestra of snores filling the night along with the running water of the lake which I was puzzled to mistake for the sound of rain.
I woke to the voices of campers around us, having their breakfast served to them, and getting ready for a morning hike. I was in a battle with myself of how I preferred to sleep in when I knew I was in such a beautiful environment. So I let myself sleep heavily and blissfully, until finally around 7, I got up to find that all the mist was gone, and all that was left was a clear blue sky and lush green surroundings, which made the dead trees stand out on itself.
After breakfast and getting ready to go, we decided to check out the lake, stopping to take in its fascinating beauty The water was so inviting on itself for us to take a plunge inside. In the end, we couldn't help but take off our boots and soak our feet in the chilling water. Refreshing as it was, the mud in the lake had a weird squishy feeling as we trudged in it, quite different from the kind in 高美濕地, it was so elastic like, almost like dough!
[Exploring the lake]
[Soaking our feet in running water]
[Pebble skipping]
[Oh the love for dead things]
We finally took off at around 9:30 to get back before 4. Although a slightly longer distance, our hike back the next day was more subtle compared to the first day, where we took the forest trail instead of going over the mountain again. We tracked along the sunnier side of the mountain, making it through tall grasses that thankfully didn't cut. Finally we could see the mountains in the distance and hear the sound of flowing water coming down from small water falls, gathered in a small pool filled with tadpoles.
[Making our way back]
I realized that going downhill really isn't my best. I had difficulties on the first day, afraid of slipping and trying to keep my balance, my knees also really hurt especially on the last day. I had such a rough time that I decided to take the rougher short cut instead of keeping to the forest trail. I felt so thankful when we finally made it back to the entry point from where we started, and waited for the bus to take us back!
[Hiking hiking!]
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