Hiking in Taiwan

[theherons]

Hello

I'm an Australian guy living in Taiwan. I didn't know before living here for a while but Taiwan has some really great hiking, with over 100 mountains above 3000m - which is a lot considering how small the island is. I recently climbed a few of these mountains in great weather, so I'd like to post some pictures to let more people know what an interesting place this is.

Waterfall at the trailhead

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This tree is pretty iconic among hikers in Taiwan - this was taken at night time

[theherons]

More pics

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Pintianshan - this is a pretty daunting section

Lots of scrambling

[theherons]

More pics

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Snow Mountain the second highest mountain in Taiwan

Quite steep

[theherons]

Last few, thanks for looking.

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Really nice clear morning

[Tony]

Hi theherons,

Many thanks for posting about hiking in Taiwan, a great report and some great photos, I had read that there is some great bike riding to be done there but not much about hiking, did you see many other walkers while walking.

Tony

[forest]

Thanks for posting that.

My parents have been home for 12 months now after living there for 4 years. (Dad was a consultant on the high speed rail)
We visited in 2009 for 2 weeks and it was an amazing place. I didn't do any walks but could see the potential !!
Very few western tourists as there are (or was at the time) no companies doing tours for westerner's.

Was always reminded to come back and do some of the tracks but never did. Now I see what I might have missed.

[theherons]

Tony - on this particular hike there are two cabins, and there were maybe 8 or so hikers and a few porters at each cabin, but most of the time we didn't see others.

There are more and more western friendly companies offering tours, especially for things like white water rafting and ricer tracing (which is great fun). I really think Taiwan underrated in terms of its natural beauty and outdoor activities.

[eggs]

Very nice
Thanks for the report

[north-north-west]

That looks like some really good country.
Those ropes are permanent, aren't they? Must have some keen walkers to have that sort of set-up.

[theherons]

Yeah the ropes are permanent and really common throughout the whole island. I don't know who sets them up/maintains them but they're necessary and a lot of fun.

[samh]

Yep they do have some nice hiking trails over there. I lived and worked there for the past year, as my wife is Taiwanese. Sadly I was only able to squeeze in a couple of day-walks.

2100 m apparently

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As for track work, this guy does the job...

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The number of walkers you will see on your walks strongly depends on the time you choose to walk, during the week and even on most weekends it's ok, but public holidays are better avoided unless you want to be stuck for hours, walking behind a group of 20 or more people.

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Taiwan can be a great place to travel . I've always found that there isn't abetter way than traveling by scooter, apart from walking of course. It can get annoying on long distances, and you gotta watch your fuel gauge, but you'll see more that way

Some village somewhere in Taiwan

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