The good thing about living in Taiwan is that the mountains surround you. In just 2 hours, we went from urban Taipei into the mountains around Hsinchu.
It was a weekend of 霞客羅古道 and 鎮西堡巨木群. Translated, it means I walked amongst trees :)
Honda said it'll be an easy weekend of easy walks. He brought his family including his 2 kids. Others brought their 3 year olds along. Frank brought his 2 year old Scottish terrier. It can't be all that difficult a walk right? So Rae and I happily joined.
Day 1 (霞客羅古道) was nice, a nice flat 10km route through the mountains. This is an old Japanese built trail and we were literally amongst the tribal villages of the Ayatal people (aborigines of Taiwan).
Day 2 (鎮西堡巨木群), we woke up at 6am, over breakfast it started to rain. In the rain, we rode a van to the trail head - loaded up like cargo, our bruised butts bumped around for that painful half an hour ride over a dirt/rocky path. By the time we walked into the cypress forest, it was raining even harder. Thankfully my new Mammut goretex jacket & that 200NT rain pants + my goretex hiking boots kept me dry. Technically, I was wet - from perspiration. The elevation was crazy - we kept climbing until we saw our first cypress trees. Then you feel it is all worthwhile.
