A jouney to the middle of nowhere...40 minutes from Taibei

My hands smell like earth, my clothes are covered in mud, I've got a cuts on my legs, a bruise on my hind quarters, I'm wet, my feet hurt, and I'm sure my the stench of my b.o. is bothering everyone on the train. But, today was was quite an amazing experience, enchanting even, because it turned out to be so much more exciting than I had ever expected. I think I can speak for all 6 of us (well, at least the 3 of us that braved the small section of unknown) when I say, we had know idea what we would encounter on our "easy" hike to see the waterfalls near 大尖山-Big Sharp Mountain in 汐止(Xizhi).

The events were set into motion on Friday evening when I went up to 桃园 taoyuan with my friend's mother...because I will be continuing my internship there for the next month. It just so happened that a small day hike had also been organized for saturday. So I dropped off my things (well, really I sent my bags along with the person I'd be staying with, hereafter referred to as 李舅舅) and headed off to Taibei to a couchsurfer's place. The guy I stayed with my first night was nice, and had been to quite a few places, but I think I arrived a little late, so after a brief conversation it was bed time.

The following morning, I woke up just before 7am and headed to 台北车站(taipei main station). I was only one stop away,that's why i picked this couchsurfer. I arrived early as the hiking group had planned to meet at 8am, and so i went out looking for breafast. I though that I would be dissapointed, afterall I was in the middle of a capital city... it's not always easy to find good food in a big city, I figured that I would have to get a sandwich from 7/11. Sometimes I forget that I'm in Taiwan... food is not hard to come by, even in the middle of a busy city. After a breakfast of 煎包 , 豆浆, and coffee - only the coffee was from 7/11. As side note, the coffee at "7," as it's called in Taiwan isn't half bad. They use fresh beans (of unkown origin), it's not watered down, and you don't get that burt flavor flavor of starbucks. On top of that, it's damn cheap at about $1 for a medium.

At a little past 8am we had all arrived at the station, and we headed to 汐止 by train. Upon arrival we first took a walk up to a local temple, which has apparently been expanding expenentially over the last few years. We there to see the perserved body of an "incorruptable" monk, whose body has been wrapped in gold and is on display （慈航纪念堂...I can't remember the name of the temple right now). The monks were very nice, and they seemed to be participating in the labors of the temple, unlike monks I'd seen in the Mainland. Also, i did not notice any of these monks using cell phones (as in the Mainland), but maybe this all has to to with different religous disciplines that i will never understand.

After the temple it was time to hit the trail, or the stairs rather. The first 15 minutes of the hike was up stone steps to the "summit" of 大尖山. The view wasn't bad...but I hate it when my mountains have stairs on them. We continued up another path, which to my surprise and Richard's (Richard is the hike leader/lonley planet writing/travel writer) the Taiwanese had developed this path as well. We were mutually dissapointed to find more stairs ahead of us. He kept talking to himself, saying things like, "they just have to do this everywhere don't they..." and "now it's just a trudge to the top." I couldn't have agreed more, and we were both (i'm not sure about the others) releieved to find that the stairs soon stopped and we were in the "wilderness."

I must take a moment to reiterate...one of the most beautiful things about Taiwan is the fact that you can be in one of the most modern cities in the world, but within 30 minutes be on a mountain with almost no one around...or within an hour be in the wilderness with no chance of seeing another human for days!

Anyway, judging by the amount of spider webs I was eating (i was in front), i think it had been at least a few days since someone had last walked this path. I think I was being punished for walking so fast by being forced to take the full brunt of the webs. It was slippery and hard to follow at times, but at least I didn't get any of the leeches, at this point anyway.

After a little while I decided to cook me up some oatmeal and wait for the others. I took my rest at a steam crossing. I was nearly finished eating by the time the others made it down. It was here that we had our first leech check. 2 of the group members had leeches on their shoes...and one (Mark), after commenting that his socks were "leech proof," discovered that he had been bitten through his sock. After clearing the vermon, it was time to press onward.

After I took a nasty spill crossing the little stream...both my legs came out from under me and I fell flat on my buttocks! The rocks were slipperey! We continued down the path, and in about 30 minutes or so, we made it to the road. I thought my fun for the day was over...I had no idea it had just begun.

We got on the road and followed it to the start of what used to be another path leading along a stream to 3 waterfalls. The last time Richard had been there, a few years ago, this had apparently been a path with paving stones. I asked about how long it would take and heard a familiar phrase, "it's only about 10 or 15 minutes." When I finish my "a few of my favorite things" post you can read about what happened the first time I heard him say that phrase. I'm starting to think that for Richard "10 or 15 minutes" represents the same amount of time as 马上(ma3shang4).马上is usually translated as "soon" or "immediately," but the amount of time it actually represents is completely arbitrary. It could be 10 seconds, 10 minutes, or i guess even 10 days.

3 of the group members decided not to join us on the jaunt, and so we left are stuff with them at the trail head...promising to be back before it rained. In less than 10 minutes we made it to the first waterfall, but then we started hunting for the path to the other 2. Richard had suspected things were different from his last visit because a sign at the trail claimed 1. that the path was not clear, and 2. that the path was dangerous. It was quickly apparent that the path no longer existed as it had before, so we began scouting options that may lead us along the route of the old trail.

When you want to find a path, every part in the vegetation, every bit of soil that looks like it's been traveled is inviting. I was sent up to scout to possible trails. One trail, after about 20 meters led to nothing, and a second after about 30 meters let to nothing. It didn't really matter that we couldn't find the path, and i suppose it wouldn't have mattered if we never did. We were in "discovery mode," and it was very exciting. Plus, I got to crawl, climb, and otherwise scramble my way along every potential trail. It was a blast.

After these 2 unsuccessful attempts to find a path near the base of the 1st waterfall, we decided to head back to the others, but keep our eyes out for any signs of the old path. Nearing the road, we found it! We followed it up to a terraced platform, which presented us with a maybe 2M wall to scale. Again I was sent ahead to check out if the rest of the trail even existed. Richard and the woman (Oxana, sp?), didn't want to mantle up onto the thing if there was no hope of continuing.

What I found ahead amazed me. We had discovered what was left of the old path after a landslide (or something) had destroyed it. You could recognize where paving stones had been, but now mother nature was doing her best to cover up the evidence of human interference. It was a very unique contrast, almost as if this were an ancient ruin. It had only been a few years at the most, but all along the now narrow dirt trail the vegetation had started to take over. Turning the remains of the paving stones into features indistinguishable from the natural environment.

I made it to the next waterfall. It was nice, but small and I decided to continue up to the 3rd waterfall. After carefully negotiating the rocks (remember...I had already fallen on my ass once that day), I found the path on the other side of the stream and headed up...straight up.

This was the best, most difficult, and i guess the most dangerous part of the hike. In fact it's probably the most dangerous thing I've seen on a hiking trail in Taiwan to date (or on any "hiking trail" for that matter). It was a climb 90 degrees up wet dirty rock. I have been informed that this section has not changed, despite the destruction of the path leading up to it. This last bit has always been for the brave of heart... or the people who just aren't smart enough to be scared. I obviously fall into the latter category.

At this point I was "in the zone," so to speak. The adrenaline had kicked in as soon as I started running ahead of the others. I was now well in front of them, and I wasn't about to wait for them here. I know that Richard said he had never made it to the 3rd (and final) waterfall on the path, and this was a bit of extra motivation.

I started the accent. Over the years people had added fixed ropes, to make it easier. But, I wasn't sure of their condition, so on my way up I didn't use them if it wasn't necessary. The climb wasn't too difficult, it was only about 10-15 meters to the top. The real challenges were the loose holds, and the wet rock.

Victory was mine. I pulled myself over the last ledge, ran along/jumped over/climbed on top of rocks through and along the stream and there it was was. In front of me was the final waterfall in all its natural wonder. It wasn't powerful, but it was tall, and the water was crystal clear. I was operating under the adrenaline rush that had sent me running up the trail, and the sound of the water flowing down the rocks was quite calming. I was awestruck.

After a few minutes of glory, touching the base of the waterfall as a sign of victory, and washing (rinsing i guess) my face in cold, refreshing water, I headed back down to trail to the climbing section to wait for any sign of the other two. I wasn't sure if they had turned around or not. I waited about 5 minutes before I heard them, and another 5 before they appeared at the foot of the roped section. They started the climb, but turned back just about half way up...determining it was just too dangerous.

We headed back to the road. It was now almost an hour later ( or more, i really have no idea...all i know is that it sure wasn't "10-15 minutes"). This adventure was over. After informing the other 3 of the amazing journey that they missed in an embellishing tail during which i was described as "a little mountain goat," we headed back to Taibei, and I headed to another couch surfer...but that's a tale for another day.

I'm finally finishing this post 3 days later, good speed for me... and for now, I will drink my tea and contemplate which of the tempests, the distant peaks or forests will call to me next.