熊空-烏來 XiongKong to Wulai Hiking trip

So the guys and I on the trip have a thing for hiking. We all really like it, and there really isn't a better place to do it in a weekend trip than rural Taipei. One would think that with all of the city life and the immense population of Taiwan that unspoiled hiking trails would be pretty slim, but oh how many there are. We were talking about this in class one day, when our teacher overheard us and immediately put us in touch with the University's hiking club. (BTW the professors always give such good advice). I had no idea the University had a hiking club, but we are the better for it. These guys are pros.

So we met up with them on one Saturday and took a bus to the outskirts of Taipei County. It is about an hour bus ride and there are some pretty wicked roads up the mountain passes. I always new that Taiwan was well industrialized, but I never new it had such a nice collection of unspoiled hiking trails. We arrived in XiogKong (the beginning of the hike)and it felt like a completely different country.

The hike was particularly interesting because we didn't bring any TA's, ergo I was the most experienced Mandarin speaker in the American group and few of the hiking club members spoke much english. The result was a good bit of gesturing and patience on both ends. I would count it a blessing, because up to this point I had not been able to stretch myself as much as I would like. It is in these kinds of situations where the only option is to buck up and go with what you have that you really feel like you have grown. I would definitely say that after the hike I felt more confident in my language ability. (In the classroom there is a little too much pressure to be grammatically exact, but on the trail anything will do!) Plus, we made some really good connections with the students at NTPU. They were all hilarious and really fun to be around.

So, the hike itself was unbelievably gorgeous. I had never seen a forest that fresh and new before. The trails were quite small and tricky at some points, but that made it feel like we were in the thick of it even more. The first half of the hike was up hill all the way. We were sweating quite a bit and had to take multiple breaks, but we clipped along at a pretty good pace. We stopped at the summit for lunch (jerky and bean trail mix) around 2 1/2 hours in. Then just as we were getting ready to go down the other side of the mountain, we heard thunder. And let me tell you, the second half of the hike was anything but dry. It was a huge thunderstorm. It was amazing. I loved every-bit of it. I had my electronics put away in ziploc bags and was free-styling it without any raincoat.

Actually I would have to say that I preferred the thunderstorm part of the hiking trip even more than the semi-dry part. It seemed to make the trail really come to life. In fact, we went over some pretty shaky bridges that were even more spectacular due to the huge amount of rushing rainwater underneath (10 hikers had already died this year by being swept away in the rapids further downstream). Also, we came to find out that some of the cliff trails had already eroded away, thus letting us do some very interesting free style climbing...haha. Then, we would come up to these huge openings in the canopy that let us look out on the rain steaming up from the surrounding valleys. It was some of the most eerie and stunning scenery I have seen in a long time. [Neither a picture or a paragraph could do them justice; I guess you will have to come see for yourself]

It was supposed to be a 7 hour hike from XionKong to WuLai, but we completed it in under 5 1/2. Our team was booking it, And I am proud to say that the americans were leading the pack...haha. We really had a great experience and there were some definite advantages to hanging out with the hiking club.