Yushan National Park
Got a taxi from Yuli up to the national park in the morning since there is no public transport here, the driver was very friendly and helpful despite not speaking any English. He went with me into the visitor centre and found the attendant for me, she spoke English and gave me the trail info I needed. Then the taxi driver said he’d drive me to the trail head and pick me up there later in the afternoon. Perfect!
I hiked on the Walami trail, which is one of the more popular ones in Taiwan. It was in very good condition but I didn’t see hardly anyone else on the trail. A nice change from the parks in Korea. The trail runs up along the side of a mountain overlooking the river valley below and many other mountains. Very nice views throughout.
It was pretty humid but not hot so hiking was pretty easy, it wasn’t even that steep. Parts of the trail were cut out of the cliff edge and with vines hanging over the top almost creating a tunnel effect. Apparently Taiwan has around 400 kinds of butterflies, I’d believe it. Just on this hike I probably saw 20+ kinds and I only went 4.5km in. I didn’t see any monkeys unfortunately but I did hear them a couple times jumping through the brush between trees.
My taxi driver showed up at the agreed time and I was back at the train station in time to catch the 4:30 train. Transport worked a little better here today. Now I’m sitting at a hostel in Hualien, my base to explore the Taroko gorge tomorrow.
Tags: Taiwan, Travel
