Jade Mountain, Taiwan - Solo Monkey, International Style (Part 2)

To read part 1, click here.

The Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step
                                      Lao Tzu

千里之行，始于足下造句
                                      老子


4:30 AM,  I left the hostel, jumped on my scooter with my camelbak and headed out into the darkness to find the trail.

It was cool outside, it was dark, pitch black, and I couldn't see a thing.  Again, the roads were deserted, and everyone else from the hostel had either left before me and were well on their way up the mountain, or they were just going to hike some smaller trails.  So once again, I was alone on the mountain, which is heaven.

Except for one more thing.  I couldn't find the trail.  There was no one around, there were no signs, it was pitch black.  So I drove my scooter up and down the road, trying to make out signs in the dark and find the trail.  I found a police station, which I thought might be the start of the trail, but there was no where to park.  I drove back down a road, within about 1 km I found the Jade Mountain National Park Visitors Center, but again, no trail.  No signage.  And no one awake.  I probably wouldn't even be able to see anything with all the fog, so oh well.

I finally found some photographers on the side of the road, and one of them had hiked the mountain before.  So after driving the scooter around for about 30 minutes, I had to park it right next to the hostel, run up the road about 1 km back to the police station, check in with my mountain permits, and then follow that road for another 3 km to the actual trailhead.  There are shuttles that make this route in the morning, but not until after 8:00, so I walked.  The police station checked my forms, kept one half of one and told me to check back in with the other half of the form when I return so that they don't have to send out a search party for you thinking you're still stuck on the mountain somewhere.

First Light.

5:30 AM, I am finally walking up the road to the trail, and the sun started to come out.  I could make out the shapes of the mountains and see that the clouds had settled low enough that it would be clear climbing!  Yes!  I honestly was getting discouraged that it would be limited views, that I couldn't find the trail, that it would be a crappy day, and now it was totally turning out to be the opposite.  I found the trail, the clouds were low, the views were incredible, and my real journey had begun, with one step.

The Sea of Clouds

Clouds weaved their way in and out of the valleys, and the peaks poking through the clouds in the distance looked like islands.  The mountains of Taiwan are steep, very steep dropoffs on one side but the trail was well maintained.  Taiwan is essentially a big rock that erupted straight up out of the ocen during series of earthquakes that have taken place as a result of converging of four different plates.  The island continues to have earthquakes on a regular basis, as there are 42 active faults, but most are relatively minor.  The most recent major earthquake to occur was in 1999 (7.3 magnitude).  But the seismic activity is very evident in the topography of Taiwan, as most of the mountains are dramatic towers of steep rocks and sheer cliffs.



Cloud Atlas / Cloud Inlet.  I was just reading a book called Cloud Atlas, and the views were exactly what I imagined a Cloud Atlas to look like.

 

On the trail.  When my son saw the photos of the clouds he said "ahh...I've always wanted to touch a cloud!  I think it would be soft.  I wish I could fly on a jet pack and see what clouds feel like"

At about 6:30 in the morning I caught up to some of the folks that stayed with me at the hostel the night before, as well as some other hikers.  They had left about 4:00 and couldn't believe that the crazy foreigner was running the trail, alone.  We parted with a "see you at the top" and I was back on my way.

Climbing wih a God

I passed quite a few groups on the trail, and this was the only guy that I ran into that was all by his lonesome, like me.  Well, not totally alone.  He was carrying his God up the mountain.  Red is an auspicious color in Chinese Culture, and the different Gods that are kept on the family and/or neighborhood altars are sometimes removed and taken out for special occasions, or taken out to ask for a special blessing.  It can be to ask for help with an important decision, or for luck or assistance in work, school, family, or any other important matter.  In the tray with the God here is some fake money, which is burned as an offering to the God to ask for assistance as well.  I didn't want to pry too much, so I didn't ask this guy his reason for carrying his God up the mountain, but he did say it was okay to take his photo.

 

 

My first sighting of the Jade Mountain Main Peak



Arriving at the Paiyun Lodge

Sunrise over the East side of the Main Peak

The Chinese says something entirely different, but this sign is from a toilet stop on the trail.  I don't know why an outhouse is dedeicate to Johnny Depp, but whatever.  I just took advantage of the amenities.  I saw this rest stop but borrowed the photo from http://hikingtaiwan.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/yushan-%E7%8E%89%E5%B1%B1/

I definitely have the "hands on hips" pose down.  Mastery.

The final ascent was the most hairy part of the climb.  It wasn't too technical, but it was 75-85 degrees in many areas.  In places in which it was extremely steep, the Park has installed chains and ropes, and although it's challenging, it's nothing too technical.  You really start feeling the elevation at about 12,000 feet, although the combination of the elevation, the humidity causing you to sweat more (I drank a full 3 Liters on this short climb), and the jet lag (Taiwan is in a time zone that is 14 hours different than Mountain Standard Time) all contribute to the light-headedness.  Nothing too difficult to overcome, but it still affected me more than I expected.

About 200 Meters below the summit.  There are switchbacks with loose rocks directly above this section of the trail, so they've built a covered walk way to keep the rocks from rolling down on top of climbers.  The last 200 meters took much longer than you'd think.

At the top of this part of the world.

And the other direction...hip check.


I hung around on the summit for about an hour and a half, much longer than usual because I don't know when I'll have the chnace to see something like this again.  It was so incredibly beautiful!  I thought it would be impressive, but the view exceeded all expectations.  One of the guys on the summit, when I started running down said "This is my favorite part of every hike, just finishing your goal, the hard part is over with, you can just enjoy yourself the whole way down."  And I most definitely did.

One final thing...On the ride back to Chiayi to take the train, I ran into...some real live trail monkeys!  I've never seen monkeys in the wild before, but on the road I stopped to check out a troop of macaques.  8 adults and 2 babies.  The babies were hanging on their Moms' bellies.  I was all alone, and the monkeys were definitely not afraid of me, they came up close, and when they got close a car rode by and yelled at me to be careful, so I didn't stay close for long.  I didn't know how vicious they might be and didn't want to get bit and get monkey rabies.  So I snapped a few photos of some real Trail Monkeys and went on my way, incredibly happy that I'd just completed such an unforgettable adventure.

Trail Monkeys