Out of Thick Air: Taiwan's Mountain Highs

Tai

wan is a loaded word. Just say it and images of traffic jams, crowded streets and churning factories pour forth unbidden, like evil genies from a bottle. Clearly, the island has an image problem. Most visitors land at utilitarian Chiang Kai-shek International Airport and drive to Taipei, where they spend a few days in the city's perpetual gray haze. But Taipei and the industrial west coast are only a small part of Taiwan. The rest of the island is covered with remote, forested mountains, which are laced with hundreds of hiking trails. Taiwan is home to the highest mountain in east Asia—at 3,952 m, Yushan (Jade Mountain) is taller than Japan's Mount Fuji—while dozens of peaks soar above 3,000 m. Protected by the government, the mountains are home to black bears, salmon, rare birds and other wildlife and are the island's most compelling attraction.

Trekking in Taiwan is not for the fainthearted. The Central Mountain Range is steep and wild. Summer thunderstorms rise unseen, temperatures can drop below zero, and facilities are few and far between. But for those willing to carry their own gear, the treks are among the most beautiful in Asia. The top hikes in Taiwan—on Chilai Ridge and Yushan—require a reasonable level of fitness and the proper equipment, including a tent and stove, food and water, a sleeping bag, good boots and warm clothes.

Yushan has the most popular trek on the island. The trail starts near the top of the new central cross-island highway (#18) and winds steadily upward through magnificent forests of cypress, fir and hemlock. The first day's walk is a long one—six hours to scale 1,000 vertical meters to Paiyun cottage, two hours below the summit. Fellow hikers are plentiful, and their encouraging cries of jia you (literally, add gas) echo through the hills.

Most trekkers spend the night in or near Paiyun cottage and leave before dawn to catch the sunrise from the summit. The final ascent is steep but dramatic, as the glowing rays spread across the surrounding mountains. And the view from the top—a sea of clouds pierced by the peaks of the central range—is a world away from the chaotic bustle of Taipei.

Some hikers spend days in Yushan park, exploring the area and climbing smaller satellite mountains. One alternative route down from Yushan goes through Tungpu, a Bunun aboriginal village that doubles as a hot-springs resort town. The Bununs, called the sherpas of Taiwan, can be hired as guides.

For an even more remote and challenging adventure, try the Chilai Ridge trail, a rugged pathway along the mountainous spine of Taiwan. The walk begins at Ho Huan Shan hostel, on the northern cross-island highway (#14) about 60 km from Puli. From the hostel hikers need four hours and a lot of stamina to reach the 3,200-m summit of Chilai Ridge. The ridge trail, which then proceeds due south over a succession of rocky outcrops, is regarded as the most dangerous trek in Taiwan, but is unrivaled in beauty. In some places the ridge is sharp as a knife, with cliffs on either side. The layers of shale, which make up the ridge, crumble underfoot.

The coastal haze often creeps up the foothills toward the ridge but never seems to reach the sun-drenched summit. Chilai is far removed from everything coastal, low, industrial and loud. Most hikers spend the second night camping atop the ridge, cooking dinner and admiring the view. To the north looms the towering rock spike of Tapachienshan and far to the south is Yushan. Below and to the east are the twinkling lights of the east-coast quarry town of Hualien, and in the west is the glow of the setting sun.

Mornings in the mountains tend to dawn bright and clear, while afternoons often bring rain—a weather pattern that compels hikers to start early and pitch their tents before bad weather sets in. From Chilai Ridge the long trek down winds through bamboo forests and the tiny aboriginal settlement of Tianshih. From there, follow a 10-km trail to a logging road that leads to the town of Lushan. It's important to be met at the trail head: the walk down the road to Lushan is daunting. The Chilai Ridge hike takes three days and three nights, and as with the Yushan trip, hikers have to carry all their supplies, including water, tents and food. Similar two- to four-day walks to the summits of Tapachienshan, Nengkaoshan and Hsuehshan (Snow Mountain) are also recommended.

It sounds ideal—get out of Taipei, see the mountains, spend a few days in the fresh air. What's the catch? As it turns out, there is one, an annoying anachronism left over from the martial law era when the mountains were thought to be crawling with communists. The government requires hikers to have mountain permits, which in turn necessitates a group of three and a guide. Changes are afoot, but the rusty wheels of bureaucracy still turn slowly. Call the Taiwan Tourism Bureau Hotline for information: (88-62) 2717-3737. Be sure to ask about current conditions; typhoons and earthquakes can close roads and trails.