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.

Jade Mountain, Taiwan - Solo Monkey, International Style (Part 1)

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end

Ernest Hemmingway

I get to travel some for work, and luckily on a recent work trip I had an opportunity to try to climb the highest peak in East Asia, Jade Mountain in Taiwan.  But this adventure began not at the TaTaJia Trailhead at the Jade Mountain National Park in Alishan, Taiwan, but long before that.  Just getting to the trailhead to climb Jade Mountain (玉山) was an adventure all by itself.  Part one of this trail report will detail the trail to the trailhead, and part two will detail the climb itself.

Jade Mountain Park Entry Permit Application

To climb Jade Mountain, you cannot just show up and start climbing the mountain.  There are two different permits you must attain before entering.  The first permit will authorize entry into the Yu Shan National Park, the application can be found by clicking here.  Because I was also planning on summiting and returning in one day, the requirements included providing photos of yourself on 3 or more summits above 3000 Meters (almost 10,000 feet), your exercise regimen in preparing for the climb, your equipment list...even your "Environmental Education" background (pack it in, pack it out, respect the mountain and terrain, etc.)  Being an Eagle Scout has its privileges.

The second application is a "Mountain Entry Permit", the application for this permit must be filed with the Interior Ministry of the National Police Agency of Taiwan here.  When you enter the park, the police station at the entrance takes the top half of the form.  If they don't get the second half of the form back when you descend, that's when they send out the search parties, looking over the cliffs to see if you've fallen off the mountain.



Scenes from a Train Ride.  And my ear.

So now...getting to Alishan.  The park is located in Alishan (阿里山), which is a township in ChiaYi County (嘉義鄉). I was staying in Taichung (台中), which is two counties away from Chiayi.  I jumped on an Express train and made it to Chiayi in a little over an hour.  I was hoping to ride the High Speed Rail to get there--it's fun to travel at 300 km/hour in a train--but there were no scooter rental stations at the HSR station, only at the train station.  But riding trains in Taiwan is very convenient, more space than a plane ride, foot rests, reclining chairs, and you can smoke between train cars if you would like.  Very Hollywood.


Once I got to ChiaYi, I went to the Big Elephant Scooter shop and rented myself a monster of a 125cc moped.  Taiwan is full of motor scooters, it's the most convenient way to get around and they're pretty fun to ride.  But when I told the shop keeper where I was heading...he just laughed and shook his head.  He couldn't believe first that I was planning on climbing Jade Mountain, and then couldn't believe that I was riding a scooter that far.  But he took my $400 Taiwan Dollars (about USD $14), and I was off.  After fueling up, I was on the road.



First view of the mountains...Beginning my climb from sea level to 2600 meters.  I got the scooter over 100 km/hr at one point on this straight away, which is much faster than I have skills to manage.

Stlong Blidge!  Stlong Blidge!  And a Taoist Temple.

I quickly turned up the skill level on the motor-scooter...At stop lights I start firing through the intersection when the opposite lights turned yellow (when the crossing light turns yellow that in essence means your light is green, even though it's red); I swerved and leaned into my turns like a pro; I non-chalantly pulled within 3-4 inches of dumptrucks and buses, sucking in fumes of other motorscooters and industrial vehicles.  Most people wear face masks to avoid inhaling the exhaust of so many vehicles, but not me.  You only live once.

The road up the mountain was a two lane highway, winding and winding and winding...steep drops on one side of the road and cars passing each other with obstructed views.  There were also a lot of very large vehicles going up and down this road, tour buses, construction trucks.  They really have no problem with passing one another on blind corners, either.  The whole traffic system is a series of suggestions and flow.  Just keep the roads flowing, don't stop and get in the way, avoid items larger than you, etc.  To see video footage of the road click here.

The Road to Alishan

An Olympus Afternoon

Moonlight over Mt. Olympus

While Steve was resting up for his marathon on Saturday morning, Jake and Sam decided to climb Mt. Olympus as a duo.  Both Sam and Steve had done this climb many times, but for Jake it was a first.  Many of his hikes with the Trail Monkeys are firsts.  And again he had no idea what he was in for, particularly when it comes to vertical gain.

Sam mentioned the route would be something like this...

"First there's the beginning climb, then there's the switchbacks, then you get to the river, then you get to the caterpillar crawl, then you go up the Never-Ending-Staircase, and then you're on the saddle, and then there's an easy rock-scramble to the top."

Sounds easy right?  Monkeys can climb just about anything!  Or so I thought.  We started out by wondering if we should try to break the record, Steve's done it in some ridiculous time of 1:35, but we both quickly realized that this wasn't happening on this day.  Neither Sam nor I had been able to run much the last month, what with school starting and another kid on the way and football practice and basically life in general getting in the way of our free time.  So we decided we'd enjoy the climb rather than try to push ourselves too much.

Mt. Olympus in Greece

By way of information, The Mt. Olympus wilderness area and the Mt. Olympus peak in Salt Lake City it named after....Mt. Olympus in Greece!  SLC's Mt. Olympus is roughly the same height (9,026 feet) as Thessaloniki's Mt. Olympus, (9,570 feet), and the two mountains have very similar features and vertical gain.  Although The Greek version is a much more technical climb, with 5 different pitches that require rock climbing and rock climbing gear.  The SLC version only requires...calf muscles.

Nearly every trail report about Mt. Olympus talks about how the trail is "strenuous but rewarding", or "the hike is fairly steep", or "Difficulty:  Strenuous".  And so it goes.  I've never had cramps while hiking before but got some good ones while on the Never-Ending-Staircase.  Calf Cramps.  Still not a bad first climb for climbing the mountain named after the Home of the Greek Gods.  The fall leaves were beautiful, the scramble to the top was more fun that it was dangerous, and it didn't hurt so bad that I don't want to go back.  Maybe even to challenge Steve's time to the top....

Once we reached the top, Sam was in cell phone range and was able to check in with the wife, you know, to make sure she didn't go into labor or anything important like that while he was on top of the mountain.  Also, the mailbox has a summit registry in it.  Jack Frost has even been to the top of this mountain.

Monkeys break for bananas