one idea list: 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.