A trip to Yushan (3952m)

I went to Yushan yesterday...its the highest mountain in Taiwan...
Pablo met up in the lab...we rented a car...and by some reason my classmate cory wanted to leave Hsinchu at 2am...for the 5 hour drive to the national park where the mountain is...
Last expedition i brought some drink from Buthan...this time i had some risewine-ish drink that I bought when I went to Shanghai last time...
Cory planned to drive by nantou...even if the most common road is by Jiayi...we used GPS to get there...
They had alot of problems with the address...
We made a quick stop at a road house...they had cellphone charger for many brands..cory thought that they might not have any convenient stores on the road to the mountain...which would make that road unique...since every mountain road I have been to so far, has had many...
OMG...we crossed road number 1...the road i cycled on some month ago...
The road near Jiayi was broken...so we had to take another road...
After another hour driving we were getting close...
I drive to sleep but it was really a winding road...
With a great view...
U always think its a great view when you are driving on these roads..but still u havnt seen the top view...
Cory was fine driving the whole way...
We also saw alot of binglang plantations...
And the GPS was still with us...
Nice view from the road...
It was also close to Alishan...a very famous tourist spot...
Pablo was sleeping...or trying to...
Some tea fields on the mountain...
A high-life store...we found it on road 18, a bigger mountian road than the small one we had to take due to the broken road...
The sign said this direction...still Cory was wondering if we should not go in the other direction...for some strange reason...
More mountains could be seen...
Wow...a bridge during construction...
Its interesting to see how they build it...
Another great view...
Monkeys were also walking on the road...
One jumped up on the car...I wanted to see black bears...but they are more common on the eastern parts of tawan...
Wow...finally at the destination...
Some hours later than expected...we arrived...
Still nice view...
Here in the middle of taiwan...where people don use helmets either...just like the east coast...
It was a typhoon coming, so the weather was nice...
They had alot of facilities at the park entrance...
We were fixing the luggage before start walking...
I was confident in drinking the tap water...but pablo used the water machines with filtered water...
The ranger office were informing us about the typhoon...
We said we will walk anyway...I think i could climb the mountain in 4 hours...using the same speed I climbed xueshan with...
Some info about the mountain...
Usually ppl take bus the first bit, until the gravel path...but it was cancelled today...
It was a 30 mins walk or something...same as xueshan...a distance to separate the parking lots from the place where the mountian climbing begins...
If i want to live somewhere in taiwan it is in the mountains...its cold and nice...
Wow, somce local workers..maybe aboriginals...
Im about 100kg now...a fat Johan at the begining of the path to the highest point of taiwan...
Cory and his girl came a little bit later...
The most popular mountain to climb in taiwan...a very empty place, jet so many of my friends walked here...
It was at some times a dangerous path...
Far down there i saw another road...
It is the same landscape as home...with alot of pine trees etc...
Omg, I saw alot of trash in the bushes...
And some nice flowers...
Another path...on another mountain...
We all kept different speed when walking...its nice to take a rest once in a while...it was kind of warm partwise...
A beer bottle down there...sometimes I felt like picking up the trash, but I stoped since I know it will just be more trash there tomorrow...
A nice high altitude toilet...
These plants looks almost like wild strawberries...
Hi Cory!
It was really a cosy path...
But very steep...
5.8K to the first cabin...that is closed...but a ranger working there is still checking the permits again...(as at the park entrance)
Just like the other mountains...there are info signs...telling about the environemnt and history of the place...
Clouds were hunting us...
The park management used helicopters to set up bridges to walk on...so that the "climbing" turned to "walking"...
It was really a walk in the park...
But without loosing focus, u might fall...here one had to hold the chains...hope not to fall down the vertical mountain ridge...
Some tai ppl i spoke to said the "sherpas" were carrying everything...I really doubted that...due to the path condition...and the ragners later told me that they used helicopters for transporting everthing...
It was very convenient with the prepared road...
I used my broken running shoes and swimming pants again...once in a while i got a stone in my shoe... 
A slippery path...lucky it was not raining yet...
They also put some white thing on the bridge to increase the friction...
And now the clouds catched up on us...
Another bridge....making the way easy...I wonder how they climbed the mountain long time ago...
 Yellow flowers...and white...
...and blue...
...land slides...so common in this country...
Another high altitude toilet...which even had electricity...
and a trash can that was frequently emptied...
...and urinal...
Low energy lamps...
Later on I came to a nice resting area...
Iron beam...super heavy...Im amazed about how they managed to assemble everything here...
Local bamboo...
The path here made me think about the lord of the rings...
Omg...many people used to climb this mountain...in the old days...
1 km left to the cabin...
Wow...so nice stairs...big difference from xueshan...its almost 1000ppl who applies to climb every day, the government really mistrust people...so its hard to get a permit...they encourrag foeingers to apply, but everything is in chinese...and a tai person must be on the team when applying, due to my experience...but once u can prove that u climbed a peak higher than 3000 meter you can apply for a day permit...maybe i will do that next time...meaning u go up and down in one day...its not that hard here in taiwan where the car road often is about 10km from the peak...
Some one wrote their name on the cliff...
More clouds...
Wow...the first cabin...it was not until 7 km from the start...
The rangers house was in a posistion that they could not see the path...so i think i could sneak up to the top without anyone noticing...
This cabin has capacity for 60 people...or more...but its closed...
Its not far from the peak...
Its snow her in the winters...maybe i will bring skies here...and enjoy myself...
Equipment waiting to helicopter...
I met some old air force pilots...they liked swedish air force...they were only here for the day...
The ranger did not speak english...but the pilots did...
I got a taiwanese flag from one of them...
I gave him a swedish flag in return...
Later pablo showed up...he got some water...
The ranger cabin had an address...
This it the rangers office...
It has everything...
Even TV...but he listened to radio...
He was happy when speaking to chinese ppl...but didnt want to deal with foreingers...it seemed like...we insisted to wait in the cabin for our friends...since it started raining...
Cory came later...
We got a spot near the rangers cabin to cook some food...
Haha...cory...sometimes he can make things complicted...so funny...
Me and pablo was joking around...
High altitude...makes things blow up...
This old bunker was a water supply, the ranger said i could drink this...which i did...the others prefered boiling it first...but it took a long time...
a small excavator...
It was raining a bit...I was runing back and forth brining water...I was very warm so i did not mind the rain...
Nice food...
We shared the food...this is some rice thing...just like in the militairy...
Anamometer...at the cabin...
The tai girl in our company became friends with the ranger...we planned to live in tents at the first...but many ppl never showed up after booking the cabin...so we got some bed space,,,it was some kilometers from this cabin...
The webpage for the company that dealt with this cabin...
Here on can see the old bridge...under the new one...
Ok, here we are...we are taking right...it felt like we could reach the peak eaisly from her...maybe 30 minutes walk...but the plan was to go to he cabin first...
THey really put alot of efforts in making this path nice...
The clouds were comming and going...
I brought some honey nut loops...cory insited us to not take to many things (like my cerials)...he felt like a scout teacher dealing with kids...haha...I brought many unnecessary things up to the top...just to tease him...
The clouds passed by very fast up here...
There were many lose rocks up here...
Land slides created these...
Cory and pablo at the other side of the valley...
And the cabin far away...
No reception on the cellphone...exept at some places...where they had these antennas...
Another lord of the ring...look-alike pic...
This area had alot of plants that are used to snow...like xueshan...its very steap here...but doesnt look like it on the pic...
Later on the path was marked by sticks...to be visibile when its snow...
The tent area...or also maybe for helicopters...
This is our cabin...for the night...
When I came here, some tai ppl already settled down...
They offered me food...
and soup...
Im on a diet...but still..its nice to eat...
Its nice..and cold...I like alot...
I had to wait for the others again..and spent some time wrigint my name with stones...
We mingled a little...
And i was treating ppl with my rise wine...but only me and Pablo drank...
He was tired...poor guy...i told him to go to sleep...its aroun 6pm now...and the sun sets near 7...
We started to boild some water...
Nice view from here...
Far away down in the vally...we could see civilization...
The clouds passed the ridge very fasted...it looked cool...
People thought it was cold here...
Yet they wanted to enjoy the view...
And take pic...
It was ok...I saw some wild anomald like fox and birds...
I think this cabin fits 36 people...
we were about 10 ppl...
I brought some hotel stuff...like tooth brush...
People started to go to bed when it turned dark at 7...and other people kept dropping un until 10 or 11 pm...at 1 or 2 people started to get up...
Many tai ppl always wanna go up early when moutain climbing here in taiwan...I never understood why...even cory put his alarm on 2 am...I but mine on 3.30...surprisingly, at 4 am cory was still at the cabin...not sure what those guys were doing...I think they surreded from somethings in sweden that we call "fältkoma" meaning u r tired so u do nothing...and thus time flies...they also emplied my bag...so i had to spent 10 mintes collecting my stuff outside where they tried to make breakfast...
here someone dupmed my stuff...haha..so amateur...
When leaving the cabin...by some reason I had more things to carry than before...I know the girl gave her equipment to us that other day..but whos bag was this?
Cory wanted us to walk togetter...not sure why...since he said it was ok the day before that I walked alone...
I just did as he said...
It felst dangerous walking in the dark...I prefered walking in light...since I know that it was super steap where we walked...
 
 
it was dark...but after a while one could see Jiayi and the ocean on distance...(some 100km away)...
Slowly the morning was coming...
My camers is not made for night photos...
Cory desided when it was OK to split up again...so that I could walk in my own speed...
The sun was almost visible when we dumbed some luggage near the path and started the last km up to the top...
Compare to many other mountains, this is a very commercial mountain...they have arranged everything for u...even some reflectors near the path...
And chains...to hold on to...
And stairs when it gets to slippery...
Cory speeded up in the end...trying to catch up...
Where it south...?...the sun raises in east...so now i guess im looking south...
Im in Kaohsiung ountry...but far away is Taidong county...where the mountianin the horizon is...it has the second highest lake in taiwan...I planned to go there long time ago...
I had not reached the top yet...stil some way to walk on this well prepared tourist path...
Omg...the north peaks cabin is super large...looks almost like a hotel from here...
Hao3...here it is...less that 10 square meters...the highest point of taiwan...
Here it the shaddow of Yushan...(Jade mountain)
Cory is also heagin up...i try to encourage him to hurry up...
This it the north...far away we have Hehuanshan (which i climbed 2010 and Xueshan that i did earlier this year)...
And down there there is a mountain village...so cool...maybe they have snow in winter...
 Here is a green rigde...with alot of pine bushes...
They probably used helicopted to cary up there stones as well...
I brought my frodo cape...
Enjoyed my honey nut loops while waiting for the others...
Cory was very excited when he arrived...
I wanna go to that pyramid shaped moutain over there...i saw a similar moutain when i climbed hehuanshan...
Pose 1, with frodo cape
Pose 2, with frodo cape
Cory pose 1
Cory pose 2
Cory pose 3
Cory pose 4
Cory pose 5
A bird eating honey nut loops at almost 4000meters above sea level...
Cory forgot the view...and focused on the birds...
He wanted a pic of them...
I found a tent area near the peak...
Pablo was cold when he came up...and tired...
The bird feeder in action...
"Johan...look at the birds, they are eating from my hand"...
"johan look..." Johan thinks: "eh...ye, i also mind that I can see moutain peaks that are more than 200km away from here..."
"But the birds johan, see the small cute birds"...
Some taiwanese ppl also arrived...they always inves in expensive moutain climbing equipment...i never understand why...
Alishan is at the other side of the valley...
I was there 4 years ago...looking at this peak, thinking its almost at the same altitude...but from here it looked far lower...
Some other peak 500 meters away...with loose stones...
I lended pablo my poncho to sit on...the stones were kind of cold...
Wow...cellphone reception...
And some ancient wooden house or platform...
These two iron rods might have been the old sign of the mountain peak...
I spent maybe 30-40 minutes on the peak...
Taiwanese ppl are very friendly up here...
Another nice view..but the clouds are approaching...
Last group member arriving...
We ate and drank...
And some ppl feeded birds...
Far away we could see the path...
I like to stay at the peak for a long time...since you spend so many hours reaching it...it just feels strange being there for some few minutes...
Heavy wind...and sunshine...
Group photo...
Groups photo 2...
And number 3...
Now...heading down...
Some people taking a break further down...
Land slides...making patterns on the green environment...
Trash hidden in the tree...
The place where we were hiding the backpacks...
We left our tents in the first cabin...so we headed there fo repack our stuff...
So here...we made a short break...tha ranged wanted everyone down before 2am...or something due to an approaching typhoon...poor the rangers...many of them dont speak english...and there were atleat 10 foreingers on the moutain this day...
I tied some stuff on the outside of my bag...
Im always amazed how far we walked up, when i walk on the way down...
Pablo was listening to music...
I often see many old people climbing...
Adjust the backpack...
Cory was filming alot...
Wow...a hole in the tree...so spooky...
And some tar look-alike thin on the tree...
I guess some ranger left this tank here for pick-up later...in the middle of the path...
Pablos walking style reminded me of a hobbit....
A green environment...
Cory wanted to reach the car before 2, "else they might refuse us to leave", he said...
LAndslides creating these interesting strokes on the mountains...
2 professional ranger were looking for some foreigners...
One of them spoke very good english...
Pablo made a quick visit to the high altitude toilet that does not even have a window...such a waste...
We spkoe to many people on the way down...one kid was italian...i mentioned some pizzas for him...like "quattro stagioni" and "capricciosa"...
Wow...not far to the end...cory called a bus pick-up...to the ranger station...
Some alternative road headin east...I wonder what that was for...no traffic was allowed...
Some other hikers were already waiting the bus...
Down here it was super warm...taiwan temperature...
I felt i had to drink alot of water...
We quickly packed the car and headed downhill...
Cory wanted to take the road north...its a mountain road back to Hsinchu...I didnt mind...i love the mountains in taiwan...
They have some permanende road barrier on montains roads here...
And alot of construction working...
It was very good quality of the road...
More barriers...
We were worried about our car...it was rented...and the road was bad...stones scratched it underneath...
And nice view...
Probably every 20 minutes we saw construction workers...
I wonder how many people are using this road...maybe its for military purpose... no traffic but good quality road...(where its not construcion workers)
Nice view almost all the time (its Road 21)...
I wonder if its possible to buy land here...
More construction...
When the view was super good...there was a parking site..
Hmm...why use tired on the top of the tunnel?
A try river...a common site in taiwan...
And a cool bridge crossing it...
It was shaped as a sinus curve...
Nantou...the only county in taiwan thats not connected to the ocean...
We were discussion where to eat...
And ended up here...they said their burgers are super big...
They didnt have a complete english menu...
The walls were decirated in american an american style...
They had 2 different menues...so pablo got the wrong dish...
And they didnt have any beef...and eahc burger had many meats...
My pork burger had boiled pork...it was not like a real burger...
We took the freeway back to Hsinchu...it was a nice trip...next time...I will insist of climbing moutains on 1 day...since its more convenient...
Song of the day...its kind of old...but has a name similari to a place near Yushan...Tacata
 

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