Hiking Old Jhuilu Road
I went on the Old Jhuilu Road which was made by the japanese some houndred of years ago...
But the trip started with a Starbucks visist...
...and me tryting to get rid of 16 free cinema tickets to the movie "the rover"...
Jason, my old friend form NCTU Europe took some...we had a nice cycling session along taipei river side...
Omg...3am on saturday morning, i got the honour to meet a Taroko aboroginal in a 7-11...
before arriving to the trail entrance of the old trail that one needs a permit to walk...in taroko gorge...
High mountains...this is probbly one of the more famous troutist sites in taiwan...
Pretty steep down to the river...
I heard that the military built this road...and many people died when doing it...
its mainly made by semi tunnels on the mountain edge...
...and still heavily trafficed...
Some cool holes in the wall created by water some million years ago..or thousand years ago...
This is the trail entrance...a bridge...
And a ranger guarding the trail...since no too many people can walk on this fragile path each day...
"Swallow Grotto Trail" might be another trail, but it was here that one can find tha entrance...
The ranger checking the permit...(also taroko aboriginal)...
After checking he opened the locked door...
"old Jhuilu road" is the name..
This is a common bridge in taiwan for trails at the east coast...
...but its not made for "whoever" to walk...
The water some 50-100 meters down looks pretty gray...
And some 20km down hills the ocean starts...
The trail was built some 100 years ago...
And went pretty far...to bad that its broken, so after 3 km its closed...
They say "at least four days" to walk...interesting...
"90 cm wide"...we will see about that...
Its cool that it crossed the island...
They had ropes on some paerts for the walkers to hang on to...
And snakes...I heard stores about the snakes in taroko gorge...
Else prtty much of the trail was in shadow...
"cliff outpost" was the place everyone was heading for...
In the horizon one could se high mountains...
Once in a while they had a terrace...it use to be a ploisce station during the japanese occupation...
Another bridge...
And many elder walked this trail...
It was pretty sweaty...since it was pretty low altitude...
As usual the locals walked with full "mountain climbing equipment"...
We were still walking on the edge...but not that steep down yet...
But once in a while they had a tunnel...
And most often they repaired the broken path with a bridge...
It is pretty nice to walk on trails like this...feels like one is in some "lord of the ring movie...(except that the bridge is made on steal)...
After some 2km the one could see the gorge pretty well
Some locals who take a rest...
Once in a while they also had a fence...
But at the steepest parts they didnt... i remember i reaceted to this the first time i came to this area 2008...
The road was down there...far away...
And the path was on the edge...I wonder how the build this 100 years ago...
It was hard to pass by anyone up here...
Some locals carrying a drone...
Omg...better hold on tight...
Some times they also had a tunnel up here...
But most of the time it was just thie 1 meter wide trail and steep down...
I was recommended this trail by a swedish friend who lives in Kaohsiung...
Here the trail was broken long tima ago...so they added a bridge...
After 3km one couldnt walk further...
Just some lines blocking the way...
And many people taking a rest...
Ok...time to walk back...
Same path...same similar pics...
I also met a new Taroko friend who taught me to say "hi" in their language "Madusu"...
After 3km downhill I reached the car road again...
Many people were walking on the big road. also enjoying the gorge...
And the ranger had to open the gate...(its not possible to enter this trail after 11 in the morning, by some reason)...
Many cars were parked here now...
And the visitors could borrow helmets if they wanted to...
Omg...an aboriginal patterned house...
And some totem pole...
Next stop was a "burger bar"...called Salt Lick, in Hualien city...
It was more like a sandiwch and steak house...
...inspired by american wild west...
With nice decoreations...
and free wifi..., however I wonder how they transport their "homemade" apple pie from their home...or maybe they live in the restaurant..
The burger was pretty cheese...it was nice..
But it was nor a real burger patty..more like 2 slices of meat...
And the french fries felt strange...like if they were fried from deep frozed raw potatoes.. that got dry...
The toilet was cool...
Next stop was this water falll...
But it was hard to reach it...even if it was announced from the road, that it was a scenic area...
This is the best shot I got of it...near Ruishui on road 9...
Or this...
Later on, in Ruishui, they had boriginal ceremony...
Many Amis dancing...
And different tribes were wearing different clothes...
I wanted to hear my second favorite Amis song...but they never played it (or i came to late to hear it)...
I think they also had some competition...and they announces which tribe won...
More dancing...
Next stop was these 2 stones (Saoba stone pillars)...which reminded me of a small part of Stone hendge in UK...
It seemed to be a part of some bigger archaeological site...
They dont knwo from where the stones are taken...but think they are about 3000 years old...which puts them on the so far oldest thing one can see, made by man in taiwan...
The highest one was over 6 meters high...amaxing how many earthquakes it standed in this time..and typhoons...
Its always confusing how they spell their characters in pinyin in taiwan...
..."jui sui" or "rui shui"...etc...I try to keep my facts right...
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