Sun Moon Lake III: Hiking
Luckily, fate was on my side. We headed back to the small town center by the visitor's center. The others paused for drinks and snacks as Kevin and I began a quest for ibuprofen. We were quickly rewarded by the discovery of a small pharmacy with the desired object on a shelf just inside the door. I had never been so happy to spend $150 NTD. After sitting for a while, and fueling up with some snacks and lemonade from a roadside stand, we were definitely ready to go, and I felt like a whole new person -- still a person with a headache, but at least one that would walk in a straight line and see out of her right eye. All was right with the world once more. We set off for Mt. Maolan, determined to reach its peak and come back down again in time to catch the last direct bus out of Sun Moon Lake Village to Taichung.
The hiking trail, though quite steep towards the end, was not long: less than 3 miles long, and divided into two parts. The first part of the trail led to the "Tea Research and Extension Station, Yuchih branch," which was established by the Japanese during the occupation and now continues to work with the tea leaves for which the mountain is justly famous. This part of the trail wound its way through tea gardens and fields, where some of Taiwan's finest Assam black tea is grown and harvested.
I simply couldn't stop taking pictures. Ever since I had first seen the bright, glossy photographs of "tea mountains" in the travel guide my father got for me, I knew this was something I had to see during my visit. The rows and rows of neat green tea bushes, the elegant terracing of the mountainside, the brightly-clad, straw-capped women picking baskets of tea to be dried and sold to make East Asia's most ancient and revered drink -- it was all exactly as I had seen it in the book, and even more lovely in person.
After drinking in (no pun intended) all the beauty of the tea fields, we took a shortcut past the Tea Research Station and embarked upon the second half of the mountain trail.
The second part of the hike winds its way up to a Meteorological Research Station at the mountain's summit. It was a much shorter trail (less than a mile) but far steeper, climbing (according to my map) more than 500 feet. If you look carefully at the picture below, you'll see that I am actually walking backwards -- Dave and Josh are uphill behind me, facing forwards as they head up the mountain, just as Kevin was. Walking backwards was one of the tricks we came up with in an effort to give our aching shins a break. This area of the trail was known as the "Avenue of Red Leaves" and was likened to European-style gardens which often feature autumnally-hued leaves. You can see the reddish leaves lining the path on either side. It was beautiful.
We paused once or twice at scenic overlooks, noting the change in foliage as our elevation changed and the tea fields grew more sparse.
As the trail became steeper still, chatter among the climbers grew more labored, then eventually died out entirely as we focused our whole attention on reaching the top, fighting against the oppressive humidity and laboring to keep our breathing even.
Finally, finally, around one last bend in the road, we saw the weather station at last!
We broke out the last of our rations for a brief picnic, snapped a few picures and then sped back down the mountain, determined to make the 5:00 bus directly home to Taichung.
The 5:00 bus turned out to be a 5:30 bus, so we had time for some dinner before piling, sweaty and exhausted but exhilarated by our adventuresome day. We arrived in Taichung, switched buses to get home to Wufong, and all -- as far as I know -- showered and went directly to bed.
posted by Kelly @ 1:38 PM
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