Caoling Trail
Early Sunday morning a group of us boarded a train to Fulong, eager to hike a famous trail in Northeastern Taiwan. The train ride took a little over two hours. Most people slept on and off throughout the trip, I spent a majority of the time reading.
Once we arrived, we stopped by a 711 to fuel up and grabbed a quick bite to eat. I was so tired of eating out of a 711. Often on my cycling trip there would not be anything open, or it was difficult to find places to eat in a hurry, so I did the 711 run.
After grabbing all of the necessary items, we began making our way to the trail. It started out as a road, eventually turning into a paved path. After a few km, it then broke down into a real trail and seemed to show some promise of being an awesome hike.
Small stream at the beginning
Pit stop
The views are starting to open up and I like it
The trail only lasted for about a kilometer before spitting us back out onto a paved road which eventually turned into a stone path. The first half of the trail is the main part and was loaded with tourists. Sometimes you couldn’t even walk there was so many people. I think half of the enjoyment of hiking is getting away from the masses.
We stopped for lunch a little past noon at a small pavilion and then quickly finished the first part of the trail. Once at the end there were two choices. One, which almost everyone did, was to head to the train station at the bottom of the hill and call it a day.
The alternate was to continue upward to the crest of the ridge and hike the ridge for another 13 km. We chose the second option, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the decision. The people disappeared and the views only grew in beauty.
Almost to the split - looking back on our accomplishments
I'm happy with the decision to go up
The trail itself was a seemingly endless series of stairs, however for short periods we were able to trek along through grass, or on a makeshift path. It was a long beautiful hike, but we were playing with fire and stopping too much.
Ryan, Me and Paul
Scott and I were told to "act like you like each other"
More stairs!
Cool road going down the other way and sweet view
Paul, Rachel and I
Me resting at the top of the ridge
Open fields on our right, jagged mountains on our left
Just some random gigantic water buffalo 10 feet away
Looking back on passing the water buffalo
Going back into the forest
About 2.5 km from the end, while coming down through the forest, the sun eventually disappeared and left us in the dark. The misty conditions only enhanced the already slippery stones and getting down became much more difficult. Luckily, I had a small little flashlight, and was able to get to the bottom safely.
We reached the bottom of the trail around 6:15 and then headed to the train station, which was about a km away. Upon arriving we noticed our train pull in, but there was no possible way we could catch it.
Waiting...
We all agreed me should have tried a little harder, as the next train didn’t actually stop at that station again for another hour and forty minutes. We had to transfer to a bus in Taipei in order to get home.
Our adventure came to an end around 1am after stopping in a local restaurant for a quick bite to eat. Great hike, but definitely felt it the next day. Can’t wait to see what the next weekend holds in store for me.