Four Beast Hike

Just after 9am this morning, a group of us set off to hike the four beast hike which scales Nangang mountain and Jiuwufeng. Each of the four peaks (Elephant, Leopard, Lion, and Tiger) rise higher than the next, all giving views of Taipei city and the iconic Taipei 101 building. We only conquered 2 peaks, but that seemed to be plenty, having to trade a leisurely stroll up some steps for testing our biceps.

The hike was relatively easy to find. After exiting the MRT, and following a winding road towards the mountains, we eventually diverged off the pavement onto Taiwan’s typical staircase hike.

Standard staircase hike in Taiwan

After a few short minutes of climbing stone stairs, we reached the first peak. It had a great view of the city, however the weather didn’t fully cooperate and all of our viewpoints of the vibrant city were diluted by a thick haze.

It was just after noon when we arrived at the first peak

Taipei and the haze

Next the fun part came. As we were already drenched in sweat, we began moving towards another peak, and luckily picked a difficult one. Slowly, the stairs disappeared and gradually the path turned into dense foliage. Before long, we found ropes laid down stone walls and began ascending almost straight up. Our hike turned into a rope climbing session.

Yay woods!

The ropes begin!

And they continue going straight up

Taipei 101 in between the trees

We were rewarded at the end by another awesome viewpoint of Taipei turned sour by murky skies. We took our time hanging out at the top before heading back down into town and roaming around trying to find a bite to eat. It was an awesome day trip to Taipei and I’m hoping to find a few more like that before I leave.

Crazy Spider!

The group at the top!