JiaMing Lake （嘉明湖, 3410m）

Day 1: 28 April 2008 – Taipei

It was raining lightly outside our hotel after our breakfast. Me and Eunice were waiting at the lobby for our mountain guide friend to pick us up for the 6hour drive to our climbing destination. Weather forecast wasn’t too appealing. Showers were expected over the entire week. But still I was hoping for clear skies for the weather up in the mountains. We started the drive from Taipei around 9:30am, taking the south bound freeway 3. We droved all the way passed Taichung (台中市), ChangHua (彰化市), Nantou(南投市)， Douliou (斗六市)，Shinying (新營市)，and finally took the exit in the small town of Guantian (官田)。From here we took highway 20 up the mountain road towards our destination.

At the town of BaoLai

At 3:30pm, we made a stop at the town of Baolai (寶來), which is famous for their yam products. The skies were still cloudy with a slight drizzle. I was also slight worried about weather up there. While we were pampering ourselves to the local yam ice-cream, our guide friend was busy making calls to his contacts about the weather up in the mountains. It was raining quite badly up in the mountains and although we have our waterproof gears, it would be really miserable to trek though the forest in the rain. And further to add on we were late in our schedule and that would mean trekking in the dark. In the end, we decided not to make the 1st day climb to the first mountain lodge (向陽山屋) which can easily take 4hours from the trailhead.

We planned to stay for the night somewhere near the trailhead so that the next day we could make an earlier start. Up in the mountains, it gets dark very quickly. Around 6pm, we are already driving in the dark working our way up the winding road of highway 20. This highway 20 is also known as the southern cross-island highway that joins the west to the east. Through this highway, you can drive all the way to Taitung (台東). During the drive, there are hardly any other cars around. There were times when we drove for 30mins without see any cars or lights. Occasionally, we passed a few cyclists making their gruesome feat up this mountain road. This road has always been a popular challenge for cyclists trying to cross the island of Taiwan using leg power. Our mountain guide friend would slow down the van and give moral support and encouraging words “加油, 加油” to the panting cyclist. Besides the high bean lights from our van that pierce through the fog and darkness, everything is darkness. Not to mentioned that the road leads up to an altitude of over 2000m.

Dinner at a Stir Fry restaurant at Meishan

Cold Cold.. Around 8pm, we reached the village of Meishan (梅山)。It was almost pitched dark. This is the last village before another continuous drive of 60km to the trailhead. This is the last stop to have a proper meal at the food shops. After which it will be mountain roads all the way. We ordered fried rice, fried noodle and some vegetables. The vegetables were real fresh and the rice was great. The boss of the shop was very friendly and started off chatting with us while we had our meals. He had a business card board when many of his customers pinned their name cards there. I took out my name card from my current job and pinned it up as well. Hopefully, there is another Singaporean who happened to travel this far out into the mountains who share the same sentiments as me in trekking JiaMing Lake. As we bid farewell to the owner, he reminded us to come back to his shop in future. Just mentioned the words “We have been here before” and he will give us 90% discount. I have my doubts on this. We continued the drive up the winding roads deeper into the mountains. There were loosed rocks on the road at times, and if there is a huge enough rock on the road, that will be a big problem for us because the road workers will only come the next morning to clear the debris. After more than an hours’ drive, we reached YaKou Lodge (雅口山莊). There were already a few cars parked outside. These might be people resting the night here as it might be too risky to continue the drive through the mountains to the east coat of Taitung.. This mountain road is the faster way for drivers to travel between Taichung and Taitung. The outside temperature was less than 10 degree Celsius. But with electricity and water, this lodge is the best mountain lodge that any hikers could ask for. There were toilets, and thick blankets as well. Breakfast was provided, but we skipped that the next morning as we need an early start to cover the lost distance that should have been covered on Day 1. Sleep Sleep.

Day 2, 29 May 2008, 5am, YaKou

We woke up to a clear blue sky. The rain clouds were gone and we can hear the morning birds chirping away. It was already well-lit for this timing in the mountains.  At 6am, we churned up the cold van engine and drove 20mins to reach the Siangyang National Forest Recreation Area, 2250m (向陽國家青林遊樂區). This is the start point to the trail head which is at the highest point of the park. Standard registration process at the police station at the park and we were ready to start. The permits for us were already processed by our friend before we left Taipei. It is an offence to trek in the mountains without a permit. The morning sun created a golden yellow scenery with the buildings and the trees. It was really a good day to start a climb. With much enthusiasm and optimistic feeling about the weather, we tread lightly along the well maintained path in the park to the trailhead.

At the Yakou Hostel Parking Lot

Yakou Youth Hostel

With the perfect combination of the morning sun, superb weather, light breeze, birds chirping and the waving sounds of the tree leaves, it orchestrated a perfect soothing music that one can never find in the bustling city. At times, I would just stop and dream away to the natural beauty around me. Around 8:30am, we reached the trailhead. There is a little wooden bridge here to mark the start of the actual climb. At this point, we had already cover say 300meters from the car park. From here it will be the narrow forest trail all the way to our first stop, the XiangYang lodge (向陽山屋)。

XiangYan National Park

Morning forest trail at Xiang-Yang National Park

Walking up the route at the park

At the Xiang-Yang National Park

SiangYang cabin

At 10:30am, we reached the 向陽山屋. It was a tiring trek to the mountain hut. The hut was empty except a few backpacks left behind by trekkers who may have moved out in the pre-dawn hours to trek to JiaMing Lake. It is very common for trekkers to dump their heavy gear at the hut and go light all the way to the lake and back. This strategy is possible for those who are fit and able to sustain continuous long hours of climbing. For me and my wife, we stood to the original plan which was to spend the night at the next mountain hut before making our way to JiaMing Lake.

Puffed Up M&M

After a 20minutes break, we headed out into the forested area again, walking up the narrow forest trail. We were the only ones making the trip to JiaMing Lake, because there weren’t any other trekkers coming from behind. At 12noon, we just stop in the middle of the trail and set up lunch. I was starting to get tired and just laid on the soft alpine grass beside the trail. Wah.. I could doze off with that nature bed. It was a simple lunch with some soup and cheese and lettuces. Knowing we are still a long way from the next mountain hut, we hurled our backpacks and off we go again. It was only a short trek before we broke through the alpine forest. We could see a sea of clouds from below. The view of exhilarating, but that indicated that once the clouds climbed up the mountains, it would bring mist and rain. Well, it did rain a little but not those heavy downpours you find in Singapore. The wind was getting strongly and clouds were charging up the mountain sides.

Working our way up the mountain trail

Finally at around 2pm, we reached the ridgeline and from here we would be walking along the ridgeline, going up and down the rocky peaks. The altitude at this point is around 3200m and climbing these small peaks could ramp the altitude up to 3500m. Walking along the ridgeline with strong winds and clouds rushing was a totally new experience for me. I remembered stopping awhile to enjoy the sudden rush of clouds and winds. Well it is like being a child in a raincoat and jumping in a puddle of water in the rain.

Walking among the clouds

The walk along the ridgeline covered quite a distance, maybe 3km, but the trek was gradual and overall much relaxing than clearing the alpine forest. At 3:30pm, we reached the junction where one path leads to 向陽山, and the other towards 嘉明湖山屋. Since the weather wasn’t too good for a summit ascent and most likely is just mist.

JiaMing lake Lodge

Finally at 4:30pm, we reached the嘉明湖山屋. The hut was empty except the sole trekker (劉先生) we met at the reporting police station, and he graciously welcome us with his pot of warm water. I guess he was also happy that we made it so that he wont be lonely for the night. It can be quite eerie to sleep alone in the huge mountain hut. It was still daylight and off our guide went to prepare dinner, it was lamb chop steak and the herbs and fragrance that we got from the cooking stove was a civilization reminder. Still, I preferred chicken.

JiaMing Lake Lodge

After dinner around 6pm, the skies started to dim down and around 6:30pm, it was pitched dark. Heavy clouds were still hovering across the mountains above us. At that time, I just hope that the next day would be a fine day to make our strenuous climb worthwhile.

Out we hurled our sleeping bags and snuggled in to keep ourselves warm. It was quite hard to fall asleep initially because of the cold. We did not bring thermal mats along as most mountain huts do have rubber mats, but not this one. In the middle of the night around 1am, I heard noises from the outside ! What could it be, I could start to think towards paranormal but stick my intuition to nature. Mountain animals are rummaging the outside of the hut trying to scavenge for food. Well, we did not leave any. In the pitched dark hut, we turned on our headlamps once and silence was returned. The animal must had run away knowing people around. While lying down, I tilted my head to look at the night sky. It was studded with stars, so many that they became so beautiful to gaze at.

Sunrise over the mountan outside our lodge

Day 3, 30 April 2008, 5am.

Wakey wakey. Crawling out of our sleeping bag, it was still dark. Turning on our headlamps, we started to stretch our body after a night of intermediate sleep on the cold hard bunks. The skies was starting to light up, with the distance skies turning from black to blue. I was really glad the skies had cleared up and really enthusiastic on the day’s trek ahead. Our guide was woken up by our wake up noise and he did some stretching “yoga” before going off to prepare breakfast.

Beautiful and calm sun rise 

Knowing that me and my wife didn’t have much appetite, breakfast was some hot cocoa drink.

After that, I was outside the mountain hut and snapping away at the morning skyline with my digital SLR. At 5:30am, we left our big backpacks behind and only with a single small backpack, we started our trek towards JiaMing Lake. It was a gradual trek with some ups and downs again. And once again, it was climbing over small rocky peaks. The weather was great and that makes the morning more refreshing and less tiring. We had the luck of witnessing the morning sunrise in the mountains as it broke through the mountain peaks of the southern mountain ranges.

Walking along the open mountain tops

The rising sun turned the alpine grass golden brown, making it a huge contract between the clear blue skies. Once I was off snapping my camera.

Great view of the morning mountain view

Easy and gentle trail towards JiaMing Lake

Out comes the sun to warm us up

Background view of Mt Yushan (highest in Taiwan)

Around 6:30am, we have reached the 3km mark from JiaMing Lake. From here, we could see Yushan (玉山) in the far north. Yushan is Taiwan’s highest peak, which is at a height of 3952m. With the clear skies, we got an unobstructed view all the way to the summit of Yushan.

Walking along the ridgeline

The next 1.5hrs, we were trekking downhill. We could actually see the long and winding path below us as it winds around the mountain peaks. As the weather starts to warm up, clouds were starting to form and they rose across the ridge line and disappeared on the other side.

A few hundred metres more 

At 7:40am, we reached the 1.5km mark from Jiaming Lake. I was starting to get anxious on seeing Jiaming Lake.

Taking a break for a shot

The clouds are coming

Nice feeling to lay on the grass and enjoy the warm morning sun

At 8am, we reached the 1km mark and decide to take a break because of the beautiful landscape around us. It was a vast field of alpine grass, surrounding us. We had some Pringles and Oreo cookies, just like picnicking. There were no mats, just the alpine grass and we just sat on the dried alpine grass sunbathing ourselves in the warm sun.

Looking north to the Yushan mountain range

With Yushan in the distant, the warm sunrays, and the vast grassland, I couldn’t help but throw myself on the ground watching the blue sky above. At that moment, I really felt close to nature forgetting everything and my mind to dream away. 20mins later, we were off again, taking the detour to reach Mt. SanCha ( 三叉山). It was a gradual climb to the summit of 3496m and in 30mins, we reached the summit. The summit was spacious and offer a 360 view. There is a little small stone marker indicating the summit point.

Just me at Mt San-cha

Climbing to the top of the hill (Mt San-cha)

Walking down to the lake

From here, Jiaming Lake was blocked by the slopes but if you look carefully, you can guess where the lake is. From here it was an easy path downhill to the lake.

Great blue and green view

Getting more anxious than before, we quickened our steps and followed the path downhill. After quite some walking, I looked upwards to experience the view that I always thought could only exist in motivational posters. The slope of the mountain cutting halfway across the blue skies, with amazing clouds gushing from behind. It was really an exhilarating experience.

JiaMing Lake

At exactly 9:17am, we reached our final destination, Jiaming Lake (3410m). We stayed at the slopes to admire the beauty of the lake, and regrettably enough wished we had made the walk down to the lake itself to experience the enormous lake.

Me and guide doing the star jump

It was said that the lake can take you about an hour or more to circle around it. There is one thing about Taiwan that trekkers like to do when they reached their summit or destination. They would snap some pictures of themselves jumping into the air. We had a few tries of that got one that fits the bill perfectly. Just more panting to do jumps at such an altitude. We stayed about 30mins at the site before packing up and started our trek home. It was a long walk ahead and we need to get back to Taipei on the same day.

Without having to scale Mt SanCha, we took the side path back to 嘉明山屋。It took us 3 hours to reach the mountain hut. Once we got there, there were hordes of trekkers arriving at the hut. Mainly because the next day was a public holiday (Labor Day), many came to visit Jiaming Lake and some had planned to do their trek to Yushan from here. Our guide friend quickly went to start preparing lunch while we packed our bags for the trek downhill. At 1:30pm, we left嘉明山屋. Going downhill is much faster and we covered quite some distance. When we reached the ridgeline, we could see rain clouds descending from the sky and we were still at 3200m high. Knowing that rain would be inevitable, we quickened our steps downhill. At 4pm, we reached向陽山屋。 Once again, we were welcomed by hikers who had already descended from Jiaming Lake and planned to stay for the night before their trip back to the cities. For us and our guide friend, we had plans the next day and so we pushed on towards the trailhead. We were ready to use our headlamps to trek in the dark to reach the car park. Fortunately, we managed to reach the car park area at 6pm where there is still daylight. Immediately we hopped into the van and started the drive through the winding mountain road again. It took us 3 hours to drive out of the mountain area and into the town of Bao-lai. At 9pm, we reached the town of Yu-Jing (玉井) and had our late dinner. It was a shop offering steamboat, but we just ordered rice and some dishes. After lunch, it was a one-way non-stop drive back to Taipei. As we droved north bound, it started to rain and we were still speeding over 100km/h. I did not have much sleep and was trying to stay awake to make sure my guide friend stayed awake behind the wheels. It was really difficult to stay awake after the days of hiking. At 2:30am, we reached Taipei and after we check-in into our hotels, we finally slept at 4am.