My tent, since we are there:
Mr He, how about we take out respective tents for a spin on the Nan-ao trail?
Welcome to the OP. Once you get into the hills here, your mind is going to be blown. It makes anything west of the Rockies look like hills. Stunningly beautiful - once you get away from the cities.
As was already stated: Bring your own gear if you have good stuff. Sure, there is cheap gear available here, but if you want quality, you will have to pay a big premium on this side of the salt chuck. There are a number of excellent hiking gear stores in Taipei and Taipei County, but not cheap.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]My tent, since we are there:
Mr He, how about we take out respective tents for a spin on the Nan-ao trail?[/quote]
Deal, shall I ask my Danish friend?
Yes!
My tent is crap - I am too embarrassed to post pictures here. 
Looks very cool!
[quote=“Mr He”][quote=“Muzha Man”]My tent, since we are there:
Mr He, how about we take out respective tents for a spin on the Nan-ao trail?[/quote]
Deal, shall I ask my Danish friend?[/quote]
Excellent. It would be a three day trip though if you can take the time off.
[quote=“kage”]Welcome to the OP. Once you get into the hills here, your mind is going to be blown. It makes anything west of the Rockies look like hills. Stunningly beautiful - once you get away from the cities.
As was already stated: Bring your own gear if you have good stuff. Sure, there is cheap gear available here, but if you want quality, you will have to pay a big premium on this side of the salt chuck. There are a number of excellent hiking gear stores in Taipei and Taipei County, but not cheap.[/quote]
Really? Hard to believe seeing as the Sierras are pretty majestic too?
[quote=“tommy525”][quote=“kage”]Welcome to the OP. Once you get into the hills here, your mind is going to be blown. It makes anything west of the Rockies look like hills. Stunningly beautiful - once you get away from the cities.
As was already stated: Bring your own gear if you have good stuff. Sure, there is cheap gear available here, but if you want quality, you will have to pay a big premium on this side of the salt chuck. There are a number of excellent hiking gear stores in Taipei and Taipei County, but not cheap.[/quote]
Really? Hard to believe seeing as the Sierras are pretty majestic too?[/quote]
Ain’t no Sierras in the Great White North, tommy old boy.
OP is from that country North of California. Even Northerner than Oregon or Seattle!
Yeah, the Sierra Nevada Mountains are beautiful. So is Canada. The Coast Range is stunning.
Taiwan still blows my mind.
edit: Dang, MM. You beat me to it. Need to improve my typing speed. 
[quote=“kage”]OP is from that country North of California. Even Northerner than Oregon or Seattle!
Yeah, the Sierra Nevada Mountains are beautiful. So is Canada. The Coast Range is stunning.
Taiwan still blows my mind.
edit: Dang, MM. You beat me to it. Need to improve my typing speed. [/quote]
I wasnt dumbing down Taiwans majestic mountains. And they are indeed grand even just the wee bit I saw.
since you mentioned west of the rockies, I thought I would kinda throw the sierras in there for ya to compare with.
course how would us californians know they dont extend up to canada right?
what you want us to do? Look at a map or something?
and im assuming the rockies do extend up there eh?
besides you mean they actually got people living up north past oregon? Walking around? Camping and all that?
Tommy525, get on US 97 and drive north until it ends. You’ll be in Canada, and most of the trip from Cali through OR, WA, and BC will be in a desert climatic zone that runs all the way to the Yukon, IIRC.
I have a Hennessey tent/hammock (from Vancouver Is., where they know something about rain) and use it on cycling and moto trips. I have the winter accessories, and I use it 4 seasons. It is fantastic. I’ve frequently strung it over rocks, small creeks, etc., where there would have been no suitable place to pitch a tent. I’ve strung it in pouring rain, but it’s stored by rolling it up rainfly and all, when you unroll it, the rainfly is always on the exterior. A really great piece of engineering… for one person only, though.
Back to leave or bring the gear, there’s a third option, pack it for shipment and have friends send it after you settle. That way you will know how much storage you’ll have. Camping gear for a family can be 25 to 50 cubic ft.
To the the OP,
You should definitely bring your gear, there are tons of woodlands and mountains to camp in. its great, probably the greatest aspect of taiwan. I brought my tent and sleeping bag and pack and i couldn't be happier i did.
yes you can buy gear here, but the stuff at the hypermarts are on par with Wal-Mart crap. i dont think u want to be using that stuff. and yes there are good gear stores here, but the price is the equivalent or more than what you;ll pay back home. so bring it on! if space is a problem, through some clothes away. who needs'em!? :wink:
if you live in Taipei, its so easy to just do an over nighter to escape the city. u can take the subway and just start walking uphill and pitch your tent in the woods and no one will bother you. i do it several times a month as therapy. (10million neighbors drives me crazy). if u want to take trips, there are camp grounds but they are the ones where u park ur car and pitch the tent next to it. many are carport campsites with a roof. (how the locals like it). i recently went on a 6 day motorcycle trip and just squatted each night. once ur chinese gets good, u can even ask a farmer or something if u can camp on their land for the night, and the novelty of you doing that interests the locals and they'll most likely say yes. if they're nice they wont even take ur money. there are also many long hikes that u can turn into an overnighter.
also there is the Yushan (jade mountain) wilderness area which will be the closest thing for you to the canadian rockies. you have to apply for permits one month prior and its all backpacking in/out. i've yet to get there cuz work but its sweet. [url]http://english.ysnp.gov.tw/[/url]Maybe I am late on the thread. Anyway I have started a blog on Camping in Taiwan and is still in the pipeline. If you have any good information do let me know.
http://taiwancamping.blogspot.com
Nice work in progress.
thanks Mucha Man.
BTW how did you arrange your permit to Beidawu Shan? I don’t think I saw it on your blog.
thanks Muzha Man.
BTW how did you arrange your permit to Beidawu Shan? I don’t think I saw it on your blog.[/quote]
It’s there, at the bottom. You just apply for a local police permit in the last village on the way up. No need for advanced permits.
Not sure if I saw any Taian (in Miaoli County) campgrounds on your blog. The one on the bluff above Tenglong Hot Springs is extremely scenic.
Mucha man, we wil be at cloud 9 during dragon boat.
How do we get up to that spot?
Muzha man, we wil be at cloud 9 during dragon boat.
How do we get up to that spot?[/quote]
Cloud 9 or the campground mentioned above?