So I’m going to be in Taipei in mid-November and have 2 days at the end of my trip to ride my roadbike. I’m planning going catch a train from Taipei to Hualien in the morning, ride up Hehuanshan and stay at the top overnight (Song Xue hotel), and then riding from Hehuanshan to Taipei (200 something km - mostly downhill) on the next day. I’ve done 200+km rides before, so I know it’ll be tough.
I’ve read the very helpful posts on putting your bike on the train, so I know to bring a big plastic bag or catch a ju-guang service, and to avoid putting your bike together on the platform.
Has anyone ridden a route from Hehuanshan to Taipei they would be willing to share?
Any tips re weather that time of year? I know the Taiwan KOM Challenge ran in November last year, and while it looked cold at the top of Hehuanshan, it wasn’t snowing. Anyone stayed at Song Xue Hotel? Any tips on where to get water/food along the route? Where could I get a decent map of the area?
Any help gratefully appreciated.
There’s only one route from Hualian to Dayuling and Wuling/Hehuanshan: the 8 up through Taroko Gorge. It’s possible to ride up that in a day, but only if you’re a really strong rider. At Dayuling, you have to turn left onto the 14-jia to get up to Wuling. You may be thinking of retracing your steps back to the 8 on the second morning because that’s the shorter route to Taipei, but there’s a typhoon-damaged section of the 8 that’s closed to traffic, so your only way to the west is on the 14, which takes you into Puli, a long, LONG way from Taipei.
The weather in November could be fairly nice during the day, or it could be rainy and miserable. At night, it will most definitely be very cold on Hehuanshan. If you’ve really got your heart set on climbing the 3275 meters to Wuling and riding back to Taipei the next day, I think it would be more feasible to go down the 7-jia to Yilan and then take the 9 from there.
But I have to stress: climbing Wuling is really, really hard. Unless you’re one hell of an athlete, you probably won’t want to try to ride all the way back to Taipei the day after the Wuling climb.
You want to monitor the state of that 8 up through Taroko - it’s currently only open a few times a day, whilst they clear a large rockslide.
If you’re here in Nov, then that’s just past peak typhoon season - another good reason to make checks on the road.
The best way to do this IMO is:
Day 0 : train from Taipei to Hualien, ride back up to Xincheng (village at foot of Taroko), and sleep-over.
Day 1: ride from Xincheng to Guanyuan Hostel (book ahead, details here http://www.taroko.gov.tw/English/?mm=5&sm=4&page=1#up)
That’s a nice long climb, but easy enough if you leave early. You could go up to Songxue, but you never know what the weather will throw at you up there in the afternoon.
Day 2: Dayuling is 5km up the road. Once there you get to choose, as haokaiyang says, whether to
a) Keep left and go over Hehuanshan on the 14, then down on the same 14 to Puli and Taichung.
b) Go right through the tunnel and head to Lishan on the 8, then along the 7 past Wuling Farm (this is a DIFFERENT Wuling!) and down into the Yilan valley.
Weather is more likely to be crappy with b), once you get back into the Yilan valley system.
And the 9 from Yilan back to Taipei is more climbing, which would make it a massive day.
But I prefer the scenery and less traffic on this route, overall 
.
I’d be thinking about staying over in Taichung or Yilan before riding back on Day 3 
.
Wuling and the whole top of the Taroko gorge are really, really hard. And it’s quite likely to be snowing and zero viz, so you really have to be committed and fucking strong and heavily loaded to do it.
and the bit about Wuling to Yilan being mostly downhill is nuts. it’s up and down for 50 km, then 50 km downhill to Yilan, then 30 km up to Pinglin on the 9 (very steep as well) or 20 km up a wall to the northern cross island highway and ending in Fuxing and Taoyuan county, and then 50 km to Taipei. It’s a nice ride, a beautiful ride in autumn but as a day trip, that’s completely mad and you’ve completely underestimated it and you WILL miss your flight. Food and water in the high country are rare to non-existent, except perhaps at Lishan and Wuling Farms and Nanshan.
[quote=“semiliko”]Any tips on where to get water/food along the route? Where could I get a decent map of the area?
Any help gratefully appreciated.[/quote]
Food / water on the way up Taroko:
Tianxiang
Bilu Sacred Tree, cafe usually open (never used it, so not a recommendation here!)
Dayuling, food and shops. Overpriced and awful.
I like this map:
http://mappery.com/map-of/Taroko-National-Park-Map
[quote=“urodacus”]Wuling and the whole top of the Taroko gorge are really, really hard. And it’s quite likely to be snowing and zero viz, so you really have to be committed and fucking strong and heavily loaded to do it.
and the bit about Wuling to Yilan being mostly downhill is nuts. it’s up and down for 50 km, then 50 km downhill to Yilan, then 30 km up to Pinglin on the 9 (very steep as well) or 20 km up a wall to the northern cross island highway and ending in Fuxing and Taoyuan county, and then 50 km to Taipei. It’s a nice ride, a beautiful ride in autumn but as a day trip, that’s completely mad and you’ve completely underestimated it and you WILL miss your flight. Food and water in the high country are rare to non-existent, except perhaps at Lishan and Wuling Farms and Nanshan.[/quote]
This. There are way too many possibilities for shit to go wrong and cause you to get stressed out, be miserable, endanger your health and miss your flight.
If you must do it, check the road reports and weather forecasts like hell right up until you start pointing your front wheel toward Taroko.
I would suggest stopping at that Guanyuan hostel that Nuit mentioned. 5km from Dayuling would be a sensible place to stop. From there, it makes the most sense to head up the 14-jia to Hehuanshan and ride down to the 14. It is a much busier road than the 7-jia to Ilan and it would be easier to hitch a ride or get a taxi back to civilization (Puli) if something went wrong.
From Puli, I would head to Changhua or Taichung and bag up my bike there. Then take an express train to Zhongli or Taoyuan and get a taxi (one of those big Wish ones) to the airport.
If you did that, and EVERYTHING worked out fine, you might just make your flight.
And regardless, absolutely do document your mad adventure with pics!
[quote=“Nuit”][quote=“semiliko”]Any tips on where to get water/food along the route? Where could I get a decent map of the area?
Any help gratefully appreciated.[/quote]
Food / water on the way up Taroko:
Tianxiang
Bilu Sacred Tree, cafe usually open (never used it, so not a recommendation here!)
Dayuling, food and shops. Overpriced and awful.
I like this map:
http://mappery.com/map-of/Taroko-National-Park-Map[/quote]
The cafe at Bilu Tree has your usual edible but overpriced microwaved dishes that most scenic cafes in Taiwan have.
Dayuling has a pretty typical biendang shop but it is indeed way overpriced.
I cant remember if there is food at Hehuanshan. I know there is a hotel of sorts there, perhaps it has restaurant. There is a 7-11 and lots of restaurants near Chingjing Farm before you head down into Wushe.
Puli is pretty big and has plenty of places to eat.
The Songxue Lodge has decent food but that’s at the very top. Do people really do this in one day? As Uro says, you’d have to be loaded with snacks and water and warm weather gear which makes going up 86km from the base of Taroko, and sea level, to 3275m in one day pretty fierce.
I once did Taroko HQ to Dayuling in 8 hours. I was cooked by then, 2pm, but could’ve got to Songxue if I’d had to. I turned around instead.
On a much lighter road bike, would be easy and quicker. Well, easyish 
.
So maybe the OP, if he’s in good shape & on a nice bike, should head for Songxue on Day 1. That would make his Day 2 easier. Thing is, if you’re entering low cloud and mist at Bilu in the early afternoon, then it’s rubbish riding from there up and a little dangerous with the traffic - did we say you need good bike lights for this and all the unlit tunnels?
Thanks for the advice everyone. Sounds like I’m biting off more than I can chew and heading for Guanyuan might be the best bet, and then back down to Hualien or even Yilan next day if I’m up for it. The weather and road closures will be a big determinant from the feedback. I’ve been able to find some decent weather forecast sites, but is the http://www.freeway.gov.tw/english/Publish.aspx?cnid=1134 website the best site for road closure info?
Thanks again, and if I’m able to pull it off, I’ll post some photos.
perhaps a more reasonable feat would be to cycle the north cross island highway, from Taipei via Sanxia, Fuxing, Baling, MingChe, Yilan, and then finish either through Pinglin (about 250 km round trip with max elevation around 1500 and about 5000m of climbing in total) or head north around the coast via Fulong, Wanli, and Danshui (closer to 300 km round, but basically no more climbing once you descend into Yilan).
I might be out on the total climbing, but there’s a lot. I did that years ago, both in one day and in two, and two is much nicer…
there’s a thread on that somewhere else in Cycling forum.
[quote=“semiliko”]Thanks for the advice everyone. Sounds like I’m biting off more than I can chew and heading for Guanyuan might be the best bet, and then back down to Hualian or even Yilan next day if I’m up for it. The weather and road closures will be a big determinant from the feedback. I’ve been able to find some decent weather forecast sites, but is the http://www.freeway.gov.tw/english/Publish.aspx?cnid=1134 website the best site for road closure info?
Thanks again, and if I’m able to pull it off, I’ll post some photos.[/quote]
Go for it. It’s a wonderful road, and even if you only got up to Guanyuan and back down, then you’ll have had a great ride.
You can definitely cross though in 2 days, easily - what we had problems with was you wanting to ride back to Taipei on Day 2. Take the train 
.
This is my favourite spot on the Central Cross, just by the Jinma Tunnel.
Yeah, go for it if the weather cooperates–just don’t try to gut it out all the way back to Taipei on the second day, or you’ll be miserable. I second Nuit’s idea that you take the train to Hualien on the evening of “Day 0” and sleep in Xincheng so you can get an early start. Taroko Gorge is breathtaking; give yourself time to enjoy it!