What would they do–keep you from hiking up the mountain? (Are you thinking of the area around Yushan?)
I’d be up for that hiking club too. how often does it meet or go climb. I’d be interested in 1 day or 2 day events. medium difficulty (whatever that means). my hiking boots are gathering dust in my ever so dusty apartment.
Hiking clubs are easy in theory to find.
Every Saturday and Sunday morning scores of people gather outside the entrances to Taipei Main Station (mostly the SW corner). Different hiking clubs will be there (these are the people who tie the plastic tags to trees to mark paths). If you turn up and speak Chinese you can ask around and find where everyone’s going that day then tag along. A wide selection of walks from full & half day hikes to more leisurely strolls.
Going with these people is a great way to learn about new routes and paths though valleys and to peaks even experienced hikers may have overlooked before.
The same people also organize regular longer 2, 3, 4 days trips and will get you the permits you need.
But like I said, this is largely theory. In a compelling demonstration that the Taiwanese, for all my belief in a common humanity, just aren’t like you and me, all this gathering at the train station happens at 7AM (that’s ante meridiem). The Thursday (?) Chinese papers carry lists of where and when each group is going but the meeting time is almost always the same.
If you want a day hike from Taipei, then there are several you can do without a club. In particular, YangMingShan has quite a few good routes accessible via bus. I’ve even managed to find a good map (1:25000 - just good enough for hiking from) at the ChinTienGang visitors centre there [good maps are virtually impossible to find in Taiwan, if anyone knows of a good source, please tell me!], which makes things easier.
As for longer hikes - there are loads of clubs, but i’ve yet to find one which is easy for non-Chinese speakers. If you’re going with a Chinese speaker, or your language skills are OK you’ll be fine though. You usually have to book a week or two in advance for a trip - and maybe more for really popular mountains like Yushan. I can dig out the details of the hiking club that i’ve used if anyone’s interested…
There is actually a good reason for the restrictions on hiking licenses - apart from controlling numbers of people in the national parks, it’s kinda useful for the park rangers to know where you are when an earthquake/typhoon hits. I was actually on a river-trek in Hualian the weekend before one of the typhoons hit 18months ago - the ranger pulled us out on the Saturday evening (as it turned out, the typhoon didn’t hit until Monday, but they didn’t know that then). So, for once there’s reason behind a bit of Taiwanese beaurocracy 
[quote=“salmon”]
I pored over a map of Taipei last night but couldn
I would be up for a hike this Sunday as well. Could you provide us a bit more detail on the trip?
Here’s the rough route.
公館 → 中正紀念堂 → 中山北路 → 承德路 → 仰德大道 → 文化大學 → 擎天崗
There are many possible itineraries from 士林 up to 陽明山, and this part is negotiable
[quote=“sandman”]
[quote=“salmon”]
I pored over a map of Taipei last night …
[/quote][/quote]
Wow! … your cut’n’paste didn’t quite work, but I see the quote comes from here (the answer to anyone’s map needs).
Many thanks sandman/salmon.
Seems most of your walk will be through the city. Weird. Why not just go directly to Yangmingshan and walk from there. Avoid that foot-killing concrete and after all, isn’t one of the main points of hiking supposed to be getting OUT of the city? Anyway, have fun!
Sorry about that – I don’t know why the links and images didn’t show. Anyway, at least you got what you were looking for. What I want to know is, will it be possible to get a whole bunch of these maps in consecutive order and put them together into one giant map? I did that in my apartment at home – papered the entire walls of my study with OS maps of the Scottish Highlands and Islands – pretty damned cool if you like that kind of thing. And those maps from Courant are a snip at NT$300 apiece.
You are right. That’s because i live around 台大 and i just wanna walk all the way through it. It may sound a little weird, but still negotiable
I’m interested in (a) hiking in the mountains around Taipei, and (b) one day going all the way across Taiwan, if I can find the route. What maps should I ask for?
If you move this to a new thread, can you mesh it with the other one I started? (“Is it possible to hike across Taiwan?” or something like that) So it’s all in one place? Because that had some good information on it too.
David - Yes. I will definitely be interested in the hiking club contact.
Just curious, why hike with people you don’t know well? I only hike with people I am certain can keep up with me, and who can read a map. In other words, one guy back in my home state.
Anyway, good luck with your club. I hiked all over Yang Min Shan today, and there were tons of friendly people, albeit a bit on the older side. Weekends you’ll see lots of younger folks.
The group I went with are called the THMA (Taipei H? Mountain Association). The webpage lists all the trips they’re planning in April. They also produce a booklet with a complete set of trips for the year.
As I said, it’s all in Chinese. You’ll definitely need someone who’s pretty fluent to help you contact them, ask questions, book, and find out exactly what you need to bring etc. However, once you’re on the trip, there are usually a few people with decent English, so you can get by with a bit of rudimentary Chinese. (My wife was with me to do any translating, and other conversations ranged between 1 guy whose English was pretty good to the usual combination of smiles, handwaving, and basic English/Chinese phrases)
This group just do 2/3/4 day trips over (long) weekends. Each weekend they have several trips, and there are probably 30+ people on each one. I’ve been on a couple of trips with them which generally involve an overnight busride from Taipei to the relevant place, staying in mountain huts or tents, communal meals (everyone helps and carries some of the food), then returning by bus on the final afternoon/evening.
We had to apply for a 1 year membership of the club (500NT?) before booking a trip, which is a bit of a pain if you don’t know if you’re going to go with them again, but I found it great fun, and well worth it.
So did any of you guys and gals go to Wulai today? I saw lots of foreigners there, especially at Wawagu, including a couple of small groups, and wondered if any of them might be members of this community.
I had a very pleasant walk, going up the road by the Tonghou Stream, turning into the forestry path at the police post, tramping along the dozen km to Neidong, then popping down the hill to Wawagu, tracking upstream for a swim, and finally walking back to my scooter in Wulai – about 26 to 28 km. in all, and well recommended for anyone who enjoys longish hikes.
But one word of warning: if you go along that forestry path, don’t turn off where the path curves up about 3 or so km after the police post. I’d never checked that one out before (it hasn’t been there very long), so decided to go and have a look today. I soon came upon an isolated building (the only one anywhere along the whole forestry track), with the usual complement of barking dogs, and an especially mean-looking large black brute came straight at me and gave me a nasty bite on the leg just below the side of the knee. An elderly Aboriginal man quickly appeared and called off the dogs, and was very apologetic when he found out I’d been bitten. Fortunately, he had a medicine box, so we were able to clean and disinfect the bite (the skin was pierced by 14 teeth, which the brute dragged sideways so that each wound is about an inch long – though it looks very messy, I’m not too much bothered by the wounds themselves, but am very concerned about their getting infected). Strangely enough, in my many years of hiking and tramping about in Taiwan, encountering countless noisy and aggressive dogs, especially at those isolated farmhouses, it’s the first time I’ve ever been bitten by one. I guess I’ll have to start carrying a stout stave with me when I go walkabout again.
[quote=“Omniloquacious”]
But one word of warning: if you go along that forestry path, don’t turn off where the path curves up about 3 or so km after the police post. I’d never checked that one out before (it hasn’t been there very long), so decided to go and have a look today. I soon came upon an isolated building (the only one anywhere along the whole forestry track), with the usual complement of barking dogs, and an especially mean-looking large black brute came straight at me and gave me a nasty bite on the leg just below the side of the knee. An elderly Aboriginal man quickly appeared and called off the dogs, and was very apologetic when he found out I’d been bitten. Fortunately, he had a medicine box, so we were able to clean and disinfect the bite (the skin was pierced by 14 teeth, which the brute dragged sideways so that each wound is about an inch long – though it looks very messy, I’m not too much bothered by the wounds themselves, but am very concerned about their getting infected). Strangely enough, in my many years of hiking and tramping about in Taiwan, encountering countless noisy and aggressive dogs, especially at those isolated farmhouses, it’s the first time I’ve ever been bitten by one. I guess I’ll have to start carrying a stout stave with me when I go walkabout again.[/quote]
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I like dogs, but I’ve also been bitten, more than once. That is why I usually carry a titanium steel, telescoping police baton in a sheath on my belt when I go hiking. One crack to the nose, and Fido runs off and leaves you alone. You can buy one legally at a police store for NT$800. When I bought mine, the store was full of cops who told me where best to hide the baton when I was out on the town, should I choose to carry it then.
This is the time of year when snakes are awaking from hibernation. What about poisonous snakes? Do they pose a greater threat than stray dogs? I’ve come across both during my hikes around Taipei, but have never been bitten by either (knock on wood). Any suggestions on countering snakes?
I come from rattlesnake country in the Western U.S. To avoid snakes, try to stay away from trails with taller grass, or with narrow pathways surrounded by thick underbrush. The paths around Yang Min Shan are primarily well-paved and wide, giving you a chance to get away should a snake come your way.
You may also wish to wear boots that cover the ankles, and strong canvas trousers, though that is tough to put up with in this heat. I still hike with low, lightweight boots, a pair of hiking shorts, and a bum bag. No shirt until the hike is over or I’ve reached the summit. Too damned hot, even in the winter.
Make sure you bring your cell phone if you go solo, and hope you are in a place where you get reception. You can call for help if you get nailed. At the top of Seven Stars peak on Yang Min Shan, I called a few friends and got great reception.
A greater threat than dogs? No way! I don’t have any suggestions about countering snakes other than watch where you put your hands when scrambling. I once put my hand on one when I was clambering over some rocks where the creek at Wawagu enters the main river, but he was small and I was fast so he missed with his strike. As far as snakes are concerned, if you walk VERY carefully and quietly on a warm day, you’ll stand a better change of seeing one or two. If you walk normally, snakes’ll usually sense you a mile off and will be well away before you ever see them.