Taiwan Baiyang Fall & Taroko 17 Apr 2008

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At Taroko National Park, we spent a night at China Youth Corp Activity Centre at Tienhsiang. The room was clean and neat. The place has full meeting/conference facilities. Apparently, it has a chain of 14 outlets, located at scenic areas throughout Taiwan, to cater for family and group tours also. I like its motto: We serve the Youth and the Youth Serve the Country. At Hualien centre, I noted youngsters attending night classes.
We arrived at the Baiyang Waterfall Trail at 8 a.m. The trail is characterized by the number of tunnels.

Beginning with the 1st tunnel of 380 meters long to the last tunnel before the Water Curtain, one has to pass through 7 tunnels along the 2.2 km trail. Some of the tunnels are as straight as a pencil and light can be seen at the end. Others however are curved with pitch-black interiors. The trail was originally built by Taiwan Power Company in 1984 to develop hydroelectric power in the area. The plan was subsequently ditched. The trek was easy and pleasant. Along the way, we were rewarded with scenic views of the pristine river and mountains. We took about 1 hour to reach the 1st Water Curtain Cave. Subsequent Water Curtain Caves were closed because of loose ground rock. The Water curtain, created by spring water falling from the tunnel roof, was a spectacular sight and so surreal. It was a challenge photographing the water curtain in dim lights while getting drenched at the same time.

Our next trek was 1.9 km Jiucyudong tunnel or Tunnel of 9 Turns of a Coiled Dragon. This is the most magnificent part of Taroko Gorge, where the sheer cliffs face each other. The two cliffs are so close to each other, and it looks like they are joining to each other if seen from afar. The narrowest distance between the cliffs is only around 10 m. The trail is actually a tar road (close to vehicles) carved into the marble cliff. The views of rock folds, joints and faults of the white marble cliffs plus the cascading river were simply breathtaking. The trek took us 30 minutes only.

For the photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/2388.

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