Taroko Gorge is somewhere I've heard about ever since I got to Taiwan. Luckily, I was able to tag along on my school's summer overnight trip and see it for myself.
Taroko Gorge is an amazingly beautiful canyon on the east coast of Taiwan. Actually, the word Taroko actually means magnificent and splendid in the local aboriginal language.
It's not the safest place in the world, there are lots of landslides and rockfalls. In fact, there was a huge landslide a few months ago that blocks the only road into the park. The road has since reopened, over the sand and rocks way above where the old road used to be. It's only open in each direction for 10 minutes each way, and the rest of the time workers are still trying to clear away the rocks.
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| The original road is way under the pile we drove over. |
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| You even get a cool hardhat you have to wear at some of the stops! |
Our first stop was a rope bridge high above a rocky river. Too bad that trail was closed and we couldn't go over the bridge!
Then we followed the crowd to Swallow's Grotto (I hope I have the names right!)
Then we continued on to another area that was closed because of the rockfalls. Our driver said someone got hit on the head with a big rock and died, so now they closed it and rebuilding the whole part of the highway. Sounds like a good plan to me.
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Can you see the face?
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Just a big boulder that fell from the sky and is supposed to look like an elephant.
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We were only able to take a half day tour, so we didn't get to go on many of the trails. Some are way more extreme than others. For this one, a permit was required, for serious hikers only.
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| Seriously guys, behave yourselves! |
We went for a short hike on a trail that was right in the side of the mountain.
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A view from the hike
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That used to be a big river but... ya'know, landslide.
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| Leftover from a monkey! Didn't see the monkey though... |
The last stop on the tour was the Eternal Spring Shrine.
Then we went back to the hotel. Did I mention the hotel was absolutely amazing?
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The pool overlooking the ocean
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The ocean side view behind the hotel
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The view from the front of the hotel
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Sorry I've been so horrible with the updates. I've been so busy I haven't had time to update, but that's a good thing I guess. I'm working on my blog procrastination, I swear ;-)
Remember you can click the pictures to see them bigger.
More pictures
here.
<3
