Backcountry Day Hiking – Cimu Mountain – Pingxi, Taiwan

We enjoyed the remoteness and nature of Northeast Taiwan so much, we headed back out there for a second day. This time we planned our route so we could jump from subway to train to train, taking us from the center of Tapei city to the old mining town of Pingxi in just two hours.

Our mission for this trip was to hike the trails outside of Pingxi. These aren’t your average trails; they wind up and down a series of crags that shoot up out of the forest. A few sections are steep and pretty intimidating, but there are well-carved steps and ropes along the way for support.

This hike was like rock climbing without needing any gear or experience. The views from the top of the crags were awesome. We were surrounded by forest. The picture was taken during our march up a long stairway to the second and tallest crag. If you look closely in the distance, you can see a person standing at the top of the peak behind Christine – that was the first crag we climbed, which was by far the most intimidating one! Altogether, we hiked up four of the crags over the course of a four hour hike.

We made friends with a group of Taiwanese hikers who were also out for the day. Ada, who studied and worked in the US for a few years, talked with us for a few minutes at the first crag. She was out hiking with her brother and a few of his friends. We ended up seeing them at each of the other crags, and hiked with them for a while. Picture taking ensued – here’s one of the group.

It’s going to be rainy for the rest of our time in Taipei, so it looks like our hiking days may be over…for now.