Rainy Season

Winters back home are very cold. For three or more months were bundled up with hats and gloves, and wearing a heavy winter coat.  Snow covers the ground and trees and you will see people shoveling their drive ways. In Taiwan, winter is nothing like Minnesota. November, December and January is the rainy season here. This past year, the middle of November to middle of December, it rained non stop in Taiwan. I've never witnessed rain for an entire month straight! It never stopped! I would wake up in the morning and watch the rain fall from the sky. Throughout the day it rained and the whole evening it rained. The cycle would start all over again, never clearing up for even just a day. The mornings were hard to get out of bed. It was dark, rainy and cold. You didn't want to do much on weekends as it was unpleasant to go out. The middle of December, the rain finally let up and I was outside in a blink of an eye. The first sunny day, I took a day trip to Yangmingshan national park. 

Yangmingshan national park, located in the north, is one of the eight national parks in Taiwan. It's the only national park in Taiwan that has volcanic geography and hot springs! It's right in Taipei making it very convenient to get to. Near the park entrance was the information center. I usually don't stop there as I like to discover places on my own. But, that day I decided to stop in. I've been wanting to go to Yangmingshan national park even before I arrived in Taiwan. For that reason, I wanted to get a map to see all the possible hiking trails and places to explore as I plan to come back several times while living in Taipei. There was a man at the information counter that stopped me and asked, "Where I was from?" Him and I talked for awhile.  Before I left, I asked him what do you recommend.. He said, "Come with me.." He walked me out the front door and in the middle of the parking lot pointed to a road. He said, "Follow that road, that is what I recommend". Little did I know, I was climbing the highest peak in Yangmingshan nation park, mt. Qixing! 

The first half of the trail consist of lush trees and uphill steps. I couldn't see much of the view until about an hour when all of a sudden it opened up and the peak was within eye sight! It was unbelievable gorgeous. I couldn't believe my own eyes. Right then, it became extremely windy and cold. I had to quickly put on my raincoat (lucky I brought it) and started climbing to the top. The view from the main peak, 1120m, was breathtaking! It was hard to stay up there for long as the combination of wind and cold were making my eyes tear up. Instead of turning back, which many people do, I decided to continue the trail for another 1 1/2 km. I'm very glad I did as the scenery was much different than the first half. Rather than the lush trees the land was filled with rock and sulfur. You could smell the sulfur as you were climbing down the steps.  I must say, I enjoyed the second half of the trail much better than the first half. The total length of the trail was 5.7 km, which took about 3 1/2 hours. By the time I reached the trail head, the sun was about to set. The beautiful sunset was a perfect end to my hike.