Jiaoshi (礁溪) , like so many other tourist attractions around the island, has undergone a thorough face-lift in recent years, and now stands smart and modern (if a little too large — more like a bustling town than a peaceful resort) to welcome the many visitors arriving each weekend.

Apart from the hot spring spas, resort hotels and public bathhouse, Jiaoshi is famous for the waterfalls at nearby Wufengchi (五峰旗). The falls are three in number, each higher than the previous one, although the third (by far the highest and most spectacular) is curiously missed by the majority of visitors: perhaps the steep trail up to its foot has something to do with this.

There are, however, several other waterfalls in the Jiaoshi area, none of which nearly as well known as Wufengchi, including the small but enchanting Shipan Waterfall, secreted away in a wooded glen high above the city and basically inaccessible until a path was built up to it a couple of years ago. It’s now being incorporated into local coach tours as a stop on the “Jiaoshi tour,” but most independent tourists have yet to find the place, and unless you run into a convoy of buses, it’s unlikely you’ll have too much company on the 3 km loop walk.

To get there, leave Jiaoshi town by route five, and look out for the first brown sign (in Chinese only) pointing the way to Linmei Shihpan Trail (林美石盤步道). From here the way to the trailhead is well-signposted, climbing past the huge campuses of Foguangshan and Danhai universities, conspicuously sticking out of the otherwise unspoilt wooded escarpment above the flat coastal Lanyang Plain.

Finally a sign (and, at weekends, a group of cars parked beside the road) marks the trailhead. Resist the urge to head immediately back down to Jiaoshi after seeing the wide, stony track, tall, barbed wire fence and adjacent golf course, and put up with them for a few minutes: it gets much more scenic later! Things start picking up after the fence and golf course are left behind and idyllic Caonan Lake (草湳湖、草灆波) lies to the right of the path.

Shortly after, a gate blocks the way ahead, marking the start of the walk proper. Here, as in several other beautiful spots around Ilan County, protecting the environment is taken refreshingly seriously. A sign here announces that pets are prohibited from entering, and (under the catchphrase “Ecotourism, no Ecocide”) a number of other no-no’s are listed, including no swimming.

In one of the most effective measures, visitors during the relatively busy weekends are limited to 350 on the loop trail at any one time. Numbers are tracked by issuing all walkers with a pass, to be returned upon leaving. When they run out, further visitors have to wait until returning walkers pass through the gate on their way out and hand back their card.

The track immediately narrows to a dirt path cut into the side of a deep valley, and once used to transport logs. A “wood horse,” a crude wagon once used to transport up to 3,000 kilograms of logs at a time down the valley to the road below, stands beside the path, resting on a bed of rounded logs over which it was once rolled.

After passing over a couple of bridges, the gorge narrows, the rocky cliffs start to close in, and the path is forced onto a wooden catwalk jutting over the lush, fern-filled gorge, as the stream below forms a series of tiny cascades and a beautiful aquamarine pool.

Round one more corner and across another footbridge the walls close in like pincers, forcing the path onto a long and steep set of wooden steps anchored into the side of the rocky cliff, while the stream plunges unseen over a series of waterfalls in the rocky defile to the left.

At the top, an observation platform gives an oblique view of Shihpan (“stone stage”) Waterfall, while on the other side is a spacious, slightly sloping platform of rock, from which the fall gets its name. The stream’s big plunge is only about twenty meters or so in height, but it makes up for its modest size in sylvan, unspoilt beauty.

The stream is crossed by a footbridge just above the waterfall, after which the trail follows the opposite side of the gorge back to the gate at the beginning, passing through a grove of maple trees which make a fine display in late autumn.

It’s been less that an hour since collecting the pass and beginning this short nature trail, but Linmei Shihpan Trail makes up for its short length in sheer variety and great natural beauty. There’s no doubt that this is going to be Jiaoshi’s new big attraction, so get there now — before the crowds do!