The short but eventful life of Neihu Stream

Flowing down from the remote mountains above the town of Zhushan, the stream passes under route 149, a fine mountain road connecting Touliu (斗六), the county town of Yunlin, and the mountain resort of Caoling (草嶺). Just above the road, the stream cuts its way through a scenic and narrow defile crossed by a conspicuous suspension bridge, although this is a mere prelude to its later, greater achievements.

A couple of kilometers downstream, locked in a deep and steep-sided gorge, the stream is busy cutting deeper still as it flows through the photogenic defile known as Ten Thousand Year Gorge (萬年峽谷), while between these two sights, the stream makes perhaps its most dramatic statement of all: Tongxin Waterfall and its canyon.

This area is best reached by private transport, although a bus service between Touliu and Caoling passes by several times a day. Leave the car (or get off the bus) at the parking area at Tongxin Rest Area (同心休憩站) just after crossing the stream, and take advantage of the recently rebuilt footpath leaving the car park beside a large map board to visit the impressive thirty-meter-high Tongxin Waterfall (同心瀑布) and its gorge, just 15-minutes’ walk below the road.

Once a regular part of the local tourist route, Tongxin Waterfall has only recently become accessible once again, after major repairs and a new footbridge have made the path (knocked out years ago by typhoons) safe to follow once again.

Until nature softens the hard edges of the path makers’ handiwork, it’s not an especially beautiful start to the walk, but it is an impressive one. The steeply sloping paved footpath (steps would have been a better idea) descends the surface of a vast face of rock covered with countless smooth potholes known as the Pearl-Chain Pools (連珠池) since after heavy rain the circular, water-filled depressions are supposed to resemble a necklace of shining pearls.

Some of the deeper potholes have filled with dirt, and are studded with flowering plants in summer; one has even been planted up like a miniature flower garden by a local resident! The great sloping rock is bisected by the Neihu Stream, which over the millennia has carved a narrow but deep and rather dramatic chasm through its center, falling as it goes over a series of waterfalls into deep and inviting, but sadly inaccessible pools.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email