Caoling Geopark — Nature at her most terrifying

Today, the long ridgeline above the tunnel which carries the road through the mountains from Caoling forms a pair of peaks with a long, low saddle in between. Before the great earthquake however, locals say, the skyline formed one long, curving summit, with the peak of Mt Caoling, formerly the highest part of the ridge, standing where the great dip can be seen today.

The scene on the site of the Spring and Autumn Cliffs and Lost Soul Valley today is one of complete desolation. The vast weight of the entire top of the mountain bodily sliding down the mountainside scoured the ground in its path, flattening it into a vast sloping plane which only now, almost ten years on, is beginning to soften under a carpet of grass, bushes and a few young trees.

For all their awesome power to cause death and destruction, however, earthquakes do have the power to create as well. Just as the upheavals of the great 1941 earthquake sculpted two of Caoling’s most striking landmarks, the temblor of 1999 created several impressive new attractions, including the spectacular ‘Grand Canyon’ or Jhuolan, near Taichung, and, in Caoling itself, a ‘new’ Spring and Autumn Cliff, down in the valley below the Geopark.

It’s not a bad thing that a visit to Caoling Geopark takes only a few minutes, as the Caoling area is a walker’s paradise, packed with beautiful and impressive sights, but read the info boards and take a little time to study the scene carefully, and it may well prove to be one of the most memorable things you see on a visit to this beautiful area.

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