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Updated Thursday, August 21, 2008 0:00 am TWN, By Richard Saunders, Special to The China Post

Visiting neglected waterfalls in Ilan

There’s so much variety and sheer natural beauty packed into the small northeast county of Ilan(宜蘭), that visits there would be a regular event, if only the weather in this, the rainiest corner of Taiwan wasn’t so darned horrible. As it is, as soon as a period of blue sky settles over the entire island, my plans for a weekend hike or exploration generally switch towards this northeast part of the island, taking advantage of one of those rare occasions when a spell of good weather in Ilan and a weekend coincide. On the other hand, even the wettest, nastiest of wet weekends in Ilan are perfect times to see some of the area’s most impressive spectacles: its waterfalls.

A couple of Ilan’s waterfalls have become popular weekend outings, but, not surprisingly, considering lots and lots of rain and many, many high, steep ridges can both be found in this corner of the island, there are plenty of less oft-visited waterfalls for explorers wanting a little peace and quiet.

It’s surprising that the area around one of the county’s most impressive cascades, Xinfeng Waterfall (新峰瀑布) seems to be visited by few people these days, because it’s certainly easy enough to reach, lying just two kilometers (as the crow flies) from the eastern mouth of the thirteen kilometer-long Hsuehshan Tunnel. Leaving the tunnel, take the first exit off the freeway, join provincial route three (until 2006, when the tunnel was opened, this was the main road between Taipei and Ilan) and turn off it onto local route three, which follows the base of a steep escarpment, actually the northernmost part of the Snow Mountain Range.

In 2.5 kilometers turn left onto a narrow side road, following the stream up for about a kilometer to a car park. Nowadays, this place (with its shallow, cooling stream) seems to be frequented mainly by owners exercising their pets; we ran into several locals, each out walking the dog, during our visit.

Xinfeng Waterfall was once part of a failed leisure development project, and the dilapidated refreshment kiosks, landscaped gardens, and even a flower clock à la Yangmingshan can still be seen near the large parking area.

From here an overgrown footpath runs upstream for some distance towards the foot of the waterfall, hidden round a bend in the stream. Unfortunately a landslip has swept everything away about ten minutes’ walk along the footpath and the last couple of hundred meters to the foot of the falls are a rough and slow scramble up the broad, boulder-strewn streambed.

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Xinfeng Waterfall plunges thirty meters into a secluded, boulder-strewn gorge. (By Richard Saunders, Special to The China Post)

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