A remote swimming hole at Shipanliao Waterfall

Fording this tributary stream by crossing its bare rock bed at the head of a small waterfall, progress is relatively easy and quick as the trail (about as good as it gets on this hike) winds pleasantly through the woods past several large stands of bamboo. It was here that our dog started sniffing excitedly, nose to the ground, on the trail of a scent he’d picked up. It was only about twenty minutes later, long after the scent had gone cold, that we realized what animal he’d detected, as the extraordinary sound of a barking deer calling from somewhere behind reached us through the trees.

The easier conditions prove very short lived however, as the path returns to the stream, tracing a very narrow and difficult course cut into the side of the deep gorge, and it takes a full ninety minutes to complete the short, one kilometer trail to Shipanliao Waterfall.

Four hours after leaving the car, we scrambled down a short branch path to the foot of the waterfall, which was pure balm to our weary eyes and legs. A narrow, 25 meter-high column of water plunges over a dark cliff into a large, deep of pure, crystal-clear water.

It’s not a particularly spectacular waterfall, but the superbly remote setting, rare in this part of Taiwan, made all the trouble worthwhile. We were, of course, still only half way, and a long, hard trek back to the car lay ahead. But pushing the difficulties of the return journey out of our minds for the moment, we pulled off wet T-shirts, pants and shoes and dived into the ice-cold, infinitely refreshing water.

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