Wulai Waterfall: The hard way

Wulai may be overrun with day-trippers on fine weekends (it's not exactly quiet during the week either), but the multitudes stick to a very well defined and limited area, leaving most of the area's wild scenery to a slowly growing yet still small group of hikers.

There's plenty of magnificent countryside to explore in the Wulai area. The only problem is, get off the road and there's some pretty wild and remote terrain out there which is not to be tackled lightly, or without a good map and some experience. One hike, however, that manages to be quite wild and exhilarating while not straying too far from civilization is the short, steep ramble from Wulai village to the top of the famous Wulai Waterfall.

Starting at the bus terminus in Wulai, the route follows the crowds along the road through town beside the river for just a couple of hundred meters before branching left along a tributary stream immediately after crossing the first bridge.

A few hundred meters down this lane, opposite Wulai elementary school, the pure, emerald green water of the stream cuts its way through a romantic little glen called Mini Gorge (迷你谷), accessible by a flight of concrete steps.

Just a few hundred meters from the streams of tourists flowing down Wulai's main street, yet never crowded, Mini Gorge is a tempting place to linger awhile, with its deep pools of emerald-green water and banks lined with smooth, rounded pebbles. When it's time to move on, the trailhead to the top of the falls is just down the road on the right, at a flight of concrete steps.

At the top of the steps there's a short walk along a winding lane before a wooden signpost marks the next part of the trail, which zigzags steeply uphill, later becoming steep, narrow and adventurous as it scales the heights. An especially lovely section climbs through an old plantation of conifers: an eerily atmospheric place during the frequent mists that descend on these hills, when the trees' tall, straight trunks disappear into the clammy white haze above.

After reaching the ridge and the edge of the great gorge, whose steep, tree-covered slopes turn into high, sheer cliffs below, the narrow, rocky path climbs to the highest point of the walk, Big Knife Mountain (大刀山). There's no view, but I always rest here awhile, enjoying the sense of isolation and wilderness. Occasionally the breeze carries up the rushing sound of Wulai Waterfall, not far away now, or the distant, muffled shouts of happy day trippers down in the gorge far below, a reminder that civilization isn't so very far away.

Finally, after a long and slippery descent from the summit of the little mountain, the trail joins the stream above Wulai Waterfall and follows it down to emerge at the back of Dreamland (雲仙樂園), the Japanese-established theme park at the top of Wulai Waterfall.

After the adventure and wild natural beauty of the hike, the amusement park comes as a bit of a jolt to the senses, and it's easy to pass through quickly in an attempt to minimize the shock to the system, but it's worth taking a closer look at the place, which is an interesting (and now rare) anachronism in a Taiwan which elsewhere has less and less to show from its half-century under the Japanese.

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