- acrylic on canvas, approx. 33x24cm/13x9.4"
In the northeast corner of Taiwan, you'll find the Pingxi District where the land rises in great spiking leaps from the river valley below. What looks like a simple 3.4 kilometer semi-loop turns out to be a 4-hour challenge with hundreds of steps cut directly into the bedrock, and knotted ropes tied to conveniently obstinate tree roots or strung across an outcrop to help you get up a steep face--and almost all of the faces are steep. Every step counts. On several of the peaks, local authorities have bolted steel poles into the scalp of the tiny summit and strung a cable to demarcate the point past which what went up could go down. XiaoZi Shan 孝子山, or "Dutiful Son Mountain," is a distinctive finger of rock thrust up out of the ground at the feet of several other taller peaks. By the time we got to it, we were too tired to climb it safely. (Next time!) I've depicted it here without its bolted poles or cables, as it was before people ever saw it. This painting shows only the very summit. For a sense of scale and to put the mountain in context, check out our view of the peak from another angle (zoom in to see a few people standing on top): https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtGeRcucwK4tXJgbXuMdQhBriJDQTNmt5r53CeorSLIyU0f2HRn8T7HoxlGeWGi0SKy4WHw7ZZW4vtkGajPtyDb1KLMDYrNXR1nGSxW8sqwlk9JYfjrmCcbVLetgVbQzab88RKmF96aaU/s1600/DSC03874.JPG
Full hike details here: http://letsgotakealook.blogspot.tw/2012/01/awesome-day.html
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