This Is Our Trail Head 登山口

The sun came through the window this morning. What?? The SUN??? Yes, this was unexpected, considering that the forecast called for rainrainrainrainrain this week. One of the reasons why we chose to be independent from the corporate world was so we could do what mattered to us when it was possible. In other words, we can take advantage of the sun when it actually appears! Today turned out to be a great day.



One of the reasons we were glad to move to Beitou 北投 is because it's Hiker Central for the Taipei metro area. A 15-minute walk from our house, and within plain sight of the light rail, is this trail head! The Buddha always welcomes us with his huge smile. Today, someone draped a firecracker over his waist in honor of Chinese New Year (this Sunday).

From this point, we can go up to Danfeng Shan 丹鳳山, or Red Phoenix Mountain.

The trail starts at what is essentially the former graveyard for a single, very wealthy general. Somehow, it got turned into a public park. Here's where it starts.

Just up the stairs a short way, you realize that you've just entered C.S. Lewis' "Narnia." The ruins of Cair Paravel can't be far.

Our guide on this first leg was one of the many local butterflies.

Some massive gate has fallen. Everything is overgrown. The fountain lies dormant now, its four lion heads cracked and broken.

What wonderful tales one imagines in such places!

Some wizard apparently left a blue orb in the dirt. We did not disturb it.

Further up, kissing dragons hold a golden ball at the top of a great monolith.

Faeries sit beneath giant toadstools, their wings folded away, out of sight so as not to frighten the locals.

The trail begins to climb toward the Red Phoenix.

The first little summit is a rocky outcrop that leads to an open area a bit later.

This is Danfeng Shan, the Red Phoenix. Through the sculpture, you can see Beitou, where we live! You can also see the rocky scar that Mark uses for a landmark since it's visible from a lot of places.

Here's his oil pastel of a somewhat closer view.

This is Ping's shot of Guanyin Shan from Danfeng Shan.

Mark had always wanted to go check out the bright red and white tower on the hill--another landmark that can be seen for miles--so we decided to check it out. Another climb brought us to it.

Nearby stood a shelter of some sort. We're not sure what it's for. It's got the "bai-bai" 拜拜 burning barrel and some firewood. The calendar is set to today, the 17th, and there's a clock so someone cares about the time. Why? Again, the imagination runs wild!

Ping, our Chief Curiosity Officer, had to see what might be down that little trail over there... whoa! Another great rocky outcrop with an awesome view!

We decided (as is so typical!) to keep going. We knew there was a whole system of trails up there, so we continued traversing this ridge, climbing a little more.

Once again, we enter Narnia.

When we got a peek out of the woods, we saw "Battleship Rock," one of our favorite little summits. That's Taipei 101 in the background. We decided to head that way rather than circling back to Beitou.

Our guide on this leg of the journey was another winged denizen of the woods.

Battleship Rock is reached by yet another set of stairs along the top of the ridge.

This sandstone outcrop is visible from many places around the city. We love being up here where the wind blows incessantly up and over the ridge.

We spent several minutes up here all by ourselves. This place is close to a university and is very popular on weekends. The only other person who joined us up here was a quiet young lady with a camera who seemed just as happy as we to be there just enjoying the world.

Of course, we could have chosen the easy, obvious way down, but there was this really inviting little strip of bare rock...so down we went!

Again, we were accompanied by another creature from the Faerie world.


 Somewhere along the way, we came across this little shrine to what is, by all appearances, Taiwan's answer to Homer Simpson. Again, we have no idea.

Ooh, cool! Another cliff, just off the route! This drops about 35 meters before the rock disappears into the dirt.

Ping worked her way over to another bit of the same rock. How wonderful that we can be within sight of the city, and still out here in what feels to the soul like wilderness!

While we rested there, we kept hearing a sequence of a large bell ringing and some heavy drum banging. Then there would be fireworks. We could smell the gunpowder. Mark turned to Ping and said: "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore..."

When we rejoined the trail, we came out at this alley, just above a little temple. Ah, here's where all the ringing, drumming and fireworks were happening. There was no sign as to why.
This image is such a great representation of what it's like around here. Massive buildings rise not far from steep, rocky slopes that can be so overgrown that you can only see civilization by peeking between the vines and branches. Tucked away in some secluded spot hidden between the rocks and buildings, lies someone's carefully tended little garden.

And not far away, you can get a great lunch for two for about $3.00 US, per person!

As we were thinking about our morning, we came to an interesting realization: for us living here, our front door is our trail head!