Climbing the Da Hsueh Shan Road

Another awesome day in central Taiwan as Drew and I set out on our bikes to train for another ride up from Taroko and over the central cross island highway next month. Our path today took us to Dongshih and the road up Da Hsueh Shan.

Although we had fog in the morning, it cleared by 9 and we were treated to lovely blue skies and excellent views.

The grade of the road is about 6% the whole way, a pleasure to climb up or roll down.

A little community offered a place to have lunch at about 900 meters.

Looking south toward Dongshih

Hardworking beetles find lunch.

Reaching 1000 meters.

At 1000 meters the road was lined with people selling stuff, but these disappeared as we climbed.

A logged out area.

A perfectly representative photo of a perfect day.

Not all beautiful vistas were distant from the camera.

River valleys and side roads become the object of plans for future rides.

At 1400 meters I called it a day and turned around, having climbed some 21 kms of 6% grade, with 50 kms of road still in front of me to get home. Whew! I hadn't slept well and was tired, and the clouds out of the picture looked like they were darkening. Still, days like this in the rainy season are treasures. Drew's excellent post is here.

UPCOMING RIDES: May 22-23 we're taking this route over the Northern Cross Island Highway, weather willing. The third day up the NE coast is optional. June 19-20 we're going over Hehuanshan from Taroko.
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Tungshih Forest Park

On Saturday the Bushman, his wife-to-be, and my family and I headed up to Tungshih Forest Park, north of the city of Tungshih in Taichung county. The made-in-Leningrad weather we've been having lately refused to go away, but at least it didn't rain.

The park itself has some nice hiking trails, an excellent play area for the kids, and a few photogenic spots. But at the price -- $250 for adults, $200 for kids -- it is definitely not worth it. There are plenty of hiking trails in the area where the kids can have fun and the adults enjoy themselves for nothing at all.

Lunch. The food was absolute dreck. This is definitely BYOB: Bring Your Own Barbecue.

The bees were busy...

....but the honey salesman was not.

There was a small farm implements "museum."

An important farm implement of the old pioneers was karaoke. After a hard day tilling the soil and fighting off aborigines, they could return home to drink and sing.

There were several experiments going on.

What would Taiwan be without the kitsch dinosaurs? Naturally, with cheerful disregard for copyrights, it is called" Jurassic Park."

A temple built next to a natural spring.

You can't ever have too many concrete dinosaurs.

The children's play area.

The forest trails are meh but the play equipment is excellent.

I took a few shots on the way home, as always.

A funeral home.

Route 129 passes through Tungshih and Hsinshe, where they grow mushrooms.

Leaving Tungshih the way we found it.

Looking down on the bridge we just crossed.

[Taiwan]
[Tungshih]
[Taichung]