Since I was a kid I always had a thing for forests. In fact I was obsessed with forests. As most kids, I was into video games but my primary decision criterion for choosing a video game was whether or not I can explore a mighty forest in this game. If a video game only played in a desert, it wasn’t interesting to me. Even when buying racing games I always preferred the tracks that went through forests.
Today, I’m not that crazy anymore but I still have a strong fascination for the beauty, the timelessness and the serenity of forests. In one of my previous posts I wrote about two enchanted Forests: Oku-no In and the Sagano Bamboo Forest in Japan. Today, I would like to share with you a story about the spookiest forest I ever visited: Taipingshan in Taiwan.
A train track into nowhere...
Taipingshan is a National Forest Recreation Area about 3 hours by car from Taiwan’s capital Taipei. The last stretch of the journey leads you up into the mountains reaching an altitude of about 1900 metres (6200 ft). While we were climbing up the windy road, the temperature dropped from 30℃ (86 Fahrenheit) to 18℃ (64.5 Fahrenheit) within about 30 minutes and the visibility on the road went from “breathtaking mountain views” to “wait, wasn’t there a road in front of us one second ago?”. There were warning signs about thick fog everywhere but even though the signs were bright yellow you could only see them when you were right next to them.
... and a bridge into nowhere
Then we reached Jianciang Historic Trail. And this is where things got spooky. Imagine an abandoned rail track fully covered in moss. Then put this railtrack into a dark-green, thick forest where trees seem to be reaching out for you with gnarly wooden fingers from both sides of the path.
The forest seems to be alive
Now add thousands of spider webs covering the trees and bushes all over the forest. Next, you add the fog. It covers the whole scenery in a dim, milky light and lets small bridges, paths and train tracks disappear into nothingness.
Spiderwebs everywhere!
Sometimes you catch yourself wondering if the train tracks are really abandoned, waiting for a ghost train emerging out of the fog, rumbling towards you any minute. The fog is really the magic essence of this forest and it’s at the same time strangely beautiful and incredibly spooky.
Waiting for the ghost train
You should look twice to make sure that you don’t oversee any of the spider webs along the way!
Watch your step!
We had some discussions about what would happen if we’d destroy one of them and we imagined an army of spiders coming out of their hiding spots grouping together to form one gigantic spider consisting of millions of small spiders that would devour us alive. Needless to say that my girlfriend - who is a little arachnophobic - didn’t enjoy this conversation as much as I did. In fact, we actually didn’t see one single spider on the whole way. All spiders seemed to have vanished as if they feared something else...
Maybe the spiders are afraid of killer snakes?
Ok, let’s stop! I don’t want to scare you all away! :) Despite all the spookiness I really recommend everyone to visit this wonderful and atmospheric forest. The Jianciang Historic Trail is only 0.9km (0.6 miles) long and the return trip can be finished easily in one hour.
More fog and train tracks on the Jianciang Trail
There are numerous other interesting hikes in the area. We started walking the 2.5 hour Cueifong Lake Trail but due to the fact that it started raining heavily and we were badly equipped for this weather we returned to the car after about 30 minutes. Definitely make sure to bring rain gear even if it’s hot and sunny in Taipei or even in Yilan - which is the closest city to the Taipingshan forest.
Scenery along the Cueifong Lake Trail
Since there is only one accommodation within the Taipingshan area (Taipingshan villa - which is notoriously booked out) we stayed in a little place called Yu Peng Villa in Yilan. This place is wonderful for lovers of serenity, architecture, food and butterflies.
Butterflies in the gardens of Yu Peng Villa
The villas have a very modern, unique and minimalistic design and there are various art exhibitions you can check out. You can book the rooms either with or without dinner. The dinner is a fancy multi-course fine dining experience in a beautiful restaurant featuring a massive aquarium on the far end of the room. Since I just recovered from a stomach bug we decided against the dinner which I regret a little bit - the reviews on various booking sites are full of praise.
Yu Peng Villa - the Restaurant is on the right
All in all, if you come to Taiwan and you like mysterious places - Taipingshan is not to be missed!
All images are my own work. All rights reserved