Outdoor Activities

This week is our expected annual summer vacation. Thank to the slowed down of epidemic, we can restart to play the outdoor activities smoothly. In fact, we had already stayed home without any interesting activities for at least five months. Just like last several years, in the summer vacation, we had get used to travel on eastern of Taiwan, regardless of bike riding, water activities or mountain climbing. What is different this year was that we had visited Hualien first by the just finished Suhua highway. It provides the efficient and safety way to arrive for Hualien, but the dense tunnel also restrict the scenic view in the entire path. Without the trial breakthrough, this trip we had focused on the Zhongbu Cross-island highway, ranging from Hualien to Puli, which is the substitution way after the interruption of the original way to Guguan which was cross middle of Taiwan. In the pasted several years, I had visited the Taroko, Lishan, and Qingjing, but I had never crossed the entire Zhongbu Cross-island highway.

We had set out from Hualien, in fact, after the Tianxiang the last scenic spot in Taroko, there is nothing special except for the gas station and rest area. The Dayuling is the intersection of Zhongbu Cross-island highway and another feeder road. However, the status of this section is not ideal and enjoyable. Then, after briefly stayed at the Lishan at night, we would go back to Dayuling and arrive for Puli continuous. The key point of this section is the Wuling and Hehuanshan. I had visited here in the childhood, but I don’t have any memory currently. This is also the highest point in Taiwanese pathway system which reached higher than altitude 3000m. The scenic views on the way are definitely different from the low altitude. We had stayed in several spots and enjoyed the mountains. Then, keeping go forward to the Qingjing and Puli where we had been familiar with. In general, in the total process, the driver span is much longer than staying at any spot. However, the experience cross the unpopular is also indispensable which also provide us the clear thought where we could visit next time. Wuling and Hehuanshan might be the great example for worthy visit, but next time we would set out from Puli and focus on the mountain climbing.

Generally speaking, in this trip, the difficultly outdoor activities hadn’t been tried, though there are few ideas for me. The major outdoor activities categories are the mountain and sea. Taiwan possesses the abundant resource of mountain including different levels and corresponds to diversified skills. When I was in the mountain club, our skills emphasized commonly on the climb, camping and picnic. The climb which is associated with the physical power attracted me more, so is the river tracing. The camping often makes me too cold and uncomfortable. If the camping in the camp ground with crowded people, the noise might cause the feeling worse. The picnic is also another activity won’t attract me. Indeed, the food is usually not what I pay attention to in the daily life also. In recent years, we had spent more time on hiking in the smaller mountain without camping. Even though, it is the acceptable exercise for physical power, the extraordinary scenic view is still rare in the smaller mountains or historic trail.

Another major category is the oceanic activities. Taiwan also possesses the rich resource, but only the summer with the enjoyable temperature to play. In winter, we even don’t want to go to the beach due to the strong wind. Currently, we had merely tried the surf and canoe. The surf requires the high skilled practice. It is hard to play very smoothly in the short time. The canoe is much easier, but the scenic views in the process are the key points. There are several activities related to the open water area are inclusive of the white water rafting, swimming and river tracing. In fact, both of above activities can not be a part of our life. In the western coast line, we can only enjoy the beach and sunset, but the non-stop swimming practice can also be improved all the year.

This is only the beginning of the summer, the strong sun make the view seems better. Although, we don’t live in the scenic area, we still can try harder to capture the grater pictures via the professional skills. The mountains are still our friend no matter where we are if we are still in Taiwan. Additional, the fundamental training like the run, bike riding and swimming also required embedded in our daily life.