And so we departed from the manicured walking paths of the tourist trails of the Alishan National Forest Recreation Center and entered into the rugged paths winding through a forest in the dark with only a cellphone flashlight. As we passed the eerie and silent Elder Sister pond we both had goosebumps up our spine. We refused to acknowledge how creepy the thick forests were when you could only see a few feet ahead of you. The darkness was so thick that I mistook the deck to the gondola in the middle of the completely still pond for a bridge and came far too close to falling off the end and into the pond. We listened for noises of animals that would be unfamiliar to us, but really, what could we have done in the dark if a wild boar charged at us in the dead of night? But we pushed those thoughts to the back of our minds and continued onwards. This was going to be worth it.
At least that's what we thought when we started. At 10 to 5 after climbing endless stairs (and with endless complaining) our hearts sunk as we realized that we were going to miss the sunrise. It was befuddling. Everywhere that we had checked said that the hike would only be 20 minutes long, how were we still on the trail? At every bend of the staircase we would say "It must be just around that corner!" and after every corner our hearts would fall to see more stairs. After an hour and a half of climbing straight up a mountain I was angry at the forest, angry at the stairs, angry at the guidebook and angry at myself for believing the guidebook, and for the past half hour I had been only moving onwards so that we could take the train back because I knew that there was no way that I was going to be able to make the hike back. I'm not fat by all means but I swear I'm allergic to exercise and Ella and I were literally lifting our shaking legs up the stairs one by one with our hands because they were refusing to rais high enough to reach the next step on their own. I sat down and told her I would catch up. I was done; ready to take a nap in the middle of the trail in the the Alishan forest.
Then I heard her yell "You should come see this!" So I hauled myself up and slowly made my way up the mountahin to where she was. I was past believing that the platform was anywhere near us so my curiousity moved me forward. I had yet to see the rising sun but I noticed that it was light enough to turn off the flashlight. I was on the edge of a cliff and looking down at the smaller mountains against a pale sky. I even identified the little town that we were staying in, just barely as it was only a cluster of white dots, but it is the only town on the mountain with a train stop so I was sure it was our town. I was dumbstruck buy the beauty and the distance we had walked.
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| This is the town that we were staying in in the Alishan National Forest Recreation Center. |
I found Ella only a little farther up the trail on a bridge between two mountains with a sign reading "The Panoramic View." And was it panoramic! All of the trees were cleared with a view of mountain after mountain below a pale pink sky! I looked at Ella and said "I take it back. This was worth it." We were alone on the side of Tashan Mountain with a breathtaking view at 5:15 AM, before most people have even woken. As if on cue, the sun rose. It broke above the mountain in quick, bright splendor. It was not above the clouds like the view we had set out to see but we wouldn't trade that pure, crisp, golden sunrise alone on the side of a mountain for a sunrise above the clouds while packed in a viewing platform with hundreds of Chinese tourists for anything.
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| A panoramic view! |
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| A golden sunrise |
By now we had accepted that we were on the wrong trail and decided to hike back rather than become incapacitated. We were fueled by our excitement of the view our fatigue died; we knew we could make the trek back--especially since it was all down hill this time. And our delight grew as we walked home. The darkness had shielded amazingly beautiful landscapes of woods, railroad ties, mountains, and bridges. We were amazed that we had trudged through this forest in absolute darkness. Those moss covered stairs in the first hour of sunlight were gorgeous--we hated to love them. As we crossed the bridge above the railroad, we heard the train. We watched it approach, felt it pass beneath us, watched it leave and saw the man running the signals on the ground hop aboard as it passed like he was jumping over a mud puddle.
Once halfway down the mountain we found a map that we had passed unseen in the dark. We realized that we were on the wrong mountain to find the sunrise viewing platform.
Passing Elder Sister pond in the morning light was like a picture from an ancient Chinese storybook. It was something that I wouldn't have believed was a real sighting if I didn't have the pictures to remind me. It was not at all like the still creepy vision we had seen only hours ago.
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| Elder Sister pond |
Once we got back to the hotel we read the guide book. It clearly stated that the bus to the train that would take us to the viewing platform was only 20 minutes away. Oh, that group of people standing in front of the building that we passed shortly into our journey who seemed to be waiting for something? Yes. There was no trail that led all of the way to the viewing platform. Instead of feeling bitter at our folly, we were grateful. Once again, Ella and I had stumbled into something that nobody else had the chance to experience. And I maintain that our sunset was the better of the two.
And then, we finally ate our breakfast of bacon cheese dan bing around 9 AM. What an experience!
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