Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 06/10/2026taiwantrailsandtales.com/2026/10/03/g...taiwantrailsandtales.comGOLDEN CAVE (黃金洞)Two dramatic cave entrances and remnants of the area’s mining past await on this moderate walk in New Taipei’s Ruifang District. 080 8
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 06/10/2026Whether in glorious sun or gloom, I will never tire of the scenery found in New Taipei’s Ruifang District. This newest post on the site details a walk we did there in murky conditions earlier in the year, which was beautiful despite the weather’s best efforts to make it not so. 1364 36
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 26/09/2026The littlies were just tall enough for their big eyes to peak out above the rim of the box and this was their contribution to the conversation: 👶🏻👶🏻: 👀👀 090 9
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 26/09/2026The following conversation unfolded between the grandma (👵🏻) and a roadside fruit vendor (🍑). 🍑: Hey, what are you selling today? 👵🏻: Kids. 🍑: They look like good kids. How much? 👵🏻: One hundred dollars each. 🍑: Not bad! 👵🏻: We only sell two at a time. 🍑: Ah, let me think about it then. 1100 10
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 26/09/2026Walking up the road to get breakfast in Lishan, we passed a grandma and her three young charges walking down. The grandma and an older girl of around 8 were walking to either side of a trolley cart onto which had been loaded a cardboard box containing a pair of toddlers. 2111 11
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 13/09/2026Another Xiao Bai Yue ticked off! This time, it’s Mount Dadong in Chiayi’s Zhuqi Township. The walk starts close to the old railway town of Fenqihu, climbing to a high of 1,976 metres before heading back down more or less the same way. taiwantrailsandtales.com/2026/09/05/f...taiwantrailsandtales.comFENQIHU’S MOUNT DADONG (奮起湖大凍山)Most visitors to Fenqihu come for the old street and the lunchboxes. This pleasant trail climbing to one of Chiayi’s lesser-visited Taiwan 100 Minor Peaks is a short scooter ride out of town,… 0172 17
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 31/08/2026No problem. Trying to explain made me realise I wasn’t totally sure myself about the how. 020 2
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 29/08/2026The water here contains sulphur compounds. Why? As the hot water bubbles up from underground, it dissolves and collects some of the minerals found in the rocks along the way, and Beitou is rich in sulphur. (A couple of hundred years ago, sulphur was quarried in the area.) 100 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 26/08/2026It’s a bizarre landscape, and what you can’t know through the photos is the sulphuric smell that lingers in the air here. 100 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 25/08/2026To be fair, our PMs have a history of being upstaged by their vegetable collaborators *cough* Liz/Lettuce *cough*. 130 3
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 25/08/2026Though Dashu (大暑) has official passed, we’re still months away from genuinely cool weather. Still, when in Beitou, a girl can dream. Yesterday’s good company and pleasant wander amidst the mists and the murk and the rain was precisely the tonic for my soul that I needed. 2326 32
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 09/08/2026Do you ever see these in France? We used to have one that came back most summers in the village I grew up in. Seeing it was so rare that I would sometimes get up extra early before school to sit by the stream and wait for a bit. 100 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 09/08/2026This little drama just unfolded outside my back balcony. It was the first time I’d ever seen a kingfisher there and I was surprised because there’s not enough water there to sustain a stable fish population. It turns out the kingfisher’s diet is more varied than just fish! 3397 39
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 07/08/2026Well that’s my new fact for the day. 010 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 06/08/2026I didn’t know you have cicadas in France. I guess they didn’t make it over the channel to England because I don’t remember hearing any when I was a child. 100 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 05/08/2026Thanks! My favourite is the cicada. I wish I could bottle those colours. 100 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 05/08/2026Of course, you can enjoy the night scenery year round, but summer is a the best time to spot all the creepy crawlies. (It’s also the only comfortable time to be hiking near the city in the summer.) 160 6
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 05/08/2026The latest trail guide covers a city-bound night hike with lots in the way of interesting wildlife. taiwantrailsandtales.com/2026/08/01/f...taiwantrailsandtales.comFUYANG ECO PARK NIGHT HIKE (富陽自然生態公園)Previously a military facility, the little patch of forest between Da’an and Wenshan districts is now a biodiverse habitat where Taipei’s herpers and hikers can come to get close and pe… 181 8
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 26/07/2026I don’t know who maintains it, but it’s a cool idea. A nice use of space. 000 0
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 26/07/2026This isn’t my usual kind of hangout, but I found it pleasing enough to share. In a multi-storey carpark in city-bound Luzhou District, a small section had been cultivated as an allotment complete with wormery and hydroponic fish pools. 1221 22
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 22/07/2026It took me nearby a decade, but I’ve finally gotten around to walking and writing up my final Guguan Hero, Mount Baimao. I guess it’s time to go back and revisit some of the earlier ones now… taiwantrailsandtales.com/2026/07/18/m...taiwantrailsandtales.comMOUNT BAIMAO (白毛山)Mount Baimao is a mostly forested walk that saves its best for last with a dramatically exposed rocky ridge near the summit and sweeping views up Dajia River toward the hot spring town of Guguan. 0114 11
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 19/06/2026We had no bananas to hand, so went with the tried and tested finger-for-scale approach. 0213 21
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 15/06/2026snakesoftaiwan.com/oligodon-for...snakesoftaiwan.comSnakes of Taiwan: Oligodon formosanus - Taiwan Kukri Snake 020 2
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 15/06/2026A Taiwan kukri snake (赤背松柏根, non-venomous) that was right where my foot was about to fall when I spotted it. The last time I encountered one of these, it thrashed around like a crazy thing, but this one was rather mellow. 1142 14
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 15/06/2026What an odd coincidence. I agree though, there’s a lot of interesting history here, much of it you’ll only hear about if you actually visit a place. 010 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 14/06/2026If you’re also curious, you can read more about this community here: tinyurl.com/2ek3nprd And if you like the look of the food (which was very good), the restaurant is here: maps.app.goo.gl/i26TqQ2CNBVD...tinyurl.comIn Memory of the Lost Army Taoyuan’s Zhongzhen VillageFew people know about the Yunnan-Burma border soldiers. At the close of the Chinese Civil War, the Government of the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan, while these guerrilla forces stayed behind, ... 070 7
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 14/06/2026It’s my MIL’s birthday today, so we’re having dinner with her at a vegetarian Yunnan shop in Taoyuan’s Pingzhen District. Curiosity about why such a shop would exist in such a place led to me learning about the Yunnan-Burma ROC soldiers who were relocated here in large numbers in the 1950s. 2130 13
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 02/06/2026Patience and luck were required to get this photo. About 2 months ago, this was one of several holes I saw barbets making on the trail where I hike most often. All bar this one were swiftly abandoned. A month later, I heard chicks inside, and now finally I’ve caught sight of one resident. 2223 22
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 01/06/2026I left these where I found them, but I picked up a couple of pieces of glass. 110 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 01/06/2026Very clearly. There was concrete or similar on the reverse of the green one. 110 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 01/06/2026Artificially ones! (At least in part.) 000 0
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 27/05/2026You’re a braver soul than me. I approach with extreme caution. 000 0
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 27/05/2026Isn’t it?! And the expression… I don’t think I’ve ever felt so judged before. 100 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 19/05/2026Oooh! Now this looks like somewhere I wouldvery much like to patronise. 110 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 18/05/2026This looks good. Taiwan is gradually getting onboard with sourdough, but it’s taken a while. Sweet bread seems to be popular here too. (Current fav is a company called Celebread.) I reckon you’d have similar struggles here with your dietary restrictions. 110 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 18/05/2026The Chinese is 獵鷹尖, I think that’s Falcon Peak in English. 020 2
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 18/05/2026It and its buddies were very photogenic. I think it’s a moltrecht’s tree frog. 132 3
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 18/05/2026An unexpected trip to the south has meant I’ve been able to visit a Tainan trail that’s been on my want-to-visit list for a number of years. 2252 25
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 18/05/2026Have you ever given any of them a try? I am not too conservative a diner, but I just cannot bring myself too. If I want dessert, there are so many better choices. 110 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 16/05/2026It’s people like you who perpetuate this madness! 020 2
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 16/05/2026Weirdly, that makes it sound somewhat better, but I think you’re right. I’d better stick to my crunchy snacks. 010 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 16/05/2026I don’t think we could be sandwich friends! The thought of so much softness in soft bread makes me feel not OK. 100 1
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 16/05/2026Beginning to feel Taiwanese convenience stores are waging a vendetta against the concept of sandwiches. 6253 25
Taiwan Trails and Tales @taiwantrailsandtales.com · 06/05/2026Thanks! It required a little patience. 100 1