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Day 2: Sandiaojiao, Caoling Trail (Dali), Wai'ao

Bearing in mind my closing thought from Day 1, I woke up at around 4:00 am on Day 2. Longmen campsite is only a few miles away from Sandiaojiao, which happens to be the most eastern point in Taiwan. How can you visit a sight like this at a time other than sunrise?
When I arrived at the hill with a cliff overlooking the water, the Sandiaojiao Lighthouse was still on. As the sky starting glowing and the sun broke through a few clouds on the horizon, I decided that I was the first person in all of Taiwan to have seen the sun that day. How romantic.

Back at the campsite, I packed up and headed south. My first stop was in Dali where I saw signs for "Caoling Historic Trail." Having been called "the most popular hiking trail in the Northeast Coast," I couldn't pass it up. The Lonely Planet guide says to give the hike around 4 to 5 hours, so I bought a gigantic bottle of water hoping to avoid the near dehydration episode from my hike in Bitou. Through first portion of the trail, I was gaining altitude much faster than distance, putting me on a few nice perches to view Turtle Island. There was still a lot of haze and overcast obstructing the view, but I could still make out the island that looks like a floating turtle with his head poking out. Then, I went deep into the mountains. The trail, which is famous for somehow connecting western Taiwan to the east, is not lacking well marked landmarks, such as various carvings left by emperors and important people who have taken the treacherous journey. There were all kinds of flowers, trees, streams and whatnot to provide a pleasant setting. Of course, there were times where I felt that the trail was so steep, I might as well have been climbing a ladder.

Fitness Level

One thing that I wish I had considered before my trip was how physically fit I was. For some reason, I didn't think I'd be doing a lot of hiking. It turned out, that was what I did almost everyday. Although I was far from the best shape of my life, I wasn't gasping for breath at the top of every hill, either. On Caoling Trail, I met a group of people that did Tai Chi together in Taipei. I walked ahead with one man, who claimed to be 60, and we chatted as we climbed one of the steeper hills. At the top, we sat and talked more while waiting for the rest of his group. As they came up one by one, I noticed that the 60 year old man was by far the youngest of the group. Observing these white-haired men and women, who were almost three times my age and hardly out of breath, I suddenly became embarrassed to even be sweating.

I made two mistakes at Caoling Historic Trail: While I prepared myself with water, I really needed food. I thought I was going to collapse due to lack of nutritional energy. The second mistake was that I walked nearly 3/4 of the trail before deciding, against the better judgement of people I met along the way, to turn around and go back (The trail is conveniently set up so you can walk the entire way and take a train back to the beginning). If Google Earth's measurements are correct, that adds up to a total about 9 miles of hiking.

The combination of those two mistakes left me feeling pretty sick. Once finding food, I overate and felt even worse. Nevertheless, I continued south to Wai'ao Beach.

I was sweating profusely and I was getting chills from the wind while riding my scooter. I thought a nice nap on the black sanded Wai'ao beach would cure what ailed me. Once I stopped, I quickly realized that it was around 90 degrees and not actually windy at all, and a nap in the beating sun would be the worst thing for me. Instead, I waded and splashed around in the water at Wai'ao, because the riptide is too rough for swimming. Wai'ao, which is a long, wide, and very sandy beach, is only a surfing beach.

I spent a good portion of the afternoon searching for a hostel near Wai'ao where I had planned to spend the night. Once I received word of a place that I can spend the night on the cheap, I decided the hostel didn't exist, and drove back to Wai'ao Beach to Surfer Inn. I got squared away there and went for another ride, looking for a Visitor's Center for information on where I could spend the next day.

Frustration, due to aimless driving, due to exhaustion, led me back to Surfer Inn where I called it an "early" night (relative to those who hadn't been up since sunrise). Although it had only been one night in a tent, I was ecstatic to be sleeping in a bed in an air conditioned room.