Wuliaojian 五寮尖

I had big plans for the weekend.  The problem with planning anything on the weekends in Taipei is that the weather rarely cooperates.  This weekend was the opposite problem of what usually happens.  I was planning on a nice, lazy few days, with no other expectations except maybe get some stock pictures of the MRT (Taipei’s subway).  To my surprise, the weather on Saturday turned out to be one of the best days of the year…cool, low humidity, and even sunny!  Well, there goes my plans!!!  I’ve definitely learned that you can’t waste a nice weekend in Taipei…it’s not that it rains ALL the time, but it does rain an awful lot.

After an hour or so of convincing myself to get out of bed, I decided to get up.  So what to do?  A quick call to my friend Ross who had a friend in from Japan and it was on.  We decided we’d take a fairly easy 3.5 hour hike in the nearby mountains…

Wu Liao Jian (五寮尖) is a famous hike about 1 hour from Taipei.  It has a complex trail system that allows hikes from a few hours to all day.  The main attraction of this particular mountain is that it has a beautifully exposed rocky peak.  There’s also a nice river by the trail head for a cool-down swim session afterwords.

As always, doing something proved to be the right decision over doing nothing…damn.  Maybe next weekend it will rain!

Ross about to descend the very long rope ladder at Wu Liao Jian 五寮尖 mountain, near Taipei, Taiwan.

This is a look down a very long rope ladder from one of the main peaks of Wu Liao Jiao Mountain 五寮尖, near Taipei, Taiwan.

This is a POV look up a very long rope ladder from one of the main peaks of Wu Liao Jiao Mountain 五寮尖, near Taipei, Taiwan.