Sandiaoling (三貂嶺瀑布群)
So…we went on another crazy adventure and potentially almost died. Sometimes at work, I google places to go and I read about the blogs. I found something called San Diao Ling waterfalls where you can see 3 waterfalls. Since Jiufen (九份) was nearby, we thought we could climb the falls in the morning and then head to Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布), a tourist hotspot. I gathered a bunch of people and said – let’s go!
R came along and she wore flip flops. I was pretty worried because another two people that came wore mountain shoes. We definitely had a good range of people with us. She asked Emily, her cousin about where we were going and Emily didn’t know. She had never heard of it. Our coworkers did not either. Most people know Shifen and Jiufen because its more convenient and less walking.
So- as people who knew nothing about what we were doing- I guess you could say I was a bit of the guide too (which if you are close friends with me, you know that is a mistake). I literally took screenshots of this blog called Foodie Baker (http://www.foodiebaker.com/day-trip-out-of-taipei-sandioling-waterfall-trail-shifen-waterfall-and-jiufen/) and followed it step by step. FYI- if you are interested in climbing this fall, it is actually a great guide! We trekked to the train station and went onwards. We met a couple people at the station who were taking a break from the rain as it drizzled a bit. They had no clue where they were either. We invited them to come with us but I think they were too confused. It was such a small station with only 2 workers and no other passengers.
We walk out of the station and we are starving. We forgot it is lunch time and this area is rural Taiwan I would say. Very village like, no stores around. There was a man who sold water but the colour was not clear and we knew it was from the tap which was concerning. Luckily, a couple of us had bought 1L of water previously. We found a house that was a restaurant and the food we ate was actually delicious. Very fresh! The downside was that it was expensive because there were a few local hikers that came to this trail but as it was far away from other places, there were not many choices to buy food from.
We follow the blog and the trail where it says to go through a pedestrian pathway. Unfortunately with the lack of proper Chinese, we followed the people instead of the signs. I think I had a heart attack. We walked on the railway tracks and didn’t realize there was a train coming. We quickly grab hold of the rails which is a bridge on top of a river and the train zooms past us. The wind was so strong and we were all panicking! Scary! It was one of the best parts of the experience though. We quickly got off the trail and followed where the blog said to go past Sandiaoling Elementary. Once we went pass the school, we found a trail that was well-marked. We didn’t really know what the signs said so we just followed the trail.
Now- there are 3 waterfalls in total Hegu Waterfall (合谷瀑布), MoTian Waterfall (模天瀑布) and Pipa Dong Waterfall (枇杷洞瀑布). We just kept walking and walking until we found a fall. The trail did become a weird pathway so at times we weren’t sure if it was the right way. Some of us would scout ahead while others stayed behind to walk slower. After a short 15 minute walk like the blog said, we found the first waterfall! The view was from a high up angle and the fall was a bit light as it had not rained as much as the pictures from the blog described. Onward we went!
There were a few small bridges that were made out of rope that we had to cross. It was really fun! The second waterfall was around 30 minutes away and we tried following the ribbons to walk on the path. We started hearing some rumbling and someone mentioned whether it would rain. We all looked at each other and kind of went mmmmm, nah its an airplane. (Big mistake!). We went forward and we met a lot of local hikers who were walking away. We didn’t stop to talk to them as each of us were getting tired and decided it was time to put in the exercise to get to the location. We were a bit confused on why no one else was walking to the falls like us though because the time that we went was prime for hiking! Little mosquitos and sun!
The second waterfall, MoTian Waterfall was GORGEOUS. The waterfall was majestic and beautiful. We really appreciated the natural landscape and its beauty. I also couldn’t believe that the blog we were following was really true to its word. Now, since we made it to the 2nd waterfall, we only had one more to go. Even though we were all getting tired, we knew we were close!
The scary thing was though, the third waterfall as the blog mentioned was that there was a pretty much 90 degrees ladder you had to climb. There were ropes on the side to make it easier to climb but it was so scary!!! I was worried about R because she had flip flops on. We conquered the ladders together (one of them was made out of stainless steel which makes me wonder what happened from the time of the blog to now).We finally make it to the top and it was the PiPa Dong Waterfall. It was so pretty! We ended up climbing into the waterfall because we found a way to get behind the waterfall. We were taking photos and two of our friends stayed below because they didn’t want to go into the water. We were just enjoying the feeling of the fresh waterfall coming down from the cliff and we heard the two yelling. We had no clue what was happening until one of my friends said it was raining. We couldn’t tell because we were inside the waterfall so we were already soaked!
We quickly go down and head back the way we came from. Going down was the tricky part because everything was getting muddy and the pathway is very narrow/steep. We were so worried we were going to fall. It was pouring rain and we realized that was why no one was hiking and all the local hikers went back- they knew the weather was going to be like this! We trekked carefully and worked together as a team to make it down the hill.
Reading back on this now- I laugh because the blog said we should have followed the ribbons and we would make it straight to Shifen in a shortcut with stairs down. We had not clue where it was or what was happening. Our main goal was simply to get down from the mountain and get home safe.
Once we make it down, we are drenched to the max. We quickly head down to the train station where we make puddles with our wet clothes and feet. We were all shivering and tried to get close to each other to stay warm as we knew the MRT was quite cold. From there, we said bye to each other and went off our separate directions. Our mission was to simply get home, get warm. We told each other we would reconnect on Social Media to make sure we all got home safe and sound.
Some of us ended with colds, I ended with the muddiest of shoes of all times. It was an amazing journey though and I am so proud that we went through with it!
