Caoling Historic Trail (草嶺古道) hiking [Novemberrific]

The coming of the month November is often associated with Halloween. I still remember what happened last year. It was October 31, 2013 (Taiwan Day 61: Halloween Earthquake!!!). A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Taiwan and the whole island was shaken. I was so scared and got traumatized by that event. haha! November is also an autumn month. Countries in temperate regions experience the changing of colors of the maple leaves. Leaves fall from the maple trees as if life on Earth is going to an end.

This month of November I will feature a series of nice places in Taiwan to tell everyone that the month of November is a terrific one. It is full of life, exciting and memorable just like the summer months. I will call my Taiwan Day Adventures for this month as the “Novemberrific” series and the first leg of my travel adventures happened at Caoling Historic Trail. The 2014 Silver Grass Festival is currently happening there and the hiking festival will run up to the end of November.

I was so prepared for this adventure. I even went to Carrefour where I bought a pair of shades and a hat. I went with Myrron (Filipino) and Lam (Singaporean) with lots of sandwiches and bottles of juice in my bag. Myrron and Lam were my Travel Buddies for this Taiwan Day 427 and they have been my travel companions before. We met at the Academia Sinica bus stop and then went to Nangang train station. From Nangang Station, we boarded the train going to Dali Station where the Caoling Historic Trail starts.

Turtle island as seen inside the train

We saw Turtle Island as the train nears Dali Station and as it passes by the northeast coast of Taiwan. Turtle Island is the only active volcano in Taiwan and I will go and visit that island someday. Many passengers alighted at Dali Station and they were also going to hike. We followed the signs leading to the Dali Visitor Information Center until we found the start of the trail. One blogger mentioned that the hike is 1 to 1.5 hours but it took us more than that since we need to take a rest and take pictures.

free tea for everyone

Myrron, please don't touch my breast. haha!

clouds suddenly appear..

and the people went down quickly

until the clouds totally blocked the view

We were rewarded with a nice view of the Pacific Ocean even though we haven't reached the top. The trail is composed of a winding road and stone stairs. We took the stone stairs since a Taiwanese told us that it was the shortcut. One can also use a car to go to the viewing pavilions at the top but doing so will defeat the purpose of hiking the trail. Many people hiked the trail. Friends, families and even their pet dogs joined the hike. The mood of the place was very festive!

All of my hard work in hiking the trail was rewarded with a fantastic view of the sky, the sea and the mountains. The sky was blue, the grass was silver and my pants were pink. It's a terrific adventure in November! It's Novemberrific!