Our efforts ended up being a comedy of errors.
It was me, Robert and Kate. We drove to Yilan and began searching for the trailhead. Only problem: we weren't sure where it was. Not to worry: it's a major national trail, so someone should know where it is. Right? Right.
We started our quest in Jiaoxi, a town famous for its hot springs. We went to the visitor center, where we should, in theory, be able to find information. However, the people at the center's information desk didn't know what we were talking about. They had never heard of this trail. Fortunately, there was a guy who claimed he knew. He gave us directions to a village named Shuanglianbi.
So we drove up there - making some wrong turns on the way due to poor road signage. Anyway, we finally arrived where we wanted to go: Shuanglianbi. We found a very nice little restaurant up there, where we stopped to take a look at the idyllic Taiwanese countryside.
We saw no trailhead in the vicinity, so we continued driving until we saw some cyclists, fully equipped with gear. Surely they would know. They pointed up the road, which we followed. It ended at a botanical park. This is a place we plan on going sometime; but it was not what we wanted at the time. We drove back and asked at another restaurant - a trout restaurant. The guy there claimed he knew - he said we had to follow the road back until we reached the first bridge, then turn left.
On the way back, we stopped once again at Shuanglianbi and asked at the restaurant. They had no idea. We called Trailhacker, a Taiwanese friend of ours who is also a hiking god. Surely he'd know - there's barely a trail in Taiwan he doesn't know. He said that the trail ended near a restaurant near the town of Longtan. We checked our map (admittedly not very detailed), and there was no town called Longtan on it. There was a Longtan lake, though.
OK, armed with sketchy and conflicting directions, we headed back down the mountain road. The first bridge we came to was back in an urban area. So we turned left and followed the road. After about 15 minutes, it dead-ended in a cemetery.
By that time it was already past lunchtime, so we stopped to picnic in the graveyard, having lunch in front of the tomb of a certain Mr. Chou.
We decided to go instead to the Paoma Trail - that way, at least we'd get some hiking in. As we drove along, we just happened to see a sign pointing toward Longtan. OK, the hunt was on. Now we were determined to find the elusive Tonghou trailhead. We followed some convoluted roads, and then arrived in Longtan. Hmmm, now we had to get some directions. We stopped at a police station: the police said "Yes, we know where it is. Sometimes we have to rescue hikers who are trapped up there. But you shouldn't go...it's getting late and it could be dangerous." They said to follow the road we were on, until we come to a chicken restaurant (that's the restaurant Trailhacker mentioned!). Then we have to turn right and go up the road.
So we followed the directions. After making another wrong turn due to poor signage, we found the restaurant! Then we drove up the road to the right - it was narrow and rough. Soon we found a signpost...the first sign with the words "Tonghou Trail" on it!! Kate was so happy she hugged the sign!
We were on the right track, finally! We continued driving, the road getting rougher and rougher, until it became a muddy dirt road that was too rough for Robert's car to handle. We parked the car. By then it was 3:00pm. We hiked from then on, 2 kilometers up the steep, muddy road, following the signs and making educated guesses when we came to unsigned forks in the road. And it all paid off - we finally (at 3:55pm) arrived at the trailhead!
We walked along the trail, which was really muddy, for about 15 minutes. It was starting to get dark, and the area was shrouded in mist.
Then we came to a part of the trail that was so muddy as to be impassable. So we went back down to the car. It was 5:00pm by the time we reached the car. In all, we managed to get about 2 hours of hiking in.
Afterwards, we drove to the seaside town of Daxi where we met Trailhacker (he lives in Daxi), and had a hearty dinner at one of our favorite seafood restaurants. The harbor-side fish market was closed, so we chose a fish from the restaurant's cooler. We had bonito, prepared in 3 different ways, and a side of birdsnest fern. As usual, Trailhacker gave us tons of useful information about hiking and outdoor activities in Taiwan.
