Him and Her still on the road.: Yangmingshan National Park Taiwan

Yangmingshan National Park

Yangmingshan National Park is a Paradise for Entimologists, Ledidopterologists, Herpettologists, Biologist and Paeleontologists and probably a lotmoreologists ! About 12 km from Taipei the National Park is a haven for all sorts of bugs and butterflies. An Ancient Volcano with peaks upto 1120 mts and views over to the Northern coastline.

We decided that a hike upto the main peak of Mnt Cising and the twin Eastern peak just 4 metres lower. In temperatures of 33 - 35 degrees we set off, after forgetting to pack, sunscreen, hats, reading glasses for maps and binoculars ! how great it is to have no memory !! Regardless we set off on the short but very steep climbs. The main walk to the summit only 2.27 km but it is all up hill and not an inch of flat ! On the route we spy all manner of small wildlife, multicoloured Lizzards, numerous bugs, butterflies and even a red bellied Squirrel. The walk is accompanied by a crescendo of cicadas, at times the noise is deafening.

After about 2 hours we reach the summit of Cising main peak and took a well earned rest accompanied by loads of bugs and butterflies, we then walked to the Cising East peak and more fantastic views. In previous time the National park and its mountains were called Grass mountains but have since been re-named after a Ming Dynasty Emporer. From the east peak we walked downhill ( another test for the knees) to the Eastern area of the national park. From the Eastern gate we caught a local bus back to Jintshan train terminal. Although the walk was short it was really quite hard, no flat sections just ups and downs and great views.