Home Sweet Home

Visited the presale house for customization in the morning, started packing gear in the afternoon.

Nangang Bus Station

Took the MRT to Nangang Bus Station to transfer. Nina was worried it would be too late when we arrived in Yilan, so she wanted to have dinner in Nangang. We looked for bento boxes at the station. After a round, I didn't find any satisfying options, so I chose the safe option, Subway, to avoid greasy food and spare change. Nina continued looking and came back with a greasy bag and change. At Subway, the counter made a mistake with the order sequence and added sauce to my sub without asking. They offered to remake it and kept apologizing, but I didn't mind and took the sub outside to eat. Nina started her bento on the bus.

Yilan

The bus ride was fast, and Nina kept praising the Yilan Bus Station. We headed straight to Central Woods Hostel, checked in ourselves, and went to PX Mart for final supplies (it was great not having to interact with hostel staff!). We planned to carry two 2.5L bottles up the mountain, so we bought them in Yilan, divided one into our containers, and discarded the other. We also bought two loaves of bread for breakfast at a bakery.

Slept with the air conditioning on and surprisingly slept well.

Yilan

Woke up and started breakfast. Had toast with pork floss (brought from home and bought in Yilan... why eat pork floss here?) and coffee. I also finished the small bread from the bakery. After packing everything, we headed to Yilan Bus Station.

As dawn broke, Nina marveled at the Yilan Bus Station again. Although we knew we had to catch the 05:40 bus 1743 at Yilan Bus Station, we couldn't find the stop.

We chatted with some locals who, upon learning we were hiking in Yulan, said the tea there is good.

After asking at the Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport counter, we finally found the stop on the station's perimeter. It seems 1743 is a city bus (only to Songluo), while the bus I took before went to Lishan, so the stops are in different places.

Yilan Bus Station

Bus 1743 is also operated by Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport, but it's a regular city bus with fewer but spacious seats, and the bus felt new. We almost had the bus to ourselves from Yilan Bus Station to Yulan, only encountering one other gentleman.

Yulan Station

We got off at Yulan, and the sun was already quite hot. We started along the village paths, saw "tea cakes," and said we'd try them on the way down. We passed a wooden B&B called "Weidan," with garden landscaping, which seemed expensive. Continuing up, we joined the "Tea Poetry Trail," covered in fallen leaves, weeds, moss, and broken branches, but it wasn't difficult to walk. However, Nina seemed a bit out of energy, and I thought, "We can't be done before reaching the trailhead, right?"

Yulan Observation Deck

We reached the Yulan Observation Deck, a camping area in the Yulan Tea Garden, overlooking the water-scarce Lanyang River. We put down our backpacks and took a 20-minute break, during which Nina started snacking. There are public restrooms here, and after resting, we continued to the trailhead.

We met a lady descending with an injured dog. She said she lived in some white houses below and felt it was luxurious to see shooting stars every day. She also mentioned it would take about 50 more minutes to reach the trailhead.

I checked the map and told Nina that after four (or five?) hairpin turns, we'd reach the parking lot. Although the slope was gentle and easy to walk, the hot sun made it tiring.

At the parking lot, we saw a taxi, and Nina carefully studied its information, seemingly planning to take it down. She seemed a bit unresponsive, later saying she was counting more than four (or five?) hairpin turns without seeing the parking lot, seriously annoyed.

We continued a bit further to the trailhead, which was obvious, and took a long break there.

Trailhead

Entering the forest made it less hot, and the slope to the Water Faucet Campsite wasn't steep. We met descending hikers who said we could have the place to ourselves tonight.

Water Faucet Campsite

After several breaks, we took a long rest at the Water Faucet Campground to prepare for the steep ascent. We tried protein powder with matcha powder here, which tasted a bit like milk, but the bottle had a faint meaty smell after mixing protein powder.

We started the steep ascent intermittently, and Nina was almost too tired to speak. After resting on a flat section near the cliff, she finally recovered a bit. Then it started raining, and before the final steep climb, we decided to put on rain gear. I wore a raincoat and rain pants, while Nina only wanted a raincoat. We then reached a large drop, where there used to be a wooden ladder, now only ropes and tree roots remained, but we managed to climb up safely after testing it.

Saddle

After reaching the saddle, we knew there were no more climbs, but didn't expect the descent to be so steep. With the rain, we could only descend slowly, even though I remembered only a few hundred meters remained, it was still frustrating.

Songluo Lake

Upon reaching the lake, although there was only a creek in the center, the expansive scenery still delighted us. We admired the view while moving towards the water collection path and finally decided to camp in front of the path. As the rain intensified, I set up a tarp to shelter from the rain, initially facing the lake to enjoy the view while setting up camp, but the wind from the lake was strong, so I quickly changed to an A-frame tent. After setting up, it poured, and we took out chairs to rest inside the tent.

We decided to brew some tea. I collected a pot of water with the tarp and started boiling it. After drinking, Nina said she felt a bit cold, so she wrapped herself in a fleece blanket and lay on the groundsheet to rest (feeling the tent top was too low, sitting on a chair was tiring).

Water Collection

As the rain lessened, I calculated the time and set off to collect water (hoping to finish within an hour and return to camp before dark). At the trail entrance, I found water accumulating and flowing down, planning to collect water here, but after filling some, I noticed the water was slightly yellow, so I continued forward. Initially, it was an uphill section, then mostly walking in or beside the creek, with difficult paths, many puddles, and sparse ribbons crisscrossing. Although I had no trouble navigating, by 16:50, I started feeling something was off (even though the map showed I was getting closer, I was unsure of the destination's appearance and worried about the time to return to camp), so I decided to continue until 17:00, and if I didn't find the water source, I'd turn back to filter the muddy water.

Nanshi River

Reached the river, with abundant water about 20 cm deep. I filled 7600 ml of water and started heading back.

Songluo Lake

After returning to camp, the rain had almost stopped. We set up the two person double wall tent for the night, hung small camp lights, mosquito coils, and Christmas lights (Nina's creation), and then started preparing dinner. It was already dark during dinner, and we saw many stars, but since it was near a full moon, there weren't too many stars. After dinner, we moved all the gear to the front yard, started washing up, and fell asleep after chatting.

Woke up in the middle of the night feeling very bright, went outside the tent to find a full moon high in the sky, but the misty rain made the moonlight appear hazy. After relieving myself, I quickly went back to sleep. Although I still slept intermittently, this seemed to be my best sleep outdoors.

Songluo Lake

Woke up and started packing the down quilt and sleeping pad, both ends were a bit wet. This was the first time using the sleeping pad and down quilt in damp conditions, but fortunately, only the ends were wet, so I wiped them dry and packed them away.

After packing, we started circling the lake. The early morning was indeed the most beautiful time at Songluo Lake, with the sun not yet risen and mist lingering in the valley. We first moved towards the exit. After reaching the left side of the entrance, there was a small lake with accumulated water, but we didn't go closer. I tried to head directly opposite the entrance, but the ground was soft and wet, so I decided to return to camp and circle around. Opposite the entrance were two unoccupied tents, likely left by porters. We wandered and took photos before returning to camp to prepare breakfast.

Nina said she felt very hungry and suddenly knew how to use the gas stove, so she ate a pack of dried rice. After the sun rose, I set up two more guy lines outside the tarp as clotheslines to dry all the wet clothes. After breakfast, it got hotter, and we packed up and left Songluo Lake.

Breaking Camp

We returned the same way, and without rain, the uphill was not difficult. We met many hikers heading up.

Water Faucet Campsite

Before reaching the Water Faucet Campsite, we met a lady descending solo. She seemed to think the day hike was too rushed, so she decided to head back first. We rested at the Water Faucet and continued down, with the lady joining us, sharing stories about the Taoyuan Mountaineering Club until we parted at the parking lot.

Yulan Tea Garden

Back in Yulan, it was still early, so we bought tea cakes without tea flavor and green mangoes, then waited for the bus at the station. It was Saturday, and there was a special Green 12 bus on holidays between Songluo and Yilan Bus Station, so we took the empty bus back to Yilan Bus Station (there seemed to be a third passenger, but I can't remember).

Home Sweet Home

After resting at Yilan Bus Station, we took the bus back to Xingyun Street, freshened up, and at Nina's request, went to Shangyue for a celebratory feast. Nina felt a bit dizzy on the way there.