White Water Swimming

Hiking today was easy-peasy. Also beautiful. The Shakadang trail in Taroko National Park runs next to a gorge cut out by a river and deepened by the rising surrounding mountains. I'm glad that we were at the bottom of the gorge. I probably would have been dizzy looking down all of that distance.
Whoaaa the water there was so clear. Immediately after seeing it I wanted to jump in. Unfortunately a thirty foot drop separated me from swimming, so I had to wait. I can dive, but I didn't want to dive to my death.

   

Walking with Dr. Zhong usually takes a long time, because he stops every once in a while to enjoy the different plants. Sometimes I prefer walking with him. The way he looks at each plant as though it's the greatest thing on Earth convinces me (if only for a second) that it actually is. Appreciating and learning about the creation on Earth is exactly why I came here...among other reasons. One of them is not because my boyfriend is Taiwanese haha. Although that is how I learned more about Taiwan. Obviously I knew it existed. But last Christmas when his aunt gave me a mouse pad with the meat stone and jade cabbage on it, I didn't know they were famous in Taiwan. I felt embarrassed that such important art pieces never made it onto my radar.

But now I know about and have seen countless things in Taiwan, more than the average person who thinks the meat stone is a piece of cake.

Some lions protecting the bridge

Back to my day.
I think the gorge was gorge...ous. Sorry, I had to. It was one of my favorite places to visit so far. On the nature side of things, not the museum going side. The walk was easy and often wet. Walking under sharp overhangs meant that...

1. We needed to wear helmets to protect our college level noggins from falling rocks.
2. Water coming from who knows where would drip on our heads.

Of course this was the time I didn't bring along my umbrella-best-friend. I missed it dearly as water droplets plopped all over me. 

The leisurely walk brought us to an area where instead of walking above and beside the rushing water, we got to walk right down to it. Playing in the water among giant boulders was a great time. Thinking back to it, those rocks must have dropped from somewhere...probably the mountains. I don't think our small helmets would've protected us much from being squished like an ant. 

We played in the river, rockfall free. Some of us even went swimming (Andria, Randy, Jessica, Kylee and myself). The cool water was running pretty quickly, so Jack was worried as always for us. His two most common phrases are, "Hey guys, move on!" when we are lingering too long or snapping an excessive amount of pictures. Also, "Be careful!" is ample when we're having too much Adventure Time.

 Next to Swallow Gorge where I saw a grand total of ONE swallow. TWO if I count the one on the informative sign. Maybe they were hiding in the holes that their nests are in. If it was raining and I were a swallow that's where I'd be, napping. During this hike I was dizzy while looking down. I didn't think I was afraid of heights until recently. Am I developing an aversion to risky situations/behavior as I grow older? Seems as though I don't enjoy roller coasters and horror movies as much now.

These holes form from underground water poking
against the walls until a channel is formed.
I guess I could call it erosion.

 

A woman enjoying the view

Meals out of NTU are starting to blur together. I've stopped taking pictures of food because we pretty much eat the same things every meal, sans breakfast. This isn't a bad thing though. I can't complain about eating a meal consisting of Kong Xing Cai (a more delicious version of spinach), rice, fish, soup, meatballs, bamboo shoots, winter melon, fruit, and more rice twice a day.

Early to bed and I'm ready for more hiking tomorrow :)