Taiwan 3: Pingxi Crags and balloons.

Yesterday's mission was to climb the Ping xi Crags.  We took the 12:07PM train.  While waiting inside the train station, a guy approached us and asked if some kids could practice their English with us.  They were around 9 years old and said a few phrases back and forth with us.  Then, we were asked if we would pose for a photo with them.  We obliged.  It was weird.

Two of the towns on this train line, Pingxi and Shifen, are known for their small hot air balloons.  People write what I believe to be their hopes and dreams on the outside and then launch them into the air.  The problem, I have read is that they land in the wilderness and it is beginning to become a problem for the environment.  In Pingxi, we saw these balloons being made and launched.



We walked along the road beyond the town to the beginning of a suggested hike.  We only took one bottle of water each.  This would be a mistake.  We began a slow ascent towards the crags.  There were beautiful butterflies everywhere.



Unfortunately, we began to see evidence of the pollution that the town's balloons are causing.



We continued onward.



Although my picture will not do it justice, I had to rock climb by myself.  There were anchors in the wall and rope, but there was no solid ground directly below it.  For me, this was an incredible accomplishment.  Beyond it were a few more small climbing sections, with a beautiful, but terrifying view from the cop of the first mountain, which I believe was called Cien.  I was too fearful to take pictures at certain points.



I climbed back down to Stephanie afterwards.



After this, I made a great discovery that might revolutionize our understanding of animal life.



On this rock, I found both a pack of cigarettes and a bird feather.  This can only mean one thing...  Birds like to smoke.

At this point, Stephanie had to head down a near by path back to town, due to her health problems.



I continued on the path upwards, towards the highest peak in the area, Mt. Putuo.  I, of course, did not realize that this was the highest peak until I was able to see some of the other, smaller crags, below me from the top.  About halfway up, I had a moment where I was about to turn back.  I decided that I was here to do this, so I had to do it.  I stopped thinking, kept my eyes locked firmly on the small stairs, and both hands held on tightly to the anchors on both sides.  At this point, I became too afraid to take new pictures until I reached the top.  Before the final climb, two men were climbing down.  I had to wait on a narrow ledge while they came down.  I curled up into a ball and looked straight at the ground.  They spoke English.  They sounded like either Australian or Russian.  A heavier accent, but good English.  They asked me if I was alright.  I explained my fear of heights, they gave me kudos, and told me I was almost there.  I went to the top.  The top, luckily, was fairly spacious, with some Buddhist relics attached to the rocks.



From the top, I looked down onto a nearby crag hike.



Then, I looked at my way back(I had to go down the way I came.



In order to give some more perspective, I will now borrowing three pictures of the mountain and the hike from another blog(The one that let me discover this hike.  https://bikehiketaipei.wordpress.com/pingxi-1/ )



And this last one of the mountain itself, from one of the smaller, adjacent crags.



On the way down, I decided to go backwards, crawling.  I grabbed onto the anchors and ropes on both sides, kept my eyes plastered to the ground, and put my feet backwards one by one.  I never looked over the sides and I talked to myself the whole time.

Then, I made my way back to town.  I found another wish in the parking lot that the trail exited into.



My leg injury never gave me any problems luckily.  The swelling had gone down substantially by the morning, fortunately.  The entirety of the hike, for me, was around three and a half hours.