The Epic Hike

By Carly

"Ok everyone out!" my mom half-shouted excitedly. We were about to hike the Li Song hike that ended at some hot springs and we had absolutely NO idea what was ahead of us. My mom, dad, uncle E-Pi, my sister Perrin and my cousins Johanna and Daniel hopped out of our rental car and walked toward the trail entrance. We stopped and peered down the trail. As far as we could see, it was all almost vertical downhill. We happily started down the mountain thinking that the trail would level out sometime soon.  We were wrong.  Instead we were occasionally tripping on the roots and vines that coated the mountain. We kept our hands on the rope that was lining the trail because that was the easiest way to stay on our feet. The rope was supported by metal poles that had gloves on top of them so if you were to put your hand on one, the sharp metal under the glove wouldn't cut you. We slowly made our way down the mountain. Finally we stopped at a place on the trail where a rock stood dangerously leaning over us. There was a rope that we had to hold onto to help us inch down the rocks. We were going so slowly I thought we were never going to get to the bottom.  I must admit it was pretty sketchy.

Daniel climbing down toward the river

Finally, after an hour, the trail leveled out and we stepped onto a rocky beach. We waded through the water over to the hot springs and ate lunch. 

Finally we were ready to bathe. We changed into our bathing suits and climbed down the rugged ladder that was nailed into the side of the slippery rock and stepped into the water. 

Here the water was cold. While shivering, we tripped and stumbled over to the pools of warm water that were held together with sand, dirt and rocks about the size of my head, which, if you didn't know, is pretty big. My dad said I had to keep my ankles out of the hot spring and keep them in the cold river. He said this because in Hualien, I got some nasty black fly bites. Not that the flies where poisonous or anything, but since we have been in Taiwan, for some reason, my skin has been VERY sensitive. The fly bites only like cold water. I learned that the hard way. They turn all red and nasty and inch like crazy almost all the time unless they are in the cold water.

I dipped my feet into the river and I could almost hear them yelling, “More! We want MORE!!!!!!!!!” I plopped down next to Johanna with my body in the warm water and my ankles and feet in the cold. We chatted together as we watched the hot spring water dribbling down the cliffside that was green and white from hot spring minerals.  Later we hopped out of the hot springs. We all climbed back up the ladder, back to the rocky beach, changed back into our clothes and once again we were back on the mountain.