武陵山莊 (Wu ling villa), conveniently located right next to the trail head.

武陵橋 (Wu ling bridge), the entrance to 桃山瀑布 (Taoshan waterfall) and 武陵四秀, the four great mountains of Wu ling.

The clear water of 七家灣溪 (Qi jia wan brook).

The crossroad to the various trail heads. We went straight because it's the fastest, though not the only, way to 桃山 (Tao shan).

Another small waterfall on the way.

The first part of the trail leads through this forest.

After 1-2 kilometers the forest gets lighter and the view gets better.

Looking back to 武陵農場 (Wu ling farm).

At 2.2 km the forest clearing makes for a nice hike but sadly the blue sky ahead was already turning gray.

Benches along the way just before the trail reenters the forest.

黑水塘 (Hei shui tang or "Black water pond").

Looking ahead the top of 桃山 (Tao shan) was already shrouded in clouds.

Another look back where the weather looks better.

A helicopter landing spot along the way.

Beautiful view of Wu ling valley.

The upper and steeper part of the trail where the forest has made way to smaller shrubs.

Finally, the peak of 桃山 (Tao shan) in sight!

The bluish-black cones of a Taiwan fir.

A final patch of forest before the ascent to the peak.

The last meters up to the foggy peak.

The peak of 桃山 (Tao shan).

The peak has a number of stones and panels. Ironically the tall triangulation stone on the left is mobile and doubles as a make-shift tripod at night. :-)

桃山山屋 (Tao shan mountain hut) is towards the left, just a few minutes down the mountain. Towards the right is the trail to ...

喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan) where we would head the next morning. Note the Brocken spectre (觀音圈) on the lower right, the halo-like appearance surrounding my shadow. This phenomenon can sometimes be observed if the sun is directly behind one's back shining at the fog.

The view towards 雪山 (Xue shan), Taiwan's second tallest peak, on the far left. The remarkable peak on the right is 品田山 (Pin tian shan), which is also one of Wu ling's great four mountains.

Because we were staying at the mountain hut there was plenty of time to pass on the peak as the sky opened up and revealed the sun.

The short trail from the peak to the mountain hut.

A small patch of forest separates the peak from the mountain hut.

桃山山屋 (Tao shan mountain hut) at last with 小霸尖山 (Xiao ba jian shan) and 大霸尖山 (Da ba jian shan) in the background peeking out of the clouds.

Close-up of 小霸尖山 (Xiao ba jian shan) and 大霸尖山 (Da ba jian shan).

After dinner we headed back to the peak to take some night shots like this one towards Taiwan's east coast.

Night view of 南湖大山 (Nan hu da shan) slightly left of center and 中央尖山 (Zhong yang jian shan). At 3742 and 3705 meters above sea level they are both among Taiwan's ten tallest peaks.

Starry sky above 雪山 (Xue shan) and 北稜角 (Bei leng jiao), the twin peaks on the left, 雪山北峰 (Xue shan north peak), slightly right of center, and 品田山 (Pin tian shan) further on the right.

Night view towards 大霸尖山 (Da ba jian shan). On the left you can still recognize the trail leading past the weather station down to the mountain hut.

The silhouette of 小霸尖山 (Xiao ba jian shan) and 大霸尖山 (Da ba jian shan).

桃山山屋 (Tao shan mountain hut) in the early morning.

The first rays of sunlight illuminating 小霸尖山 (Xiao ba jian shan) and 大霸尖山 (Da ba jian shan), shortly before we headed down towards 喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan).

Looking back to 桃山 (Tao shan).

The peak of 桃山 (Tao shan) in the warm morning sun.

The trail to 喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan) leads mostly through the forest but ...

... every once in a while the trees clear and you're left with beautiful views like these.

There are lots of ups and downs on the way which slows down progress quite a bit.

Parts of the trail lead through thick bamboo, so waterproof clothing is a must unless you want to get soaked by the morning dew.

詩崙山 (Shi lun shan) is a small peak a little less than half-way to 喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan). It doesn't have a special status, though, probably because its lack of a clear view makes it unsuitable for triangulation.

Once the thick forest clears 喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan) suddenly jumps into view.

The view back towards 詩崙山 (Shi lun shan).

大霸尖山 (Da ba jian shan) between the trees.

The view back towards 桃山 (Tao shan) and 喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan) which looks much further away than the 2.3 km of distance would make it seem.

雪山 (Xue shan) and 北稜角 (Bei leng jiao) in the distance.

At the top of 喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan) there's no view, so there isn't much to do but taking a quick photo, eating something, and heading back.

品田山 (Pin tian shan), my favorite mountain in the area. If you look closely you can see the trail leading up to it through the grassy patch in the center.

On the way back ...

... with the occasional obstacle to climb over. 喀拉業山 (Kelaye shan) isn't a very popular mountain, so trail maintenance is rudimentary.

The sea of clouds towards 桃園 (Tao yuan) on the west coast becomes visible on the way back.

By the time we got back to 桃山 (Tao shan) the first tired hikers had made it up from the valley.

Another shot of the ever impressive 大霸尖山 (Da ba jian shan) and its "little brother".

The 桃山 (Tao shan) weather station.

Taking a last picture of 桃山山屋 (Tao shan mountain hut) before packing up and heading back to the valley.

谷爐巴民宿 (Kulupa homestay) where we spent the night before our hike.

It's a nice place with a good view but it's about 1-2 hours away from 塔塔加 (Ta ta jia), depending on how lucky you are with traffic and getting through construction sites.

The view from 塔塔加 (Ta ta jia) with 大塔山 (Da ta shan) in the center.

The parking lot at 塔塔加 (Ta ta jia) and the road up towards the trail head.

The 塔塔加鞍部登山口 (Ta ta jia sattle trail head) where most ascents to the various peaks of 玉山 (Yu shan) start. There's a convenient shuttle from the parking lot to here. It's around 35-40 minutes on foot but less than 10 minutes by shuttle. So to shave off some time (afternoon showers!) we decided to spend the 100 TWD per person.

The trail to 排雲山莊 (Pai yuan mountain lodge) is about 8.5 km long but the trail towards 玉山前峰 (Yu shan front peak) branches off at around 2.6 km.

The view back towards the 塔塔加鞍部 (Ta ta jia sattle).

Most of the path is quite easy to walk, which partly explains the scores of people you'll encounter here on a typical weekend day.

The view towards the valley leading to 那瑪夏 (Na ma xia) in the north east of 高雄 (Gao xiong).

Looking south-east we see 玉山南峰 (Yu shan south peak, 3844 m) near the center right below the cloud and 玉山小南峰 (Yu shan small south peak) in the right third.

Most of the trail looks something like this ...

... and every so often you'll encounter a few remarkable dead trees on the side of the trail.

The view of 玉山前峰 (Yu shan front peak), which we would climb later. You can clearly see the main trail along the mountain. The trail up to the peak cuts straight up through that little patch of forest.

We walked an extra hour just to snap this picture! (Okay, I made that up. We really just missed the turnoff.)

The beginning of the trail to 玉山前峰 (Yu shan front peak) that we had missed.

The path up is super steep but the view is not bad at all.

Another view down towards the valley, this time from higher up.

The fog beat us to the top, so the only thing to do was to take the obligatory peak bagging photo and have lunch.

The entrance to 郡大林道 (Jun Da Forest Road) where everyone gets stuck until the official in charge peels himself out of bed and presses a button.

The newly built 台21線 (highway 21) towards 望鄉 (Wang xiang) where we had spent the night.

Finally through the gate it's a bumpy ride.

Every so often the forest clears up a bit and you can see the beautiful view.

Shortly after the 22.5 km mark we took a little break.

The obligatory temple along the way. :-)

Apparently I was too shaken to take a picture of the trail head but about an hour later we got off the bus and started hiking. The first landmark on the way is this little weather station.

Most of the trail leads through shrubs and tall grass.

The absence of trees on the ridge makes for great views all around.

In the distance you can already see 玉山 (Yu shan).

The trail ahead ...

... and behind.

Every so often the path leads through patches of bamboo.

Finally at the top, about an hour before the flu from the previous few days caught up with me and made me feel rather miserable.

But that won't stop me from snapping another photo with 玉山 (Yu shan) in the background!

The steep trail to the top after the forest slowly clears.

The view back onto a beautiful sea of clouds and 桃山 (Tao shan) on the far left.

The continuation of the previous picture if you will. 桃山 (Tao shan) is the treeless peak far away in the center and on its left are 池有山 (Chi you shan) and 品田山 (Pin tian shan), the rocky one on the far left.

Looking back you can see 中央尖山 (Zhong yang jian shan). On the left is 南湖大山 (Nan hu da shan) and on the right are 甘薯峰 (Gan shu feng), a.k.a. 中央南山 (Zhong yang south peak) and 無明山 (Wu ming shan).

At the center is the village of 環山 (Huan shan) where we had started our hike a bit more than five hours earlier.

Finally at the top (sort of) with some Swiss snacks ...

... and a butterfly that was very fond of my frog-blue jacket.

From the triangulation point you also get a nice view towards 大劍山 (Da jian shan), the peak of which is just blocked from view on the right.

The triangulation point is where everybody likes to take pictures because of the little pillar.

However, if you continue a few hundred meters you get to the real peak. Unfortunately, the trees there block the view of the surrounding peaks, which explains why the triangulation point is further down.

Reading this sign makes you think what else you could possibly make faint using this plant. ;-)

On the way down you spot all the things you walked past a few hours earlier in the darkness like fungi ...

... or fields of cabbage.

The last meters of the hike. On the other side of the bridge is the trail head and the conveniently located hostel where we could take a shower before heading back.

The view from the suspension bridge is a good sample of the area: Rock slides ...

... and orchards.

The view from 武嶺, at 3275 meters above sea level.

合歡山東峰 (He huan east peak) just before sunset.

The view towards 中央尖山 (Zhong yang jian shan), the pointy one in the far center. The sunlit area much closer is 畢祿山 (Bi lu shan) which we climbed the next day.

The sunlit peak on the left is 奇萊主峰 (Qi lai main peak) and the round one just right of center is 奇萊南峰 (Qi lai south peak).

合歡山隧道 (He huan shan tunnel) near 大禹嶺 (Da yu ling) the next morning. The trailhead is just on the other side.

820林道 (Forest road 820), which can hardly be called a road anymore. Over the years it has been hit by countless landslides.

One of the several waterfalls on the way.

From some parts of the trail you can see 佳陽山 (Jia yang shan) near the middle with the rock slide as well as 大劍山 (Da jian shan) just right of the grasslands.

A tree looming dangerously over the trail.

Point 8.4 km of the forest road, very close to where the real ascent begins.

While 1.6 kilometres literally is a walk in the (national) park there are 800 meters of elevation to climb on just 1.4 kilometers, which makes it everything else but a metaphorical walk in the park.

A great view of the 合歡山 (He huan shan) and 奇萊山 (Qi lai shan) area. The grassy mountain on the right is 合歡山北峰 (He huan shan north peak) and the rocky one on the left is 奇萊北峰 (Qi lai north peak).

A short but near-vertical climb along the way.

Another peek at 奇萊北峰 (Qi lai north peak).

View down along the trail. If you look carefully you can see a few colorful dots hiking. :-)

And the view upwards near the ridge.

Finally, the crossroads on the ridge, very close to the top of 畢祿山 (Bi lu shan).

The last 200 meters before the top.

The view back from near the top.

Finally at the top, posing with 無明山 (Wu ming shan) in the background. 中央尖山 (Zhong yang jian shan) is already covered in clouds.