View from the 五指山 (Wu zhi shan) parking lot. The city in the background is 新竹 (Hsinchu).

灶君堂 (Zao jun tang), one of many temples on 五指山 (Wu zhi shan). The god that is worshiped here is the kitchen god.

竹林禪苑 (Zhu lin chan yuan), which is part temple, part garden.

Behind the temple is the entrance to the 五指山登山步道(登頂步道), the Wu zhi shan crest hiking trail. Just head up the stairs, then turn right and left again under the roof. If you're not as blind as I was you'll notice the little red "登山口" sign on the post, which I only discovered upon closer inspection of the photo. Or, as in my case, you may run into the friendly owner who can give you hiking tips.

There's also a little map of the area. Unfortunately it is not really complete as several trails are missing. The trail actually continues after the 中指峰 (Middle finger peak), so you can easily hike the entire hand.

Also, there is a small unmapped trail going down from the saddle between the 食指峰 (Index finger peak) and the 中指峰 (Middle finger peak), but it's quite steep and I don't know where it ends up.

(Click here for a larger version)

The back of 竹林禪苑 (Zhu lin chan yuan) where the hiking trail begins.

After a short walk you reach this point where the two hiking trails (the lateral and the crest one) connect. However, the lateral trail is closed at this point and given the sturdy quality of the sign that seems to be more of a permanent than a temporary state. You can, however, access the lateral hiking trail from the entrance on the other side.

The trail is pretty good to walk. It either consists of stairs or looks like this.

There are many beautiful trees on the way and the forest is quite diverse.

拇指峰 (Thumb peak).

The stairs down from 拇指峰 (Thumb peak) onwards.

The "pass" between 拇指峰 (Thumb peak) and 食指峰 (Index finger peak).

食指峰 (Index finger peak) has a somewhat obstructed but nevertheless nice view. Plus, you can learn something about the local aborigines.

The pass between 食指峰 (Index finger peak) and 中指峰 (Middle finger peak). To the left there's a small and steep trail going down. It probably leads back down to the lateral trail and 灶君堂 (Zao jun tang) but I haven't tried it yet.

It's beyond me how someone can lose his shoes on the mountain, but at least somebody was gathering all the trash ...

Once in a while there's a point like this where you can peek out of the forest.

Benches close to the 中指峰 (Middle finger peak).

This part of the forest really reminded me of Switzerland. The forest is much less dense than elsewhere and the ground is merely covered with twigs and leaves. You don't see this a lot in Taiwan.

This photo might as well have been taken in Switzerland! This is what our forest hiking trails look like. :-)

The big shocker once you get to 中指峰 (Middle finger peak) - a bunch of ugly antenna towers. Luckily I had been warned on the way by fellow hikers who told me how disappointed they were when they discovered these. Apparently those were put up fairly recently and it does take away a little from the nice scenery.

Despite the antennas in the back, the view from 中指峰 (Middle finger peak) is great. And how often can you tell people that you stood on the middle finger and had lunch there? ;-)

The great view from 中指峰 (Middle finger peak). The little village on the left is 北埔 (Bei pu), on the right is 竹東 (Zhu dong), and in the background you can see 新竹 (Hsinchu) and 竹北 (Zhu bei).

With the antenna towers also came this little road, so you can actually drive a car up to 中指峰 (Middle finger peak). If you do, however, you should be prepared for scornful looks from hikers. :-)

If you continue towards the last two fingers you'll pass through this bamboo forest.

There's a great view from between the last two fingers. You can see quite far and you might be able to see the military base on top of 樂山 (Le shan) if it's not surrounded by clouds.

The last two fingers don't seem to have official names, by the way. The ring finger goes by the odd name of 無名峯 (No name peak) and the pinky is sometimes referred to as 小指峯 (Pinky peak).

This is the last view you'll get if you turn around at the pinky. Neither of the last two peaks has a real view.

The trail, however, continues after the pinky. These are the little signs for reference. (Click here for a bigger version.)

A wind turbine at the top of 好望角 (Hao wang jiao).

The coast and the hills around the area are a small wind farm.

I don't know what it is with people pointing into their photos - photos are supposed to lead the viewer's eye to the right place. This girl was exclusively taking photos of her finger. Apparently the beautiful landscape doesn't speak for itself.

We picked a great day to go there. After a week of freezing cold weather (temperatures between 20-25 °C ;-) we had real summer temperatures again.

The trail down to the coast.

The beautifully decorated blue sky.

From here there are two trails down to the coast.

Wind turbines on the hill of 好望角 (Hao wang jiao).

A small scarp where long-buried shells and other sea animals are visible in stacked sediment layers.

The some eighty meters high hill of 好望角 (Hao wang jiao) as seen from the coast.

Wind turbines close to 海角樂園 (Hai jiao le yuan).

A wind turbine at 海角樂園 (Hai jiao le yuan). Literally the name translates to "Cape Paradise" but if paradise has that much trash and broken glass lying around I'd rather stay out of paradise.

Pebble beach at 海角樂園 (Hai jiao le yuan).

Tidal ponds near 海角樂園 (Hai jiao le yuan). Note the beautiful tires enhancing the scenery ...

An old railway tunnel. You can actually walk through but because we didn't know where we would end up we decided to take a raincheck.

The second trail back up to 好望角 (Hao wang jiao).

Formosan Wild Boar

Addax

Formosan Serow

A Formosan Rock Macaque with a background of fake rain.

Black Sugar, the zoo's Formosan Black Bear was tirelessly (haha, get it?) playing with a tire.

A Southern Pig-tailed Macaque. Does this remind anyone else of that annoying little creature from Lord of the Rings?

Southern Pig-tailed Macaques

This was hilarious. The Malayan Tapirs were just being fed but the Siamangs immediately started stealing the vegetables and sneaked off with them. The tapirs couldn't care less though - they seemed more interested in the green leaves.

Another Siamang approaching to steal the tapirs' food.

Asian Elephant

A very happy Bactrian Camel.

All the camels seemed extremely happy, just like this Dromedary.

A Giraffe clumsily sitting down, so it could eat the grass from a more comfortable position.

An unidentified bird sitting on a White Rhinoceros.

An unidentified turtle

團團 (Tuan tuan), the male panda, doing what he does best: lying around in the same place he was when we visited him two years ago. With that sort of energy level it's no big surprise that Pandas are endangered.

The poorest Pelican you'll ever see. It's hard to imagine how he can survive with half his beak missing but he seems to manage. When he drinks he just quickly snaps back his head, so that the water won't flow it.

A healthier specimen of a Pelican

African Elephant

"Drink water, eat rabbit"

The legendary Chocolate Cake, now with sprinkles!

Zopf, a traditional type of Swiss bread.

A totally new shape of Zopf. It's actually a long, ordinary Zopf turned into a knot. :-)

The start of 北橫 (Bei heng), the Northern Cross-Island Highway. Getting there from Hsinchu already took us a slightly over three hours, so we started the difficult part of our trip with over 60 km in our legs.

A preview of what I imagine my daughter would look like if I had one: a sixth-grader on a road bike.

北橫之星 (Bei heng zhi xing) is a popular rest stop for cyclists, bikers, and other tourists. The shops there sell 水蜜桃蜜 (Peach honey water) but trying is free.

The western part of the highway has a lot of downhill sections - not exactly what you want when you're trying to make your way up to 1,200 m.

The view of the mountains still ahead of us.

Something in his face seems to say "What am I doing here?" ...

The remains of an old dam. It was probably torn down when the 荣华大壩 (Rong hua dam) was built a few hundred meters upstream.

The new 巴陵大橋 (Big Ba Ling bridge), built in 2005.

And the older 巴陵橋 (Ba Ling bridge), which is now exclusively for pedestrians (and bikers if you don't mind the dark tunnels on both sides).

View of the river shortly after the 巴陵橋 (Ba Ling bridge).

Just before the fork to 拉拉山 (La la shan). After this point the traffic becomes a lot lighter and the road narrower.

There are many misleading road signs in Taiwan, but this is one of the more frustrating ones. The altitude of 1,140 meters is not actually measured at this point but a few kilometers later after a further ascent of over 100 meters!

A dyslexic toilet in 四陵 (Si ling). I'd bet good money that the sign was written by the same person who misplaced the "Elevation: 1,140 meters" sign. :-)

The closer we got to the top the more the weather started to turn. Taiwan's mountain roads are infamous for quickly turning weather, so we were extremely lucky to stay dry for the duration of the whole trip.

Finally, 大同鄉 (Da tong township)! This point is the border between 桃園縣 (Taoyuan county) and 宜蘭縣 (Yilan county).

Murals of the local tribe's traditions along the side of the road.

Richard and Sonic arriving in 宜蘭縣 (Yilan county). From here to the highest point of 北橫 (Northern Cross-Island Highway) there are still several downhill sections, but lunch is only a few kilometers away ...

台7線, Highway 7 close to 明池 (Ming chi).

Our lunch stop for the day: 明池 (Ming chi).

The famous old tree next to the 明池山莊 (Ming chi mountain hostel).

My trusted GT mountain bike. I had chosen the mountain bike over the road bike to spare my knees and make the lengthy downhill part more enjoyable. I had switched to thinner road tires just for this trip, which makes a world of difference.

明池 (Ming chi) literally means "clear lake". But this green sludge hardly deserves the name! I guess even geography is all about marketing ...

The last uphill segment between 明池 (Ming chi) and the highest point of the day. The latter one is so unspectacular and hard to determine that there are no pictures. :-)

Ray, visibly happy to have reached "777", the most famous spot of 台7線 (Highway 7). Hardly a cyclist doesn't stop there to take a few pictures.

The vast riverbed in 大同 (Da tong) is being used as a farmland for water melons. From here it was all flat until our hotel, but still over 30 kilometers to go. This was the only time I really wished for my road bike.

On the morning of the second day in front of our hotel in 礁溪 (Jiao xi), from right to left: Ray, myself, Sonic, Richard, and Richard's wife. Richard's wife did us a huge favor by accompanying us by car and making sure we were well watered and fed for the entire time.

龜山島 (Turtle Island) as seen from the 北宜 (Taipei-Yilan Highway). The road crosses two mountains on the way from 礁溪 (Jiao xi) to 新店 (Xin dian). Luckily neither one of them are as high as the first day's.

A statue on the side of the road.

On top of the last mountain of the day, just before the downhill section to 新店 (Xin dian).

The view of the 翡翠水庫 (Fei cui reservoir) between the trees.

View from 石碇 (Shi ding) towards the Northern end of Taiwan.

Without a doubt the hottest part of our two-day bike trip. The temperatures in 新店 (Xin dian) had reached over 40 degrees, so on the way back to 三峽 (San xia) our brains were nearly boiling under our helmets.

Fortunately Taiwan is full of little wayside pavilions, just the thing to take a quick rest.

The view from the Matzlenfurggelen hiking trail. From left to right: Vorder Glärnisch, Wiggis, Rautispitz

Alpenrose is a beautiful kind of Rhododendron that's very common in the Swiss Alps.

A field of Alpenrosen with the distinctive Glärnisch in the background.

The Garichti dam and part of the reservoir.

The north side of the Kärpf, still partly covered in snow.

Clouds behind the peak of the Matzlenfurggelen.

At the top of the Matzlenfurggelen with a beautiful view of the Linth valley.

A hiking trail zig-zagging upwards from the east side of the lake.

The Glärnisch, the most prominent mountain in the area. On the other side lies the Klöntalersee.

A Common Buzzard (I believe ...) hovering in mid-air looking for prey.

The beautiful plumage illuminated by light but unfortunately slightly out of focus because the photographer is normally shooting less agile subjects like mountains or lakes ...

Apparently even letting yourself carry by the wind is tiring.

The tree makes for a good photo subject even without any birds sitting on it. :-)

I managed to sneak fairly close up to the buzzard without bothering him ...

... and ended up catching him all fluffed up by the wind. It almost makes you want to cuddle it if it weren't for the claws and the beak.

More Alpenrosen. Like many other Rhododendron this one is actually poisonous.

Hiking with the Glärnisch in the background.

A nice view of the Linth valley: Schwanden is the small town in front and Glarus, the canton's capital, is the slightly bigger one in the back.

A bench by a little lake called Grüenseeli. Swiss German likes diminutives, so this one means "Little green lake". :-)

The inflowing creek to the lake.

The water in these mountain lakes is so clear you could have a swim - if it weren't for the cold temperatures.

A second little lake just above the first one. In the background the Western half of the Tiejer Flue.

Gentiana ("Enzian" in German) along the way.

Some more alpine flowers that look nice but whose names are beyond my botanic knowledge.

A fallen tree serving as an island to flowers.

And yet more flowers ... The last ones to hit my viewfinder before rain forced me to pack away the camera and throw on a rain jacket.

What looks like your ordinary mountain on this photo is actually the South side of a massive high plateau, the Flimserstein.

The forest hiking trail leading from Trin Mulin to the Rheinschlucht (Ruinaulta).

Angry Birds meets traditional Swiss chalet.

The brown bear is making a return to the Swiss forests.

Il spir, the spectacular view platform that opened in 2006. Although not exactly obvious its shape was inspired by that of the Common Swift.

The view down into the "Swiss Grand Canyon", a canyon dug by the Rhine's headwaters after a vast landslide about 10,000 years ago.

Il spir.

The view platform is a popular attraction for hikers and other outdoor fans.

"Zault", a more recently erected view platform on the opposite side of the canyon.