24.90694,121.85342 The creek is short, but the trek took us more time than expected. We planned to finish it in about 2 hours, but surprisingly, it took 4 hours. The creek is full of shrimp, and we spent quite a bit of time watching them. There was also some climbing along the creek. We encountered the first small waterfall/obstacle just dozens of meters from where we
... entered the water. It was about 3 meters high. I carefully climbed up and found a rope lying at the top, which then I threw down for the others. The rope seemed to have been there for over a decade. Climbing down would have been nearly impossible without it.
Then, we entered a small gorge with a large boulder blocking the creek, forming a very small waterfall about 2.5 meters high, just barely qualifying as one. This "waterfall" pool was the only spot where we could fully soak ourselves. After about 50 minutes of tracing the creek, we reached the main waterfall. It was in the right fork, and there was a massive landslide just 10 meters away from it. The strong flow of water poured down from this 10-meter waterfall (but keep in mind, this was a week after a typhoon). We took pictures, enjoyed the natural spa, and had our lunch there.
We did this trace a week after a typhoon and the water flow was satisfying. I can imagine how dry the creek could be during a dry period. In general, creeks in Toucheng are often a good choice after heavy rain.
23.3871,121.29691 We went to a tributary of Zhongping Creek (中平溪). We walked mostly on the hunting trail from the beginning to the fork, which took us two hours to reach and one hour to return. The trail was not easy to navigate because it was full of bushes.
The creek is full of life. We saw a lot of fish, big crabs, and shrimp. We even saw a barking deer falling to
...ward us and running away. We also saw a goat on a slope, but it quickly fled. We were amazed by how much wildlife we encountered.
We visited two waterfalls in the tributary. They were close to each other. The first one has a beautiful shape like the one in Qiedong Creek (茄苳溪) or Jianshanhu (尖山湖瀑布). We went up the waterfall by its right side (facing downstream). The bushwhacking was full of thorn vines—quite painful. We carefully climbed through bushes and thorn vines and set up a rope to climb back down to the creek. The second waterfall was just ahead of us. It was a 50-meter waterfall and looked very similar to 九龍瀑布 (Nine Dragons Waterfall) in Pingxi.
If you trace up Zhongping Creek instead of its tributary, you might reach Valau Waterfall. It's giant and can be seen from satellite images. However, the trace takes 12-13 hours and requires skills and massive stamina.
23.68982,121.37294 A beautiful creek with a lot of climbing. We visited two waterfalls and a pool between them. The distance isn't long, but it took us a lot of time (eight hours in total). There's a third waterfall, but we didn't go there.
Beginners will have a very hard time, but ordinary river tracers or people good at climbing should be fine. A rope is strongly r
...ecommended for this trip.
We visited two waterfalls. The first one is quite beautiful, located in a half-encircled gorge. The second one is a three-tiered waterfall. Between the two waterfalls is a pool similar to Goddess' Pool in Melburry Creek (you need a rope here to make sure you can climb back after jumping in).
24.95185,121.91021 The first waterfall is at 24.96,121.9085. It's 4 meters and has a nice pool to chill. On top of it are another two pools and you can jump into them. Trace further up for another 40 minutes-1 hour and you'll get to a 8-m waterfall.
If you go above the 8-meter waterfall, two really tall waterfalls are around the corner. The one on the main stream is
... around 20-25 meters tall, and the other one on the left fork is also around that height. We went around the waterfall on the right side(facing downstream) and did a little bushwhack, but it was quite easy in general. There's webbing and a rope on the other side but it looked very sketchy to climb up, so we didn't go up on the left side(facing downstream).
Shimen Creek is not only easy but also quite traffically available, just a train ride and a taxi from Dali 大里 or Daxi 大溪 station and you'll get to the trailhead.
24.10787,121.59976 The 5-kilometer one-way hike was quite long. We walked almost non-stop and chose to stick to the trail as much as possible while strictly limiting our time to 5 or 10 minutes at each large pool. To save time, we followed the trail for most of the route to Double Dragon Waterfall rather than tracing in the water. From Double Dragon to the final 120-m
...eter waterfall, the creek became steeper and more challenging, requiring us to climb large rocks, which slowed us down.
There were no technical difficulties, but it demanded physical stamina and strict time management. We spent a fair amount of time at each large pool, but we decided to skip the Double Dragon pool and its slide. On our way back, we jumped into the pools (having checked their depth and suitable jump spots on our way up).
We passed all the commercial tours and were rewarded with the opportunity to filter and drink the creek water, which tasted great. Most of them only reached the first large pool, and only a few made it to Crimson Gorge.
Before reaching the final waterfall, we encountered a slender and elegant 60-meter waterfall and another tall one. Then came the enormous final 120-meter waterfall. It deserved a spot in my top ten magnificent waterfalls list, alongside the 120-meter Nenggao Soaring Falls. I had initially thought it would be around 70 meters based on the topo map, but I was glad to be proven wrong—very wrong. The waterfall consisted of three tiers, resembling the cross-section of a pork belly. The creek water from the main stream rushed from the top of the waterfall to the next tier, then further down to another tier before finally reaching the enormous pool it had created. The waterfall gorge had a beautiful shape, surrounded by steep mountainsides. A giant boulder served as the waterfall's threshold, which we had to climb over to access the pool, accompanied by a secondary 10-meter waterfall between the boulder itself and the giant pool. This trace was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences I've had so far.
It appears that there was another waterfall over 100 meters high about 300 meters away. Hopefully, someone can bring a drone to check it out.
Trailhead 24.10787,121.59976
Rose Valley 玫瑰谷 24.11162,121.59199
Crimson Valley 赤金峽谷 24.11639,121.58093
Double Dragon 雙龍瀑布 24.11679,121.57702
Gorge 24.11692,121.57491
120-M Pork Belly Waterfall 24.12026,121.57353
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