Bats, Muntjac, Thunder, Trespassing - with a suprise ending.

It feels as though a lifetime has transpired since last writing a trip update; events and life loop and spiral creating globular structures of time as dense as stars. Where to begin, what to omit, stories to share, stories I wish not forgotten, picking and choosing one out of dozens.

Taiwan!

With a focused gaze I hope to share numerous stories before the inevitable return stateside, yet will fall short during bright sunny days where river tracing, adventuring, relaxing, enjoying life take precedence. Awaiting this limited audience is tales of our “Spring Trip” (four different hot springs in four days while circumventing the island), ErziShan hot spring, two weeks in China accompanying some really cool people, a week or two with those same folks in Taiwan, river tracings, hikes, mountains, and this, the story of the day. This story is why you should say “Fuck Authority!!!”  because sometimes good things come from riding the edge. It might sound as though we triumphed against some great oppressor but Taiwan seems to have skated around authoritarian domination (with respect to the States) so perhaps the slogan above is unnecessary. Let's begin!


During a return trip to hehuanshan, we accompanied one of half a dozen Mr. Chen's within Dacota's arsenal of contacts. We met this Mr. Chen, who sat in the drivers seat speeding along the windy highway switchbacks, some months prior. We were delighted when he invited us to one of Taiwan's tallest peaks, at 3900meters. During our drive through on the Cross-Island Highway, he pointed out various trails that we have yet to hike. This story is not about our journey together though (a blog post up-and-coming), but rather about one of the trails he pointed out. The following day, we set out to try one of the closer new trails, as my intent is to complete the majority of trails in Taroko before returning.


The weather report suggested heavy rains in the afternoon and we set out early hoping to avoid getting wet. The day was overcast, mountains shrouded in clouds, but our spirits were high and we sped through the blossoming morning. The hike we planned was only about an hour away from the house and involved a walking through a tunnel, and possibly some river tracing. Such was our information and we arrived at the destination, parking the scooter in an inconspicuous place. Signs, in English, warned that a permit was needed, or that this area was “off limits” and we casually ignored the warnings, lit up the flashlights and walked through the tunnel. The artificial tunnel was large, easily fitting in a large pick-up truck, and obviously built for some reason. We passed through the tunnel and emerged into a clearing, the split between mountains, a valley to our right, river to the left, and another cave (smaller and with debris and broken concrete needing to be scaled up to access). A cable system meant to transport goods into the valley to the right seemed out of place because we couldn't see any infrastructure coming down the mountain. But again, it must have some purpose; either way, we decided to continue straight into to the next tunnel. This next tunnel housed even more bats and they danced in the air above us, frightened by our presence. But they were not the only ones to be startled this day.


We emerged into a heavily wooded area with an overgrown path leading further into the mountains. This path wasn't well traveled, much to our happy surprise, and we set off to explore the area. Walking some hundred feet on the small path and we both jumped, a rustle of movement and a screeching sound startled us in the silent morning. On the path was a muntjac flailing around on the ground. We cautiously approached and saw its back legs were trapped under a rock. It shook with fear and from thousands of flies swarming it; it had obviously been trapped for a while and it looked in pretty poor shape. I inched forward, moving slow enough that it didn't try to run (I didn't want it to injure itself any more that it was already), and finally made the five feet to where I stood within a foot of it. I carefully lifted the large rock off its legs and rolled it into the brush nearby, yet the muntjac remained immobilized, its legs were clearly broken and it was exhausted from fear and trying to impossibly escape. 

Here was our crossroads, we needed to inform the police or park department so that they could get a veterinarian out to help the little thing, but we illegally entered an area that was obviously not well traveled.
The options that we saw before us was to first obtain a permit to the area, fake that we went on the trail for the first time and found the muntjac, and returned to inform them of the situation. When we exited the first tunnel on our way back to the scooter, a taxi driver, stopped to let her patrons take pictures of the beautiful scenery, smiled at us. Dacota ran over and asked her the name of the place we were at and she claimed it was a maintenance path and "off-limits" to everyone. Well, obtaining a permit was out of the question. Shit. So, instead of informing the police, we decided to talk with administrative people at the Taroko National Headquarters, and tried to paint a picture of our innocence while telling them what we found. Arriving at the building, I hoped to see a few familiar faces (it wasn't my first time here) yet all the faces were unknown to be. After briefly expressing our situation, we were taken downstairs to talk with some people who were actually pretty cool and claimed that they would check our story out. We informed them of the location, condition of the muntjac, and they asked for our names. “Umm...” we responded, “why?” Their reasoning, to contact us if they had any more questions. Okay, so I gave them my name and claimed that we were just tourists. Worst that happens is I get deported, better not admit any guilt of illegal activities or that we lived here. We left the building glad that everything worked out. The people we spoke with seemed like the correct authority for this situation.


(some of these pictures are blurry from water on the lens... sorry)


Well, the morning was slowly ending and yet, still nice, so we decided to try another new trail. We parked and crossed over the suspension bridge clearly requiring a permit to enter. Damn, let's hope we don't run into another muntjac flailing around. We hiked, and hiked, powering up rock walls with ropes hanging to assist the climb, and were an hour and a half into the hike when the rains and thunder came. 

Ropes heading up

Awesome switchbacks!

River Valley

It was beautiful, the sound of clashing thunder, the pattering of rain against leaves, the hooting of monkeys, the call of birds, the sound of our feet tromping through fallen leaves, and to sounds of us slipping down the mountainside. We never made it to the end of the path and will need to return on another day (with an attained permit!!!). By the time we made it to our scooter, there wasn't a single dry area of my body, it was going to be a cold ride home. As we were about to depart the national park though, we decided to return to the headquarters and make sure they found our muntjac. We sneaked into the building, because we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves once again, and found the office we visited early. It was dark, all lights turned off. Peering through the window though, we saw one lady, obviously on her break, resting at her desk. Breaking up her quiet time, we knocked and entered the room. We asked her if they found our little friend and she thanked up for informing them of the muntjac, showing us pictures/video of the rescue. I wish I could obtain that documentation for the viewing enjoyment of the animal lovers out there. Video displayed two people we talked with earlier were seen trekking on the small path, big box in hand. They found the muntjac, and inspected it, finding it obviously in pain from broken legs. They covered its head with a blanket, to help alleviate the animal's fear, carefully lifted it up, placed it in the box, and headed off. Pictures showed them carefully putting the box in the four-wheel drive Suzuki to be transported to Hualien for surgery and rehabilitation. The lady showing us the pictures and video informed us that if the muntjac recovers well, it will be released back onto the mountain to live out its happy life. What a cool day.


The following day, while eating lunch at our friend's restaurant, he showed us the local paper and asked us if we were the “two Americans” mentioned in the article. "What article," we questioned. 

Article about the muntjac

Well, yes, in fact we were. The found animal made local news!  Alan Watts, in the 50's, talked about how people only believe things they read, how people, especially the youth, need to find ways to get themselves into print for their validity as a person to be known. (One cause of crime, perhaps). I can honestly say that the only mention I ever expected was perhaps that two American were arrested for trespassing. So, moral of the story, if you trespass, make sure you find an injured animal to cast a positive light on why you were there.