While there are plenty of short, easy hikes in the Sun Moon Lake area, Shuishe Great Mountain Trail stands alone in its difficulty, with almost a mile of vertical ascent. Wanting to give ourselves a challenge (and something to do on a rainy day), we decided to give it a shot!
HOW TO GET THERE
- If you have a car, drive to the Sun Moon Lake Youth Activity Center. It’s located right off of Sun Moon Lake, on the eastern side. You’ll see a massive sign, so it’s very hard to miss. Here, you’ll find a few lots were you can park free of charge. If you don’t have a car, take the bus (schedule here) to the “Sun Moon Lake Ropeway” stop, then walk across the street away from the lake to the Sun Moon Lake Youth Activity Center.
- Walk past the main building of the Youth Center, past the bus parking lot and a large fountain, and you’ll see a sign pointing to “Shuishe Great Mountain” up a stone staircase. This is it!
The trail started out as a mossy, white stone staircase that lead up the mountain. Over the first half mile or so, the branches and vines framed the stairs to create a vibrant, bright green pergola, welcoming us into the forest.After the first half mile of climbing, the trail headed toward the mountainside, and we were rewarded with our first aerial views of the lake. Among Sun Moon Lake’s most iconic scenes are those of the mist clouds visibly “resting” on the surface of the water and the surrounding mountains. Shuishe Great Mountain Trail provided a great vantage point to catch these famous views.
About a mile and a half in, the trail veered away from the lake again, and entered an entirely different landscape – a thick bamboo forest. The massive, thirty-foot tall bamboo stalks spanned as far as our eyes could see, completely taking us away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist-filled lake below. We had also climbed enough at this point to enter into one of Sun Moon’s famous mist clouds, which added to the quiet, calm atmosphere.The trail continued through the misty bamboo forest, while dramatically climbing up the mountainside, for another half mile or so. Finally, we reached our first descent, which took us out of the bamboo forest and into the third section of Shuishe Great Mountain Trail – the cloud forest.
Upon reaching the a trail sign and discovering that we were about halfway through the hike, I remarked that, “the trail couldn’t get any steeper than what we had already walked through…. ” I spent the next two miles eating my words, as the trail turned from very steep to even steeper. Most of the remainder of the hike required clinging to the ropes installed into the side of the mountain, or at least using our hands and feet to grip any root/plants we could find in order to slowly scramble your way up the mountainside. While this section was by far the hardest, it also offered some of the prettiest “Jurassic Park-esque” views, as we could see the entire mountainside of lush tropical forest enveloped in the mist.
After three miles and over 3000 feet of elevation gain (woof), we finally reached the summit! While the hike itself is beautiful and offers a great look at the landscape surrounding Sun Moon Lake, the hikes’ summit is nothing to write home about, as the trees offer no “view” from the top. With this in mind, make sure to take plenty of pictures on the way up.. and remember what Miley Cyrus said, “It’s all about the climb.”
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
- As you could probably tell from this blog, this trail is no joke. Don’t take it for a light afternoon stroll and make sure to bring plenty of water, food, and bug spray.
- Bring shoes with as much traction as possible, it is super slippery. We both fell a few times.
- I would budget at least five to six hours for this hike. Don’t be fooled by the relatively short length… it’ll take awhile.
- Bring a jacket! The cloud forest gets really cold, especially if you start sweating.
Happy hiking!
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