Dakeng Scenic Area — Attraction in Taichung

Started from trail 2 which was researched to be the steepest, which connected to trail 5, walked up to reach trail 4 and then U-turn-ed back down trail 5, and exited via trail 1. A continuous walk that took ~2.5 hours.

The views were limited as it’s mostly thick vegetation. The trail felt technical because it was 95% logs 🪵 which required a lot of balancing and looking down where you step to ensure your foot 🦶🏻 does not slip into the gaps in between. One gets shaky legs because of all the constant tiptoeing and balancing on the steps, and if you have larger feet, that means less surface to balance on. It felt like an endless path

Even on a cloudy day, there were sections that felt more damp and wet on the rope handles & logs, and made it more dangerous.

Certain sections of the stairs were quite steep

Along the way could see quite a number of other older folks hiking as well, and impressed by their quiet determination.

Not exactly a trail I would sign up for because there is no nice peak point, and the journey terrain was not changing much nor very much enjoyable

Took a taxi into the start point and quite a bit of driving through winding path, and not sure how accessible it is via public transport honestly. Was luckily able to get uber quite easily to enter and exit, but cost about $625 TWD each way from...

This place is gorgeous and the views are astonishing.

You can take a bus or an Uber from the city here. Trail number 10 up, and trail number 9 down make an excellent, short and semi easy hike.

The difficulty is not very high technically there is no climbing on all fours or much ropes, but there is a lot of stairs. So if you cannot walk to the 5th floor or higher, this place may give you some hard time. However, there's rest stops and you really don't have to run through it, so go and give it a try.

In the crossing of the two paths there's a small picnic area with a small kiosk. Only bought water, which was only a little bit overpriced. Nothing fancy here, but the view is beautiful!

As most hiking and scenic areas in Taiwan, this one is free of charge, too. There's a market place at the base of the mountain, selling veggies and stuff. Just bring your own water and snacks of you want to avoid paying too much. However, you might also buy stuff there to...

I did trails 1, 5 and landed with 4. The trail is very good. But take a lot of water and mineral water. You may slide easily, so a hiking shoes is preferable. Watch your steps carefully there are stairs of wooden logs which have gaps in between, your foot can easily fall in between and get broken if you are not watching your steps. The trails 1 to 5 are so steep, so take it slowly if you would like to do more than one trail. There are warning signs of poisoning snakes, but I haven't seen any. Going back to the hotel was an absolute mess, I missed the way back after getting out from trail 4 and had to walk 4 km before getting am autostop to the nearest urban area. So be prepared and plan...