2輪組RUN2W

[outrecording]

I planned a day trip to explore some trails splitting off of Shakalan (莎卡蘭) village in Pingdong County, just north of Sandimen. My trip got cut short because of a broken clutch lever and my top box breaking off. Doh! I should be embarrassed, but hey, falls happen....and I got thick skin.

Luckily I made it as far as Sha Ka Lan River before the fall. Here are some pics on the way to the river...

There's a rope leading to the top where I guess you can have a nice soak in a pool of water.


Follow the fish to the river


Eventually the road leads to dirt...


And becomes overgrown...


This is where I should have parked. But somehow it didn't seem all that steep. I've made it up worse.


View from the bottom


I show this cuz that's where I fell trying to get back up. The combo of my weight and gear weight, small engine and poor driving skills (I guess?) didn't work.

Later I realized the left side of the trail was more or less a little stream! It was flowing down the rocks and disappeared halfway down. That whole section was wet and loose. I didn't have a chance...

After a couple tries I thought the only way I could make it up alone was with momentum. It only half worked. Once I hit the wetter section I went down.



With a broken clutch lever I figured I was more or less screwed. There was no way in hell I was going to push the bike up. (I tried)

After about 20 min of trying to get a phone signal an older couple came along and gave me a push to the top.



They acted strange when they first saw me. Almost frightened. When I later asked what they were doing there they didn't answer me. I eventually figured out they were illegally "fishing" for something.



Notice that army radio looking thing on the guy's back. There's a battery at the bottom, some coiled wire, and a long pole attached to a three-pronged antenna thing. Electrocute and retrieve!

Well, I wasn't about to turn in people who helped me out. So on I went.

That was basically the end of my trip. Getting back home was a major pain. I kept it in 3rd most the way. Shifting was laborious, but with some trial and error I could kinda sorta shift. (I now have a spare I'll always carry with me)

Here are some shots of the river area. It felt a lot nicer than these pictures show. There wasn't a person in sight and seemingly nobody visits here anymore (unless to illegally fish).





"Technically" the reason why I'm out here. Recording.






I guess because of the rain the river was going pretty fast and was wider than normal. There were a few little streams there feeding it, which was great to soak my feet in.

I think you could drive a ways down the river in a drier season. Google satellite shows the river to be pretty tiny. And I think the woman was telling me I should just drive it. Not possible from what I could see.

So if you find yourself down south, I'd make a small detour and give this place a look.

Next week I'm headed back there for my original agenda. Part 2 coming up...

[R45]

..interesting Hobby...what do you do with recordings?

[outrecording]

Some of it I use for my job (sound design stuff), but most of the good stuff I'll release as a sound library for sale. I got a lot of sounds that didn't make the cut, but still nice. I recently put together a sound map:

http://outrecording.com/sound-map/

It's sparse now. Got a lot of recordings to go through!

[outrecording]

Had my "Part 2" of this little ride yesterday. Pouring rain over half the trip.

My iPhone caught a bit too much water and died. So only have a few pics that dropbox managed to export and some I sent my wife while out.

This is my second iPhone that died in as many weeks. Phone company still wants to give me a new one free of charge. Taiwan Da Ge Da in case your wondering.

I'll post what pics I have later in another thread.

[spike]

nice places...we explore south Taiwan far too seldomly...thanks for some new destinations

[outrecording]

Just posted part 2 of the journey. Pics aren't so great though. I would suggest contacting the forestry bureau to see if you can get a permit to ride further than their guard shack.

There are some pictures up on Google Earth showing a scooter out there. Must have been before whichever typhoon destroyed the main road; I can't see a scooter making it through those trails. Some of those pics look not bad. I'd like to try and get a permit to explore. Maybe "wildlife recording" would be a good enough reason? Not sure how easy those permits are to get...