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| Huangdidian (皇帝殿) ridge hike in Shiding (石碇) |
The weather in Taipei has been unpredictable as of late. The forecasts say one thing but the weather does quite the opposite. It's challenging to make plans these days, especially when one of the plans involves a long ridge hike.
Our first attempt was rained out. Our second attempt was canceled one day prior because the forecast showed an 80-90% chance of rain. On the day of the event we did not see one drop of rain. Not one. I was slightly annoyed.
Our third attempt was this trip pictured here. The forecast said there was a 20% chance of rain for the entire day so we figured we'd be good to go. Ha! We got rained on for half of the hike. It's so frustrating!
I was leading a group of experienced hikers so we decided to take the route as it came. I've done this hike many times before but never in the rain. There are several metal ladders to climb and many spots where one needs to walk along narrow ridges with only the support of ropes. The rock itself was not nearly as slippery as I imagined it would be and I won't hestitate in the future to go after a rainy day.
This hike is one of the more popular day hikes near Taipei City and on a nice day, it can be very crowded. There are a number of sections along the hike where hikers need to go one at a time so when you get two groups needing to cross paths, it can take some time. We completed the hike in 4.5 hours as we mostly had the trails to ourselves.
The Taipei Hikers had a wonderful day out with smiles all around! We finished the hike wet from the rain, sweaty from the workout and muddy from almost head to toe!
