Nantou Maolan Mountain Trail，overlooking Sun Moon Lake .
The Nantou Maolan Mountain Trail is located next to the Sun Moon Lake, and after walking to the highest weather station, you can overlook the Lake from a different perspective! There are several observation decks on the trail, with views of mountainous tea gardens, a small number of tourists and the sounds of nature, and almost asphalt roads, making it a good choice for a relaxing hike.
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Maolan Mountain Trail
There is no parking lot at the entrance of the trail, so I turned back and parked in a nearby roadside lot, and it was easy to find a parking space with few tourists. A short climb in front of the trail is a wooden pallet, and there are quite a number of cherry blossom trees planted there, and they were almost withered when I came here at the beginning of March, so I might have a nice view around the middle of February.
Entrance to this area of dense undergrowth, insects and birds chirping, many green pecked flowers flying around in the forest, but the movement is too fast, I can not shoot…
If you look back from the forest, you can see the tea plantation on the hillside.
The large trees along the road provide shade all the way around, and the temperatures here are cool for March.
viewing platform
There are about 3 observation decks along the whole road, two of which can see the Sun Moon Lake. The small number of tourists is one of the reasons why I like this place, and most of the sounds come from nature!
The following two pictures are the view of Sun Moon Lake from the first observation deck.
This is the second observation deck, the scenery is the tea plantation ~, and the third observation deck is also the Sun Moon Lake, so I didn’t put the photos up.
In the second half of the trail, trees and large ferns begin to appear on the slopes, giving the feeling of a primitive forest, and the whole trail is a climb! Until we reached the top meteorological station, after the wooden trestle at the beginning of the trail, all the paths were asphalt, which was a good way to walk without any obstacles.
Passing underneath a high voltage cable, I felt a little bit of pressure when I heard the noise…. But I stayed for a while because of the great scenery nearby.
weather station
At the top of the walk is the weather station, and it is important to note that there are opening hours here! The station is open from 05:30 to 17:30 every day, and there is a sign saying that you should not go there during thunderstorms! A safe return home is the basic requirement for a trip.
The trail is very short, and I try to find pictures I can shoot~
The view of Sun Moon Lake from here is wider than from the observation deck in front of us. On a misty cloudy day, the mountains in the distance could not be seen clearly, and I was expecting a nice weather with blue sky and white clouds.
It’s interesting to see the ripples on the far side of the lake caused by the boat’s maneuvers.
If you go up a little further, you will come to the back of the weather station, where you can see the instruments for measuring weather information, some of which you may have seen in the textbooks when you were a student, but I have forgotten what they are for, so I gave them back to the teacher…
The scenery behind the back of the Sun Moon Lake, there are tables and chairs, you can relax and watch the mountain scenery, I was walking and taking pictures, it took about an hour or so to get from the entrance to this place, the whole road gently slopes up to be considered easy.
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