Nantou Xitou Nature Education Area，Autumn Golden Ginkgo Forest.
Nantou Xitou Nature Education Area , at an altitude of 1,000 meters or less, is cool, and walking through the dense cedar forests is a great way to escape the summer heat. The misty afternoons make you feel like you’re walking in a fairyland, and in addition to the beauty of the cedar forests, there are also the University Pond, the ginkgo forests in the fall, the Sky Corridor, and the sacred trees, among other attractions, which you can enjoy.
Table of Contents
Forest Trail
I’ve been to Xitou many times, and every time after noon, there is always a thick fog, which is what attracts me and makes me want to come back again and again! Everywhere there are tall forests and the trails are well planned.
Both the asphalt roads and the stone paved roads in the forest are very comfortable to walk on.
Perhaps because of the easy accessibility and friendly trails, this place has become one of the top choices for the elderly to go on picnics, and there are a lot of tour bus tours on weekdays, so I try to avoid coming here on holidays.
Maple trees are common in the park, but they are not very concentrated, so you can’t see the whole red maple, but the fallen leaves add some color to the ground.
There were mountain companions everywhere.
The grass on the ground is covered with water droplets, and even if it doesn’t rain, the humidity here is still very heavy.
The quail is a good companion (basically close to 100%) that you will definitely encounter when you come to Xitou, and anyone who has encountered it should know that it is very unafraid of people, and will even fly over when it sees a crowd to see if there is any food left behind by human beings, and perhaps many tourists will go to feed it over the years, but this is not really good…
A little squirrel who is not afraid of people.
Formosan monkeys, too, are all visible from the trail, which should mean that instead they can be found wherever there are tourists (stop feeding them~).
Walkway in front of the air corridor.
University Pool
The road to the University Pool is filled with huge yams.
The University Pool is a famous attraction in Xitou, and it looks really nice with the thick fog, and the quiet feeling makes people feel depressed. If you are tired of walking, there are shuttle buses available here!
The bridge to the center of the pool was closed when I was there, and seemed to be under construction, so the photo makes it look empty and much quieter.
It was drizzling at the last stop of the day on the trail around the University Pool.
There are many white calla lilies in bloom around the pool!
Ginkgo Forest
Around mid-October, the ginkgo leaves start to turn yellow, and it takes about 20-30 minutes to walk from the entrance to this place. I think this place is not to be missed if it’s fall ~
The fan-shaped leaves are very special.
The small pavilion under the tree is full of tourists, so it’s a nice way to relax in the afternoon without going anywhere.
Tall ginkgo trees are so tall that you can’t even get a picture of them.
Gingko Bridge
You can walk to the Gingko Bridge not far from the Gingko Forest, and the special shape of the bridge makes it a popular spot for tourists to take photos.
It’s a small vantage point with a good view!
Air corridor
The air corridor is about 180 meters long, and the highest point above the ground is about seven stories high, so high that it kind of disappears into the fog.
This is the best place to get close to the tops of the tall shirts, but even so, the tops of the trees were still way above us. It’s hard to imagine how long it would take for a large forest to grow to such a high level, so it’s really something to treasure.
When you look down from here, the people on the ground look quite small, and it’s a completely different experience than being in a high-rise city surrounded by straight trees.
Thousand-Year-Old Red Hinoki
The 38 meter high sacred tree used to stand here, in 2016 the tree collapsed due to heavy rains washing away the soil, unfortunately I only visited the stream for the first time after that and couldn’t see him standing, and since then he has started to grow host plants on his body again and continues to show nature’s vitality!
The tree was about 13 meters in circumference, and even if it fell, it was still at a certain height, so after it collapsed, a viewing platform was set up for tourists to enjoy the view from above.
Begonia Plant Zone
In the front part of the park, there is a small planting of begonias, which bloom in the fall, and the small pink flowers are quite cute.
Planted among the cedar forest, I like the shape of the leaves more than the flowers, the flowers are too small and sparse ~, no spectacular feeling.
Forest Castle & Lawn Area
I do not know whether it is terrain related, every time we walk to the lawn area is the fog thickest place, I think it happens to be the most suitable for the weather here, because the open grass if coupled with the big hot sun, but uncomfortable ah, some people directly in the grass on the mat began to take a nap ~
Above the lawn area is an old fortress-shaped building, which, if it were older and had moss or parasitic plants growing on its walls, would have a nice ambience in this often foggy environment!
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