The Yuantan Ecological Park in Ruili has a relaxing trail along the stream, plus large boulders all over the park, a good place to relax and enjoy the scenery, and the nearby Yuntan Waterfall Trail is located in a sea of bamboo forests, full of primitive atmosphere, and the final waterfall is even more spectacular – the highest waterfall of the trip.

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Yuantan Ecological Park（圓潭自然生態園區）

April and May is the peak season for fireflies in Ruili, and there are nighttime tours in the Yuantan Ecological Park. I didn’t stay to photograph fireflies at night during this trip because I had finished photographing them the night before at Ruifeng, so it’s great to walk along this trail and enjoy the forest!

The park is free of charge and you can enter directly through the entrance (you need to park your car in the nearby paid parking lot).

The trails in the park are neat and clean, basically a walk, if you are not in a hurry, you must walk slowly because the park is not big and you will finish it very soon.

The trail goes alongside the Rough Paper Pit Stream, and near the entrance you can see huge rocks in the stream, such is the power of nature! In the flat water near the boulder, you can also see many small fish in the stream, among them, the most is the horse mouthed fish (with a straight black line on its stomach), which is probably the only one I recognize.

There are a few maple trees at the entrance, the few red ones in the photo.

Xiangshan Falls(向山瀑布)

There are three waterfalls in the park, this is the innermost one, the other two are near the entrance, I planned to walk around and then go to see the one near the entrance, although it is said that this is the innermost waterfall in the park, but it is not in the deepest part of the park, so I can quickly walk to the location of the waterfalls toward the mountain, the viewing platform is a distance from the waterfalls, visitors can only watch from afar.

Since the waterfall was not enough and was quite far away, frankly speaking, it was a bit lower than expected, so I went to the Botanical Gardens ～The trail to the Botanical Gardens is a slight climb, but it’s still a walk, just be careful not to step on the slippery fallen leaves.

Botanical Garden（植物園）

After passing through this small bridge, you can reach the Botanical Garden. Under the bridge, there are still a lot of big boulders, and of course, there are still a lot of fishes, which makes you stop and stare at the fishes roaming around.

The moment I entered the botanical garden, I thought it would be a beautiful place! Maybe it’s because the toilet building in the middle is so beautifully built. Whether it’s a toilet or not, as long as it’s a cabin in the middle of nature, it’s full of texture (that’s what I think).

The small bridge we just passed by and the boulders next to it are also very special!

I came here with two friends to take a walk in the green. Since I was taking photos while walking, I walked a bit slowly, and my friends had been cooling off under the trees for a while.

In the open space of the botanical garden, there is a restroom (the cabin in the photo above), and two other structures, the gazebo and the bridge in the photo below, are both made of wood and fit in well with the surroundings of the place ~ and there is also a walking path next to the restroom.

A small pavilion in the Arboretum.

It’s recommended to walk through the Botanical Gardens because the height and length are good and it’s quite easy to walk.

Of course this Botanical Gardens trail is really climbing compared to the previous one.

Nice looking pencil tree.

Compared to the trails in front of the park, the botanical gardens are a bit more primitive. The white man in the photo is another one of my companions.

I basically take a few photos of every place where there is a bridge. In the forest, it’s either a tree or a tree, so I try to find some non-tree subjects to match the composition, and bridges are a very common building.

This is another wooden bridge ~ it’s really nice to be covered by the forest.

Like the bridge, the pavilion is also one of my favorite subjects to photograph, for the same reason that I want to find a different subject to match the forest. I was curious about what kind of scenery this pavilion would have, but once I went up there, I realized that it was just a stone wall and a forest, and I originally thought there would be a waterfall or something like that~!

Soon can reach the next pavilion, here is considered the high point of the botanical garden trail, the next road is basically all the way downhill, the three of us here to eat before the start of the biscuits bought snacks, frankly speaking, have not eaten Chinese food really can not recall, in typing the article is now only remembered that the good-looking scenery ~!

The second half of the descent.

After passing these two boulders, you can go back to the Botanical Garden Plaza, which was intentionally made to be a gateway to the botanical gardens, and there are huge plant roots attached to the boulders, which is quite special.

Back to the Botanical Garden Plaza, there are quite a lot of boulders around, and this is the place where I clicked the most shutterbugs on that day, it’s too good to be true!

Front shot of the toilet, after taking it ready to walk back to see the rest of the falls!

Yuantan Waterfall（圓潭瀑布）

Before reaching the viewing platform of Yuantan Falls, you need to climb the last slope, which is considered the steepest part, but the distance is quite short, so it’s over after a short breather! The volume of water is smaller than the previous Mukoyama Falls, so if you want to see a spectacular view, you basically have to wait until the rainy season～.

Thank you to the two partners who went with us ～ Above this bridge is the Round Pool Falls that we have just seen, and below this bridge is the last waterfall, the Heart Lake Falls.

Heart Lake Waterfall（心湖瀑布）

These two waterfalls are connected, and since there is no water at the upper Round Lake Falls, you can imagine that the lower Heart Lake Falls is not much better… It’s a pity that I didn’t get the cool breeze from the waterfalls.

Yun-tan Waterfall Trail（雲潭瀑布步道）

There are two entrances and exits to the Wuntan Waterfall Trail, both on Route 166, one across from the Round Lake Park and one at the Wuntan Waterfall rest area. We took the Wuntan Trail after strolling through Round Lake, and the trail between the two intersections is basically a bamboo forest.

There’s a great deal of Gupta yam.

The whole section of the road is humid, and there are many epiphytes along the rock wall or the trail. The plant in the first picture feels like animal scales, which I personally like.

Basically, it is quite gentle and won’t take much physical effort. After seeing a pavilion, we were ready to climb uphill to the Yun Tan rest area, we met other tourists on the way back, they didn’t want to walk this section of the trail, so they decided to extend the walk along the 166th road, which I myself think is quite dangerous…. ，因為車子也都開不慢，建議還是走步道來回。

Yun-tan Rest Area has an outlook, food and toilets, so if you don’t want to visit Yun-tan, it’s a good idea to drive here directly!

Next to the rest area is the final section of the Wun Tan Trail. As you can see from the photo, there is no gentle trail, and going all the way down means climbing all the way up on the way back, which makes this section the most tiring part of today’s trip.

When you see the gazebo it means you are almost there.

Sitting on the chair was my traveling companion, while taking photos were other tourists, they were behind me, but because I was taking photos while walking, they overtook me. However, I didn’t take any photos that I particularly liked during the process of cutting, so I basically deleted them when I went home to sort them out, leaving only a few as records to put on the article.

The amount of water in Yun-tan Waterfall that day was quite impressive, but the viewing platform was far away from the waterfall, so you couldn’t enjoy the cool wind of the waterfall, and you couldn’t go into the water, but at least the scenery was quite good! Basically, it doesn’t take too long to walk through the Round Pool and the Cloud Pool, so if you have a day, it’s recommended to do both.