Taipingshan Cuifeng Lake, April 2025
Dawn of Cuifeng Lake at Taipingshan, Yilan County, April 27, 2025
清晨的太平山翠峰湖, 宜蘭縣, 2025年4月27日
Taipingshan, located in Yilan County, is one of northern Taiwan's best-known natural destinations. It is famous for attractions such as Cueifong Lake, the historic Bong Bong Train, the autumn colors of its Japanese beech forests, and occasional winter snowfall. In recent years, the quiet mountain paths around the Cueifong Lake Circular Trail have drawn increasing attention as well. By the time I first came across discussions of Taipingshan's soundscape online, however, it had already become a destination crowded with visitors.
I had previously recorded at Cueifong Lake several times, but none of those attempts produced recordings I was truly satisfied with. Recording in Taipingshan on weekends means not only avoiding the busiest hours of the day, but also adapting to the area's famously wet climate. This time, I was fortunate to avoid the heavy rain. Human disturbance, on the other hand, could largely be avoided simply by recording outside daytime hours. In March and April, I made overnight recordings from the Cueifong Lake Viewing Platform and the western entrance of the Circular Trail, capturing the soundscape from night until dawn.
This recording was made at around 5:20 a.m. in April from the Cueifong Lake Viewing Platform. Because the lake itself is almost devoid of audible wildlife, I pointed the microphones toward the surrounding forest rather than the open water. This allowed me to avoid raising the recording gain too high, which would have introduced additional self-noise.
I had hoped this session would capture an extended period of uninterrupted natural quiet. Compared with my previous visits, however, aircraft noise had become much more noticeable. Shortly before dawn, the distant sound of airplane engines began to drift overhead.
This recording documents the gradual transition from night to dawn at Cueifong Lake. The first half is dominated by frogs, while faint birdsong begins to emerge around the eight-minute mark. As the sky gradually brightens, more and more birds join in, and the forest slowly awakens.
📍 Location: 24.512964, 121.609313 Yilan County, Taiwan
🌤 Weather: 11°C, Cloudy and Foggy, 95% Humidity
🌿 Ambient Sound: Frogs, Birds, Soft Rain
🎤 Setup: Sennheiser MKH8040 (ORTF), Sound Devices Mixpre-6II
太平山翠峰湖, 2025年4月
太平山座落於宜蘭，是有名的臺灣北部自然景點，除了翠峰湖、蹦蹦車、秋冬季的山毛櫸和雪景以外，近年又因翠峰湖環山步道的寂靜山徑而聞名。當我在網路上看到有關太平山聲景有關的訊息時，這裡早已經是充斥著遊客的景點。
過去我已經在翠峰湖錄過幾次音，都沒有取得滿意的內容，因為在假日的太平山錄音，除了要避免人為干擾的時段，還必須與太平山多雨的氣候相處。這次運氣很好，並沒有碰到大雨的氣候，而人為的干擾只要避開白天即可，3月和4月我分別在翠峰湖觀湖平台及環山步道西口，錄製了夜間至清晨這段時間的聲音。
這段錄音是4月份在翠峰湖觀湖平台的凌晨5點20分左右，因為翠峰湖本身幾乎沒有動植物發出的聲音，因此錄音時我將麥克風朝向樹林而不是湖面，避免需要將錄音機的增益開的過高而造成更多底噪。
本來我認為這次可以錄下長時間的自然寧靜，然而翠峰湖相較於上次來的時候多了飛機的噪音，大約在即將天亮時我便聽到來自空中的飛機引擎聲。
這段錄音可以聽到翠峰湖從夜晚逐漸過渡到黎明的聲音。前半段主要是蛙鳴，約從第8分鐘起，微弱的鳥鳴聲開始出現，隨後陸續有更多鳥兒開始一起鳴叫。