Wangyangshan Trail at Taipingshan, December 2022
Wangyangshan Trail at Taipingshan, Yilan County, 12th December 2022
望洋山步道, 太平山, 宜蘭縣, 2022年12月12日
Public transportation in Taipingshan only goes as far as Taipingshan Villa. From there, there is no public transport to Cueifong Lake—you either hike the remaining 16 kilometers, drive yourself, or hire a taxi from the foot of the mountain. Adding to the challenge, accommodation in the area is notoriously difficult to book. Because of this, I treasure every opportunity I have to record at Cueifong Lake.
The most important lesson I learned from this trip was to always check the weather carefully before setting out. Otherwise, even after hauling two large cases of recording equipment up the mountain, days of continuous rain can render all your efforts useless. After three days of wet weather, every recording I made along the famously quiet Cueifong Lake Circular Trail was ruined by raindrops striking the microphones, leaving them unusable.
The only recording that survived on my hard drive was this short piece, captured along the Wangyangshan Trail. Days of rain and dense fog kept visibility poor throughout the trip. Walking through the misty forest, it often felt as though the world had faded away, leaving only myself and the surrounding wilderness. It is this quiet sense of solitude that keeps drawing me back to Taipingshan, again and again.
📍 Location: 24.511504, 121.609205 Yilan County, Taiwan
🌤 Weather: 6°C, Cloudy, drizzling and dense fog, 95% Humidity
🌿 Ambient Sound: Raindrops falling on leaves
🎤 Setup: Sony PCM-D100
太平山望洋山步道, 2022年12月
太平山的大眾運輸最遠只到太平山莊，若想再前往翠峰湖，便沒有任何交通工具可搭，只能徒步 16 公里；若不想步行，就只能自行開車，或從山下包車前往。再加上當地住宿一房難求，因此每一次前往翠峰湖錄音的機會，我都格外珍惜。
這趟太平山翠峰湖之行，讓我學到最重要的一課，就是出發前一定要仔細確認天氣。否則，即使辛苦扛著兩大箱錄音設備上山，也可能因為連續三天下雨，在翠峰湖環山步道的寂靜山徑錄下的聲音，全都被雨滴敲擊麥克風產生的爆音破壞，而無法使用。
硬碟裡唯一倖存的錄音，是在望洋山步道留下的這一小段聲音。連日降雨，加上濃霧籠罩，視線始終不佳。漫步在望洋山步道時，彷彿世界只剩下自己與大自然。這份靜謐，是我一次次來到太平山的原因。