Our hike in Yangmingshan National Forest up Qixing Mountain, the highest point under the jurisdiction of Taipei City and the highest volcano on the island of Taiwan – at an elevation of 1,120 meters above sea level
By Ashton
Today we ate cereal for breakfast and then took the metro and a bus to some hiking trails. During the hike we heard lots of interesting birds, and saw some weirdly shaped trees. The trail was made of stone bricks covered by moss and they formed a staircase all the way up, sometimes making mellow turns this way and that. Dad and Sadie counted over 2800 stairs. We hiked most of the way there alternating the backpacks but then Sadie and dad decided to stop while mom and I went the rest of the way up. At the top there was a great view and there was a wooden pole marking the highest point on the mountain. We climbed over 1900 vertical feet which is more than twice as tall as Williams Tower in Houston. It took us about 4 hours to go fully up and fully down the mountain. We took a very crowded bus to the metro and then rode it all the way home. Afterwards we ate fried chicken for dinner and got ready for bed.