Taipei Grand Trail 100k: Sharing thoughts…
For this trek, I will mostly follow the itinerary described on this website & its very useful Google Maps GPX.
I would debate, as most of the time, between doing it running or hiking, but will finally opt for a mix of Hike for the mountainous part, then running for the city part (along the Tamsui river).
Yangmishan National Park as a start. How lucky Taipei is to have such a wonderful backyard on its doorstep. “Forested mountains, hot springs, rolling grass hills & lolling water buffalos”, as described in the TAIWAN Lonely Planet, that sounds appealing to me.
What I look for ? A mix of physical effort & spiritual time.
I would allocate a short week for this. As usual, I do not wish on planning everything to the minute from Day 1. I always like to keep some flexibility & spontaneity into my life experiences, follow the Way, as water flows through the rocks, as I would study in the Daodejing, the Taoist book that will accompany me this week (with more than 12000 official temples in Taiwan, mostly Taoist, this alliance sounded appropriate). Here are a few temples that I went through during the trek. What a stunning beauty.
Day 1 “The adventure begins”
Start Point: Guandu Station 8:30am
Goal: Section 1 & 2 for a distance of 15.5km (I would follow the GPX of AllTrails App for this one)
Elevation D+: 1256m
Duration: Around 4 hours
Temperature: A scorching 28 to 35 degrees
Equipment: Eiger Backpack 10kg, clothes + 1.5L of water with electrolytes + 10 gels (unused gels, water fully used)
End Point : Xiaoyoukeng Visitor Center
Night: A few bus stop down the road to Check Inn Select Taipei Yangminshan
Feedback: From far the hardest day of the four, I would realise that only later in the trek. My legs being not used to training with the 10kg backpack, I definitely felt it in my quadriceps. Luckily I would directly head to the hot bath to relax the muscles in the afternoon right after check in & planning Day 2.
Day 2 “Focused”
Start Point: Xiaoyoukeng Service Center (few bus stop 108) 9:40am
Goal: Section 3 & half of Section 4 for a distance of 21km (I would follow the GPX of AllTrails App for this one)
Elevation D+: 750m
Duration: Around 5 hours
Temperature: A scorching 28 to 35 degrees
Equipment: Eiger Backpack 10kg, clothes + 1.5L of water with electrolytes + 10 gels (unused gels, water fully used)
End Point : Dahu Park
Night: Koos Hotel Dahu
Feedback: Unexpected start in the active volcanic area of the park. Tired legs, but warmed up on the way.
Day 3 “Cruising”
Start Point: Dahu Park
Goal: 2nd half of Section 4 then Section 6 & 7 for a distance of 35km (I would follow the GPX of Google Maps for this one)
Elevation D+: 750m
Duration: Around 7 hours
Temperature: A scorching 28 to 35 degrees
Equipment: Eiger Backpack 10kg, clothes + 1.5L of water with electrolytes + 10 gels (unused gels, water fully used)
End Point : Inn Stone Motel
Night: Inn Stone Motel
Feedback: I was quite familiar with this part as I had already explored parts of this trails, especially Section 6. Then Section 7, which is in the Strawberries and Tea farm area was such a lovely place to walk around!! Definitely a much more relaxed mood as this is a more popular part of the trek with more locals & tourists together coming for tea time with stunning views of the city.
Day 4 “The finish”
Start Point: Inn Stone Motel
Goal: Section 8 along the Tamsui River to close the loop
Elevation D+: 35m
Duration: Around 7 hours
Temperature: A scorching 28 to 35 degrees
Equipment: Eiger Backpack 10kg, clothes + 1.5L of water with electrolytes + 10 gels (2 gels used every 7,5km of the running part, water fully used)
End Point : Guandu Station
Night: Rido Hotel Taipei
Feedback: I decided to start walking with backpack for the first 11km, then take a few bus stops to my hotel to drop it off, and finish the last 24km running. And it was hard! Sooooooooooo hot! Plus probably the fatigue of the last 3 days. I expected it. What a struggle to finish the last 10km. I decided to stop every 3.5km in the shade for a water break and gel. As well I decided to play with the watch a bit and close the loop at 100km for 20 hours, which would require to finish at pace 6min/km for the last 15km. Which I would usually do quite easily, but that time was different, The heat was my enemy. But anyway, what to do, of course I was going to close it. There is no there way. Focus, disciplined, committed to the goal I had fix for myself. I finally close the show! at 100km for 20hrs at Guandu Station, stop for a fresh watermelon juice, sat to enjoy the accomplishment, drank, drank and drank. And that was it. I made it. What a pleasure one more time! MRT back to Rido Hotel for recovery time
Day 5 “Soaking in at 101”
I booked myself a coffee time at Simple Kaffa Sola, on the 88th floor of 101 tower, that I had admired for the last 4 days from all angles. What a better place to contemplate what I had just accomplished, the beauty of the surroundings mountains. I was paying respect, in a way..
Thank you Taipei! To the next one..