Hello, Hivers! How is your day? I have been busy working on my jobs these days. Yes, jobs. Apart from my main job, I have part-time jobs, most of which involve software development, including the Hive Multisig project. I just finished working on a new feature today, although I still need to do more testing.
I thought of giving myself a break and climbing a nearby mountain with a beautiful view. Besides, I don't want to miss the very good weather on a weekend because it does not always happen in Taipei.
Teapot Mountain
Some information about the Teapot Mountain. It is located near Jiufen in the Ruifang District of New Taipei City, Taiwan. The mountain, along with nearby Jiufen, gained prominence due to the discovery of gold in the late 19th century. Jiufen, once a prosperous gold mining town, is often associated with Teapot Mountain as both are integral parts of the region's history. The mountain is named after a distinctive rock formation that resembles a teapot.
Getting to the Trailhead
I could take a bus from the train station, but I like to drive by the coastal road to enjoy the fresh air and the view. I think we can all agree that driving by the coast is one of the best, isn't it? Well, except when the weather is not as good as today.
I took a stop at every interesting spot I passed by to breathe, enjoy the moment, and soak in the view. Here is one captivating waterfall where the stones are colored brown, likely due to the ores in this mountain.
Reaching the Peak
Just after half an hour of driving and a few minutes of walking from the parking lot, I finally reached the trailhead.
It's not surprising that the mountain trails around Taipei are paved with stairs, like this one. This is mainly because people here truly love hiking in the mountains.
I also walked through some gravel paths along the trail and came across some closed caves that used to be gold mines.
I have also met other hikers along the way like this couple. They are tourists traveling from the UK. Proof that Teapot Mountain is indeed a popular destination among tourists as it is just an hour away from Taipei.
As I continued ascending, I started to see a great panoramic view of the mountain and the ocean behind me.
I started the hike at 4:30 PM, and now, at the 100m mark, I can see the sun preparing to set. It makes me very excited to reach the top and witness the golden hour from there.
I just kept on climbing until I reached the last 480m mark, where the path became rocky. From here, I could already see the peak of Teapot Mountain, and at this point, I was sweaty despite the cold breeze coming from the ocean.
Teapot Mountain Peak
Finally! In just 30 minutes, I reached the top. It wasn't as hard as I was expecting, yet it did not disappoint me with the view around it.
The main peak is not where I am standing in the picture above, but rather the large stone just in front of it. Initially, it appeared as a single massive stone, but upon closer inspection, I realized it was a stack of huge stones.
Reaching there is challenging, involving climbing while gripping ropes and maintaining perfect balance. Once at the top, you have to navigate inside the stack of stones and eventually exit through a tiny hole.
I attempted to reach the summit, but to my surprise, just before emerging from the hole at the top, I encountered numerous hikers descending. They informed me that the summit was crowded with many people.
It wasn't frustrating, considering it's also for my own safety. I instead took my time to fly my drone and capture amazing photos from a different angle of the mountain.
Drone Shots
Final Thoughts
It was a refreshing quick getaway! I appreciate how easy it is to find a mountain to climb in Taiwan. Not only is it near the center, but Taiwan also has a very convenient network of transportation, and the roads are quite good. During this climb, I was able to meditate and ponder upon things that were bothering me. On the descent, I listened to my favorite podcast about Stoicism entitled 'Timeless Principles for Handling a Changing World.' It focuses on worrying about the future or the past, emphasizing that we should not, and instead, embrace the present moment
"The present is all we have; live it fully." - Marcus Aurelius
Thanks for reading through! Much love! β€οΈπ
Other blogs
My gears
- Canon D200 II
- Insta360 One x2
- DJI Mini 4 Pro
- Xiaomi 11 Lite
All photos are mine unless otherwise stated and/or referenced
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! ππ₯³π
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Discord Server.This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @steemflow by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited.
Travel Digest #2119.
Become part of our travel community:
- Join our Discord
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!