Off The Beaten Track: Jinyue Waterfall: a wet n’ wild ride For thrill-seeking river tracers, Jinyue Waterfall is a natural water park with deep pools, rocky chasms and even waterslides By Richard Saunders / Contributing reporter The beautiful Mysterious Coast, just south of Nanao. Photo: Richard Saunders 1 2 3 4 The Suhua Highway (蘇花公路) has long had an unenviable reputation as being one of the nation’s most dangerous roads. After negotiating it in pouring rain many years ago while a typhoon bore down, I can confirm that, while not a relaxing drive at the best of times, in bad weather it is a full-on nightmare. Happily, recent improvements have seen sections of the former cliff-hugging road diverted through long tunnels, shortening the drive considerably and making it safer. In good weather, the Suhua Highway is a major attraction in its own right, and driving along it is a highly desirable prelude or postlude to a Taroko Gorge (太魯閣峽谷) visit. Few places can compare in beauty and spectacle to that awesome chasm, but on a fine, sunny day, the views from the best stretches of the highway certainly come close. Far from simply being a great drive though, the Suhua Highway affords access to a number of amazing spots — the Lupi Stream (鹿皮溪), near Nanao (南澳) among them. It’s a popular spot for local river tracing groups, so start early during weekends to avoid being held up at each of the many watery obstacles along the route. The highlight, Jinyue Waterfall (金岳瀑布), is at the end of the river trace, much to the disappointment of many visitors who arrive at the car park to find that the waterfall can only be reached by wading up the river. The trace is only 90 minutes or so each way, and while it isn’t especially tough, it’s not a beginner’s trace either, so be sure to attempt a couple of easy routes first. Most visitors who drive up here go no further than the series of pools just a minute’s walk from the parking area — a great spot to cool off on a hot day. The water here isn’t very deep, but the pools are broad and long, and don’t get especially crowded even on weekend afternoons. A few meters further on, the stream issues a narrow rocky chasm by plunging over the lower Jinyue Waterfall, which is about eight meters high. Courageous river tracers here climb the rocks to the left of the fall and jump into the huge, deep rock pool at its head, before riding over the smooth lip of the fall and plummeting into the pool at the bottom in one of Taiwan’s highest and most white-knuckle natural waterslides. IF YOU GO Nanao lies at the approximate midpoint of the Suhua Highway, which is easily reached from Taipei via Freeway 5. To get to the start of the Jinyue Waterfall river trace, drive south through Nanao village, cross the long bridge over the Nanao stream, then immediately turn right, signposted in Chinese to Jinyue (金岳). Turn left at the first junction, following the south bank of the Lupi Stream, keep going straight ahead at the bridge and the car parking area at the end of the road is just a bit further on. Unless you’re carrying proper equipment and have experience in technical river tracing, there’s no way to pass the narrow, rockbound gorge above the lower waterfall, so cross the stream and climb up the steep bank to the right of the waterfall. At the top a clear dirt trail leads through the woods for a couple of minutes, to rejoin the stream at the top of the impressive rocky defile. It’s at least another hour from here up to the much bigger Jinyue Waterfall. There are a few fun obstacles en route, in the form of small falls, easy short scrambles up rocks and in one place a squeeze under a huge boulder. At the top, the 25-meter-high waterfall comes into view, lying at a 90-degree angle to the stream below and plummeting into a enormous pool of deep blue-green water that’s fantastic for swimming. The river trace up to Jinyue Waterfall can be easily done in a morning, so unless you plan to spend the rest of the day lazing beside the river (a tempting option), there’s plenty of time to explore a very different nearby watery feature, the curiously named cliff-bound seashore: Mysterious Coast (神祕海岸). http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2017/10/13/2003680239