Walk out on the Hapen trail 哈盆越嶺步道 to survey recovery from typhoon Soudelor 颱風蘇迪羅 which hit Taiwan in August of 2015 and also to look for good places to swim.
There is a significant land slide across the trail near the beginning, but hikers have already established clear new passages across with ropes. There are remarkably few hikers out on this summer weekend. Perhaps the trail damage has discouraged hikers from the trail. We walk out for about two hours, have lunch in the first stream then go back to our car without going into the water.
We return the following weekend with Peter to explore the river this time. We walk out to just before the first stream before going down. Tammy and Wendy hike back down the trail as we swim down the river. We meet at the swimming beach for lunch after two hours. The river has changed in many places since Typhoon Soudelor 颱風蘇迪羅 hit in August of 2015. The river bed is more channelized, so swifter, but water levels are very low after nearly two weeks without rain. We swim down from the beach to Fushan village in just over thirty minutes.
A long day in on the Hapen trail 哈盆越嶺步道 east of Fushan 福山 to abpve the weather station and just above Bolu stream 波露溪 with Brent, Bruce and Leigh. The water is a little higher than the previous trips following a week with some afternoon thunder showers. The water "level" at the Fusha bridge is 5.07. We are on the trail at 8:30 AM, down to the Nanshi stream 南勢溪 just upstream of Bolu stream 波露溪 at 11 AM after hiking in 6 km, and down to the swimming hole and back out to the car at 4 PM having gone downstream 12 km.
Our goal was to spend the night at the Hapen campsite 哈盆營地, but when we met a large group of hikers resting at the first stream crossing also heading to the camp site, we decided to drop down to the stream and find a more peaceful site. A gentle rain cools us off after we pitch camp. We see someone come up the river with bright lights at night. Before swimming down the second day, we hike back upstream to explore a side stream in a slotted canyon we noticed the day before. On the way back, we take a difficult steep scrambling path up right below the big landlside as it looks like it might rain again.
