Batongguan Cross-island trail - 7 days, Yushan Nat Park.
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The Batongguan Cross-island Ancient Trail has been described by one fan of Taiwan's mountains as Taiwan's mini-Annapurna trail. Appropriate or not this Japanese-era trail is a classic remote mountain route. Highlights include the sections carved into steep hillside , Batongguan alpine meadow, the 'rear' view of Yushan, and the Dafen bear reserve. It stretches west-east from Dongpu Hot-spring resort, Nantou County to Yuli Township in Hualien County.

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Construction of the Batongguan Trail began in 1875, as the Qing government moved to build up Taiwan as a defense point against the military threat of the Japanese. The trail passes today's Lugu and Hsinyi Townships, then climbs over Batongguan and the Hsiuguluan Mountains in eastern Taiwan. "Batong" in Chinese means "being able to pass unhindered", and "guan" means "mountain pass" even though there was actually no mountain pass involved in the trail, but had sounded like commanding officer's name...
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The Japanese colonial government, in order to have access to forest resources, the east coast, and better divide and rule the native aborigines, revamped some sections, completely changing the route in others. We follow the Japanese route as some of the Ching-era track has fallen into ruin despite being now classified an historical site.
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Day 1: Dongpu hot spring resort - Guanggao shelter.
Day 2+: If arranged/agreed to in advance, an extra day can be added for a hard one-day ascent of Yushan main peak.
Day 2: Guanggao - Batongguan (alpine meadow, former Japanese garrison) - Banaiyike shelter - Goldmine shelter - Rhodendron Shelter.
Day 3: Rhodendron shelter - South camp - Dashweiku shelter - Tomass shelter.
Day 4: Tomass shelter - Dafen shelter.
Day 5: Dafen - Dwomeili - Baoai shelter.
Day 6: Baoai - Walami shelter
Day 7: Walami Nanan visitor center.
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