Going against the Flow--River Trekking

It's August 27. The brilliant sun is shining a bright invitation to the whole family: Go on an outing. The coastal highway unfurls along the northwest shore. Vehicles zip by obliviously as the towering mountains and the vast blue sea beckon to each other. The entrance to a stream near Chinkuashih is the largest gorge in the Keelung Volcanic Mountain Group and a favorite of "river trekkers." A team of designers from Saatchi and Saatchi are busy gearing up. Sporting safety helmets, rubber-soled river trekking shoes designed to prevent slipping even on slick stream stones, and belts equipped with karabiners for those steep slopes. Their goal today is to scale Mt. Panping, known as the "golden precipice."

Arriving at the top is only the icing... getting there's the best part. The real challenge lies in taking on jagged rocks, waterfalls as high as a two-story building, pools of water deeper than a man is tall, and the canyons that line the steep, winding valley. Before you can enjoy the valley's tranquil scenery, the stream's cool, crystal-clear water and the elation of conquering the peak, you must first overcome the obstacles that it dishes out.

Taiwan is located between the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates and boasts a varied topography as a result. Most of her stream beds are young and are blessed with complex topographies that include an abundance of waterfalls, deep ponds, and gorges.

Endless surprises

"Once you fall in love with river trekking, you're hooked," declares a blogger with only two years of experience in the sport, which is also known as "river tracing" or "stream tracing."

River trekking enthusiasts are drawn to the sport's challenge and high demand for technical skills. The biggest difference between river trekking and mountain hiking is the unexpected nature of the scenery--surprises lie in wait behind every twist and curve. Due to the unpredictable nature of streams--at times wide, at times narrow, at times deep, at times shallow, at times in a rush, at times lazing along without a care in the world--an incredible new sight or tough challenge could be waiting for you just beyond the next boulder or waterfall.

With 20 years experience in river trekking under her belt, Wei Pi-chu, a member of the Taipei Up Stream Club, explains that every major downpour resculpts riverbeds. The views during the wet and dry seasons also stand in stark contrast to each other as do the sights of gently flowing waters and rushing torrents. Due to the continual changes that streams undergo, you never trace the same river twice.

What could be more enjoyable than exploring the primordial mysteries hidden deep within the mountains; basking in a symphony performed by birds and insects; taking time out to swim, climb rocks, or even try your luck at fishing accompanied by cool breezes and stunning vistas as you meander your way up a creek bed?! It's no wonder that Li Chien-mou, general affairs director for the Taiwan Four Seasons Stream Tracing Association, loves to intone, "Once you've tried creeks, everything else reeks."

Advance scouts lead river trekking teams. They depend on their own specialized skills to drive in hooks and prepare the way on climbing rock faces, so that team members don't have to take the precipices straight on.

As good as it gets

River trekking is actually an extension of mountain climbing, but mountain climbers generally follow paths or scale rock faces on their way to the peak; while river trekkers commonly start their treks at or near sea level and trace stream valleys on their way up. Furthermore, they have to choose their techniques in response to the topography of the moment, which can include anything from waterfalls to deep ponds and boulders.

Developed from alpine glacier climbing, the sport was brought to new heights in Japan, which now enjoys a special place of honor among river trekking enthusiasts. Due to their love for river trekking, the Japanese have introduced it to other countries when traveling abroad. Li Chien-mou points out that because most of Japan's streams are older geologically speaking and therefore much tamer, river trekking enthusiasts, driven by their quest to find bigger challenges, brought the sport with them to Taiwan in 1982, and it has taken off here.

Taiwan lies pinched between the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates and as such, offers more varied topography carved by younger streams. Other attractions include abundant natural beauty and no shortage of waterfalls, rapids, gorges, deep ponds, and cascades, as well as twists and turns in the courses of its streams. This is especially true along the eastern seaboard, which boasts majestic mountains pocked with large numbers of marble outcrops that frequently tower above climbers. It's no surprise that the challenge of Taiwan's streams have made them little strips of paradise here on earth for Japanese adherents of the sport.

A river trekking team takes off early in the morning and treks by a riverbed bristling with bizarrely shaped stones. After passing by waterfalls of various sizes and grades, they finally arrive at their destination--a high cascade. The water crashes down on them, making for an exhilarating natural spa bath.

Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork

Basically, river trekking is a blend of a plethora of outdoor activities, including hiking, rock climbing, camping, swimming, rope skills, wilderness survival, orienteering, and bird watching. The varying topographies of different waterways call for different equipment, techniques, and strategies for advancing, so that no two challenges are ever alike.

At the same time, close cooperation among team members is vital when facing river trekking's tougher obstacles. At 11 in the morning on 27 August, Saatchi and Saatchi's design team was making its way up a stream when it found itself going head-to-head against its first real hurdle--the two-story high Takui Waterfall. Dwarfed by the falls, the spirit of cooperation and teamwork, which defines the sport, served to take the edge off their nerves.

Chang Li-jen and two partners were spearheading the advance. They were charged with the vital mission of fixing into place the main rope, rated to bear 1,500 kilograms in weight. With hammers dangling from their belts, they inched their way up the steep face as they searched for suitable places in which to drive in rock bolts. Other team members, nervous but confident, made their way up the rope one at a time. Avoiding head-on collisions with the falling water, they surmounted the dangerous obstacle through team leadership and individual perseverance.

"This is a team activity--you go out together and you come back together. Nobody gets left behind," confides He Tzung-kun, who has many years of experience in technical river trekking. Problems pop up when you least expect it, but when a team focuses on helping each other, a waterfall that might normally take 15 minutes to climb might take only 15 seconds. By going with the shape of the rock and following in the steps of the person in front, you leave your anxieties behind to be replaced by self-confidence and a sense of accomplishment. This is the allure of river trekking.

Growing popularity

A tenuous line separates success and failure in this sport. River trekking is much more dangerous than other extreme sports, like rock climbing and bungee jumping.

"On one trip, we were descending a waterfall, but it was too steep and jagged and the water was crashing down too fast. Somebody slid down the precipice and received a ten-centimeter-long gash in his thigh," recalls Li Chien-mou. Safe river trekking requires much more specialized knowledge and better skills, that you be in good shape physically, and that you keep yourself sharp both physically and mentally throughout the trip. Above all, you need a healthy respect for nature.

Despite this, "Every space on every trek between June and September was filled," relates Taiwan Four Seasons Stream Tracing Association director Ku Chia-hui as she describes the huge growth in numbers that river trekking has experienced this year. In recent years, driven by the Ministry of Education's School Holiday Policies as well as enthusiastic promotion in the private sector, river trekking has been enjoying explosive growth.

"No stream is unconquerable; the real obstacle is the fear within," calls out Changko, a river trekker since 1992, to a team member in the process of rappelling down a waterfall face. While striving to explore the water's source in any stream, river trekkers, too, seek the source of their own lives. Personal experience is the only way to witness the great marvel that is nature, in whose presence we become aware of our own insignificance and of the possibility of surpassing ourselves.

If you haven't experienced the tranquility and adventure of Taiwan's streams, why not join the ranks of the river trekkers?