Interested in climbing up Yushan ("Jade Mountain," otherwise known as Mount Morrison) for a taste of what it's like to stand at the top of East Asia's highest mountain peak? It's not at all hard to do. The main peak of Yushan is 3952 meters high, an altitude which might tend to put some people off. However, due to the convenience of modern transport, with the new central cross-island highway going through the T'at'achia pass (elevation 2600m) at the perimeter of Yushan National Park, it's only an easy two day's saunter up to the top of the peak.

As to the route up the mountain, there is really no need to worry about that. Yushan enjoys a fair amount of regional fame, and visitors to this area trampled out a path from the foot to the peak of the mountain long ago. There is another way of putting it--just follow the trash, you can't miss it.

Perhaps this saying is a bit exaggerated, but anyplace where people go for recreation will certainly produce its share of garbage; and in these days of bountiful material life waste is produced with evergreater speed. Just how much stuff from a backpack can one mountain climber process into trash?

According to statistics published by the Bureau of Environmental Protection in 1983, the average person in Taiwan produces 0.7 kilograms of trash every day. "Because mountain climbers wrap everything to make it more convenient to carry in their packs, and use special containers to preserve their foodstuffs, the amount of garbage they can create is especially amazing," says Tsai By-lu, chief of the Yushan National Park Planning and Management Division.

With this kind of "productivity," it's no wonder that Su Jih-t'ang, a researcher at the Planning and Management Division, was "dreaming of drowning in garbage" last October when 30,000 tourists streamed into the park during a string of national holidays. After the height of this influx of hikers there was a trying period while all the trash left behind was cleaned up, but Su Jih-t'ang was able to come up with a plan to deal with the problem before the following New Year's holiday period. His "clean mountain" campaign involved having the tourists themselves dispose of their garbage.

This kind of campaign is not actually a new idea--in Europe, America, Japan, and other developed regions backpackers developed the habit of carrying their own garbage back down the mountain with them long ago, while within Taiwan there have been people calling for such improvements for well over ten years.

The first step was to categorize the trash according to four basic types: (1) Burnable trash such as paper, wood, leather, and other such products which are easily put to flame and don't create an air pollution problem; to be taken to specially designated areas within the park for burning. (2) Burnable types such as leftover foods, fruit peels, excrement, and other naturally biodegradable products; to be buried by the visitors themselves. (3) Unburnable types including metals, plastics, and glass products which are difficult to burn and will not naturally decompose; to be carried back out of the park area by the campers. (4) The last category includes styrofoam, unbreakable plastic soft-drink bottles, and similar items which when burned create a public menace. Visitors to the park are persuaded not to bring such products in at the entrance.

"In reviewing the state of the garbage problem in our national parks, we found that the eating and drinking habits which people are practicing when they visit mountain areas, and the containers that they use, are both in need of change," asserts Yieh Shih-wen, superintendent at the Yushan National Park Headquarters. "At present people seem to be 'playing house' when they go camping. When they prepare three or four separate dishes and a soup at each meal, of course there's going to be lots of garbage. The purpose of hiking in the mountains is not to eat; if people would use simpler dishes, such as stews, this problem could be solved."

In the future, national park authorities will be taking up the task of passing out information on what kinds of foods and containers should be used in mountain areas, as well as placing restrictions on the products which hikers may carry up the mountain with them, in hopes of bringing the garbage problem under control and raising the quality of recreation in the parks.

"If they plan on following the trash up the mountain, this time they're going to get lost," said one proud park worker during the New Year's holiday period. This time the "clean mountain" campaign may be called a success--will it remain satisfactory in the future? If one day all mountain area administrators are able to unabashedly boast of this kind of success, then the hikers themselves will be able to repeat the old Chinese proverb, "The virtuous love the mountains," and repeat it with pride.

[Picture Caption]

Jade Mountain Road Map(picture)

After hiking to your heart's content, don't forget to take your trash down the mountain with you.

Paiyun Mountain Hostel is a good place for a rest on your way up to the Yushan Peak.

If tourists had more respect for public facilities, we wouldn't see this kind of scene.

Rangers from the Bunung aborigine tribe are "fresh troops" for Yushan National Park's Planning and Management Division.

(r.) Don't let the "tracks" of man destroy the beauty of this natural scene.

Meteorological instruments at the Weather Bureau's Yushan station, covered in pure white snow.

The winding ridge will guide you right to the peak in the morning light.

Jade Mountain Road Map（picture）

Paiyun Mountain Hostel is a good place for a rest on your way up to the Yushan Peak.

If tourists had more respect for public facilities, we wouldn't see this kind of scene.

Rangers from the Bunung aborigine tribe are "fresh troops" for Yushan National Park's Planning and Management Division.

（r.） Don't let the "tracks" of man destroy the beauty of this natural scene.

Meteorological instruments at the Weather Bureau's Yushan station, covered in pure white snow.

The winding ridge will guide you right to the peak in the morning light.