Elephant Mountain – Taipei, Taiwan

Elephant Mountain (象山) 🐘 is one of Taipei’s most touristy spots but a must see when you’re in town! I hiked this with a girlfriend last year and the view was BREATHTAKING! Of course I had to take Eve & @bettycecilee with this time! The hike consists of many many stairs, which Eve was a little nervous about because of her knee, but she ended up alright! Within 20-30 minutes, you’ll see the 6 big rocks, where most people stop for scenic photos, or climb up the rocks for better shots like we did! Luckily, we found new friends fast and we took a bunch of photos for each other. Since we were going the same route, we all became hiking buddies for the rest of the trip. Like I mentioned before, this hike is extremely popular for foreigners so you’ll definitely see/meet some non-Taiwanese people here! It’s so easy to make friends here once people hear you speaking English! After a bunch of photos at the 6 rocks, we continued to trek up higher to find Thumb Mountain (拇指山) 👍🏼. This took us quite a while because you’ll see in the photos below, the sign was faded and very hidden among the lush greenery! We went the wrong way a couple of times until we finally reached the top of Thumb Mountain! It was a little scary because the wind was starting to pick up speed by the time we reached that high point so we quickly took several shots with the gorgeous view and started our journey down the mountain. Going down was pretty harsh on all of our knees and ankles but I’d say the whole trip was worth every drop of sweat, blood, and tears!! Just kidding, just lots of sweat! No blood or tears! 😜

 

xox Elisa