This is the kind of spot that makes us glad we didn’t just do a year in Taiwan.

Following 5 days of no rain, Josh suggested that this Saturday in August might be the perfect day to try a little river tracing. Well, sort of. Josh had read about a fantastic sounding river hike leading to a swimming hole that winds through a narrow slot canyon. According to reviews online, it sounded easily accessible by bus and not so challenging as to require special equipment or a guide (unlike most river tracing excursions!) So we invited some Taiwanese friends and off we went to the “wormhole”!

The trail down to the river is rustic (a real trail!) but not harrowing, although I wouldn’t attempt it if it had just rained. Within 2 minutes the trail opens to a beautiful part of the river with a tiny little falls and big inviting swimming hole.

After enjoying a swim and some jumps into that pool we then headed downstream. At first we were able to hike along the side of the river or jump from rock to rock but soon the only way to continue was to swim.

For about 30 minutes we alternated between swimming, wading and jumping from rock to rock. Some of the rocks are VERY slippery and one of our friends did have a pretty good wipe out! But thankfully no one was hurt.

Aside from hundreds of damsel flies and some butterflies we only shared the river with a couple other people during our 40 minute downriver excursion. But we knew we were at our destination when we popped around some large boulders and found a small crowd of locals with pets, life jackets, flotation devices and even some fishing nets. A rope with some steps carved into the rock marked the entrance/exit to this spot and just a few minutes walk past it was the slot canyon we’d primarily come to see. It was so worth coming for.

In all of my travels I’ve never been to a spot like this. Here the moss covered canyon walls become very steep leaving only the deep, calm green river silently slipping between it. There’s an easy shallow entrance into the river at the top of the gorge before the water deepens to at least 7 feet. There’s just one spot along the approximately half a football field long stretch of canyon where you can scramble onto a rock and then jump back in! Many locals bring inter-tubes or life jackets to float down the canyon with. And when we go back we will do the same.

On a serious note

Both Josh and I are very confident swimmers and so, we thought, were our friends. But one of them got a little ahead of us and started to panic in the water.  Trying to grab on to the side of the canyon for a moment of rest only to find there was nothing to hold onto. It was a very serious situation. Had he not yelled for help and fought his own panicked instincts when Josh arrived, and were it not for Josh’s water training, they both could have drowned.

Later, after successfully getting our friend back to shore, Josh noticed another young man having an almost identical experience. This time an older Taiwanese man (who seemed to be a regular there) happened to be swimming by. He calmly stretched out his dry bag to the distressed swimmer who grabbed the bag and was gratefully towed back to shore.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t go experience this place! It’s magical and we plan to bring every friend and family member who comes to visit us to this spot. But we will always bring flotation devices. Even when it’s just Josh and I –  just in case we can be that man swimming by at the right moment. And maybe you can be too!Getting there:

• Take the 795 bus headed towards Pingxi from the bus stop outside of Brown Line’s Muzha MRT Station.
• To do the outing exactly as we did get off at the temporary station (yep, that’s its name! Even marked on google maps as such) It’s the next station after huang di dian station. Walk back just a couple of minutes to this opening across the road. It will lead you down to the river. (pictured bellow) Once at the river follow it downstream at your own pace. 
• Otherwise if you just want to go straight to the worm hole get off at The Emperor Temple station – Huang di dian. Walk up the road a couple of minutes til you see this road across the street.

Take that road down to a bridge. Take the path right before the bridge between these signs

Note that to get down to the river there’s a very short steep section. A rope is available to grab onto a rope for help though!

What to Bring:

• Good shoes for hiking and water. (After all it’s probably no coincidence that it was the guy in flip flops who wiped out on the slippery rocks!)  I wore a pair of sneakers and then switched into water shoes once we arrived at the river. Josh on the other hand has some great hiking sandals that worked for both.
• Dry bag – we suggest putting your electrics and other things you really want dry in ziplock bags and then putting those inside a dry bag for double protection.
• A flotation device – anything from a life jacket to a unicorn inter-tube!

• And all the other usuals: swimsuite, towel, sunscreen, snacks, EZ card, go-pro 🙂

IMPORTANT safety considerations:

• SWIMMING SAFETY: As we said above we strongly suggest you bring some sort of flotation device and that you are aware and honest about your own swimming skills as well as those in your group.
• WATER CONDITIONS: We went in the summer after a 5 days of no rain and the conditions were idealic! But not everyday will be like that. If the waters high and there’s a strong current, then the hike down to the wormhole would not be advisable.
• WEATHER: Finally, this is an area that would be extremely dangerous in the event of a flash flood. That means you should not go there if there is a high chance of rain in the forecast. (Don’t forget! Just because its not raining where you are doesn’t mean its not raining up the river somewhere and could come crashing down river.) On the day we went we checked the weather forecast and saw that there was a 50% chance of thunderstorms starting at 1pm that day. So we agreed we’d go but be out of the water by noon. Which we did! We started our outing at Muzha Station around 8:30 and we were back at the road waiting for the bus by 12:15.

You can also check out followxiafei’s blog which was one of the ways we found out about this fantastic spot! They have created a really great google map of the area you can check out.

UPDATE! We’ve been told that the worm hole has been shut down to visitors by the government due to too many water accidents.  You may still be able to access it, if you begin way up above where we did. But  you risk getting fined if you do enter the area. 🙁