Dali/Da A Hiking Path Towards Secret Attractions
The entrance to the Dali-Datong (Xoxos-Skadang) Trail sits across from the Taroko Plateau Visitors’ Center. Look up from the foothills, visitors can see the abandoned transport cages hanging at the summit narrating the history and wisdom of the Truku people that once inhabited in the area.
Previously called Xoxos, meaning “a place of many snakes” according to the Truku language, the Dali tribe is located at 915m above sea level. The Dali Church is the local religious center. Although it is abandoned as people already moved out, but still well preserved.
With a total length of about 9.5km, the wriggling Dali-Datong Trail can be divided into three sections: Dekalun Trail of about 1.3m long, the section linking the Dakalun Trail and Dali Trail of about 2.3km long, and the second from the Dali tribe to Datong Tribe of about 6.2km. A one-day tour is advised for the Dali tribe that takes about 7 hours for a round trip, while a two-day tour is recommended for the Datong tribe. The trail is suitable for hikers with better strength. Advance planning and sufficient drinking water and food are advised.
The rising wooden stairs of the Dekalun Trail is the first section of the Dali-Datong Trail. This 1.3km-long trail was named by the Dakalun people that first inhabited there. In their language, Dakalun means “maple fragrance”. Covered by the verdant forest, the trail challenges the physical and leg strength of visitors right at the beginning. With the help of the guardrails on the wooden stairs, visitors can slowly go up on the trail. Many leisure platforms and signs are installed at the col or places suitable for seeing sights. After looking down the Wushi Village and Xincheng Mountain on the opposite side and the Liwu River gently flowing into the sea, visitors with less strength can get a temporary relief after enjoying the vista in front of them and drying the sweat from climbing up the trail with the sea breeze.
Dali (Xoxos) Tribe: The Surviving Secret Attraction in Seclusion
After the Dakalun Trail, a 2.3km-long clay path with stone steps leads to the Dali tribe sitting at about 900m above sea level. Although no weed is overgrown on this primitive mountain trail, visitors still need to climb with their hands in some places with greater elevation differences. The naked rocks or stone steps on the on trial shows the texture and patterns of the marble native to Hualien.
At the peak begins the start of the Datong (Skadang) Trail as well as the cableway. In those days, both the forest road and cableway were major channels for wood transportation. Therefore, rusted lifting machinery is still seen on the trail telling the glory of the past forestry industry.
From the Datong Trail, it takes about 6.2km to the Datong tribe. Visitors can walk into the Makino bamboo forest and on the path besieged by common lantana amidst the clouds and mountain breezes to explore the beauty of the Dali tribe. Formerly called Xoxos meaning “yellow basket-willow”, the Dali tribe sits on a gently descending slope where only a few households living there today, growing fruit and crops on the slope or terrace. Occasionally, visitors can see villagers transporting supplies with transport cages. The abandoned police station and church further mark the surviving secret attraction in seclusion of the place.
Located at about 1,128m above sea level, the Datong tribe was called Sakadang, meaning molar. During the Japanese colonization, there was a police post and indigenous children school. It is the passage to the Qingshui Mountain.