Sky Ladder

Sky Ladder is a suspension bridge with ladders that hangs across a valley in the town where my grandma lives. Originally, we were trying to go to Sky Ladder from the other end that is easier to walk as my grandma was with us. After driving for almost one hour along the mountain road where there were two places with half the road chipped away and bits of rocks on the road that fell from above, we couldn’t go any further close to that end because the road has been sealed off. We went round to the other end, from which most people start their journey but it takes much longer than from where we originally planned to start. It took us about half an hour on the car to drive up to near the top of the mountain, but we spent 40 minutes walking down hill. It was the longest and most steep descent I’ve ever taken. I could feel my knees aching and my legs were wobbling towards the end of the descent. Before we reached Sky ladder, we had to climb down this vertical spiral staircase where people going up and down had to squeeze past each other in a space that’s meant for one.
It was all worth it when I saw Sky ladder and the surrounding valley. It was completed 2 years ago. Its design is different from other suspension bridge in that it suspends from the valleys themselves rather than being hung from ropes that are attached to tall “doors” at both ends of the bridge. It is 136 metres long and has 208 steps. We went further down to an old suspension bridge of the traditional design. The gorge it is above has fast running water that creates deep but quite narrow fissures across the stones. In a distance, there is a small waterfall, which we didn’t get to go down to because we didn’t think we could make it back considering how steep the incline was going to be when we went all the way to the top. Surprisingly, the ascending return trip was much faster (about 1 hour) and easier (compared to the descent) than I expected. My dad, however, was thoroughly exhausted, and had to took a ride on a four-wheel drive at the last stage of the ascent. Yes, there were people making business of offering people rides for the journey via a different route. For the stage closer to Sky Ladder, the vehicles used are mini open jeeps. Typical Taiwanese people making money out of all sorts of ways. Along the track that we took, there were people selling drinks and sometims snacks. They carried their stuff all the way into the track! Two photos of the mountain range in Taiwan and tea field when driving down the mountain.