Sunrise Solar Eclipse Hike

Today is my 100th day since leaving home!

Also, if I may take a moment - This was how my hair looked around this time last year:

That's also how tan and freckly I was this time last year!

Anyway, now to the good stuff:

Grace and I have been talking about planning an adventure for a while now.  Originally we were thinking of going bungee jumping or paragliding.  Unfortunately, when we sat down to plan a paragliding trip, and finally tracked down someone to call, they informed us that not only will they only fly in perfectly warm and clear weather (which, according to the forecast, was all but impossible), but they actually need two full days of warm and clear weather preceding the day of flight.  Given the predictions of heavy rain all weekend for all of Taiwan, we sadly crossed paragliding off our list and moved onto other options.  Fortunately for us, we happen to be living in one of the few cities in the world that lay in the path of the solar eclipse last night/this morning!  We had also discussed the possibility of doing a sunrise hike.  Since the eclipse was supposed to last between around 5 and 7 am, the logical solution to our adventure-void was to combine the two into a sunrise solar eclipse hike!  And really, how many times in your life can you do one of those?

The hike we chose was Elephant Mountain, located remarkably near Taipei 101 and (according to trip advisor) providing one of the best views of Taipei you can get.  The one issue that provided a problem was how to get to that part of town so early in the morning.  Since the buses don't run between midnight and 5:30, and we wanted to be up the mountain by the start of the eclipse, we had no choice but to take a bus just before midnight and hang around for a few hours - staying up alllll night!  Now for those who may not know - I don't stay up all night.  I have done so only a couple of times but it's not usually an activity I seek out.  And although I have been awake for sunrises before, I have never before actually stayed awake to watch the sunrise.  So, I was excited!  Plus - solar eclipse!  Although, as previously mentioned, the weather forecast was pretty bad - we prepared ourselves to probably not be able to see the eclipse through the clouds, but figured a sunrise hike was pretty nice too.  And Grace and I vowed to hike even through the rain if need be.

Grace, Becca, Kohan and I met up at a 7-11 right near Taipei 101 as soon as our bus got in around 12:30.  We spent a couple of hours there chatting, killing time, and (in my case) drinking coffee.  Kohan headed home (uninterested in the prospect of staying up all night and seeing rare and spectacular celestial events).  Just before 3, Grace, Becca, and I began the next item on our agenda: singing on a street corner.  We broke out a number of classics, ranging from the Backstreet Boys and Avril Lavigne to Disney and Pat Benetar - and of course, how could the night be complete without a few rounds of "Total Eclipse of the Heart"?  There were very few passersby so we didn't make the vast sums of money we were hoping, but it was still fun.

Next, we set out on the hike.  We were surprised to find that we weren't alone - setting out at just the same time as we was an old man carrying a huge backpack.  He must have been in his 70s.  Old people are so active here!  And why was he doing this at 3 in the morning!?  And why were we??

We weren't sure exactly how long the hike would take us, but the website seemed to indicate that we should expect around 45 minutes of straight stairs.  Well, all those sprint workouts must have worked, because it only took us around 15 minutes to get to these big rocks that apparently provided the best view you can get - and man, was it a view.  We climbed (somewhat perilously) onto one of the rocks and made it our home for the next three hours.  The city at night was spectacular, and as the sky started getting lighter around 4:15 or so, it only got better.  Some highlights of the night include:
-  A bat flying into Grace's head!  She was totally unfazed.
-  Discovering a dead cockroach that had apparently died a messy death on my shorts and then remained there for who-knows-how-long until I discovered his empty corpse and a nasty stain
-  The flow of old people hiking through the area at all hours, all definitely way more fit than we are.
-  Screaming at the top of our lungs at the top of a mountain
-  Hearing others doing the same from far away throughout the early morning hours

There were clouds throughout the night but they were moving around a lot and parts of the sky were definitely clear at times.  There was a lot of suspense about whether it would be clear enough to see the eclipse - it seemed like the clouds were clearing up and then suddenly more would appear from nowhere.  Or a big dark mass would suddenly part in the middle and reveal the sky behind it.  As the sky grew lighter and lighter we only got more curious whether or not we would be able to see this thing...

5 o'clock, the official start time of the eclipse, arrived.  We eagerly watched the sky, but there were too many clouds in the way.  We waited as the clouds shifted, dishing out false hopes of clear skies only to become grey again.  The minutes ticked by... we tried to imagine what stage the eclipse must be at behind the clouds.  As we waited, a number of other visitors came to the same spot to check out the eclipse: a couple of serious-looking photographers, a little boy and his dad, and a few other casual viewers.  6 o'clock came - the peak of the eclipse.  Now, here's the path it was apparently following : http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/taiwan/taipei - and that's the sight we were supposed to see.  Looks pretty neat.  Unfortunately, the clouds stayed put and we weren't able to get that dramatic view that we had hoped for.  Still, we all agreed that the sunrise and the experience were well worth the lack of sleep, and it was definitely one of my favorite memories of my time so far.

Around 6:20, after the peak of the eclipse had passed and the clouds showed no signs of backing down, we headed back down the steps to street level.  As we were walking, I became convinced that now maybe we could see it because it was so much sunnier that the clouds must have gone away.  It only occurred to me later that the sudden brightness might have had something to do with a certain moon getting out of the way of the sun's rays.  Anyway, as we walked to find somewhere to get breakfast, I turned, and saw - the sun!  Eclipsed!  It wasn't as dramatic as I imagined, because at this time the moon was only partially covering the sun.  Of course we didn't have "proper equipment" as they say, but after taking a quick glimpse at the sun, the impression left on the inside of my eyelids had a distinct section of the sun missing.  Anyway, it wasn't exactly what we expected, but we got to see it!  I think we all felt a little more closure after that point.

It turned into a beautiful day with blue skies and bright sun, and Becca and I got breakfast before crashing into our beds for a few hours of rest.

I think I can safely say that this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and that many years from now, in my old age, I will remember this night as a perfect, crystallized embodiment of the young and adventurous spirit that I tried to live by throughout my time in Taiwan.