About Nanan Waterfall (南安瀑布 [Nánān Pùbù])
The Nanan Waterfall (南安瀑布 [Nánān Pùbù]) was probably the easiest of the waterfalls that we had visited in the east of Taiwan (or all of Taiwan for that matter).
That was when we actually paid attention in the first place, which I’ll explain later in the directions.
In any case, this was for all intents and purposes a roadside waterfall.
For such a relatively easy waterfall to visit, it had impressive flow near the gorgeous naturesque scenery of the Yushan National Park (玉山國家公園 [Yǜshān Gúojiā Gōngyuán]; the first two characters meaning “Jade Mountain”).
Since the park celebrated Taiwan’s tallest mountain (i.e. Yushan at 3,952m or nearly 13,000ft), it made sense that many of the island’s rivers would be sourced from the precipitation that would fall on this mountain.
This included the one giving rise to the Nanan Waterfall (which according to my Taiwanese GPS was called the Lele Stream (樂樂溪 [Lè Lè Xī]; meaning “Happy Stream”).
From the pullout on the side of the road (see directions below), it was barely a minute or two walk along a flat path skirting the Lele River.
That path led us right to its end where we were able to get the frontal view of the waterfall that you see pictured at the top of this page.
Actually, we were even able to see this waterfall from the road.
However, we did notice that there was a closed trail that used to go across the river and up a hill for an even closer look at the impressive 25-30m waterfall.
I’m guessing that trail was probably closed due to rock falls or cliff instability possibly from all the typhoons that hit the area recently.
There was also a hideous green sign that always seemed to get in the way of a good photo from the end of the official trail.
Either way, taking the good with the bad, Mom and I spent about 10 minutes away from the car (and that included the picture taking).
So if it’s a quick waterfall fix that you’re after, the Nanan Waterfall perfectly fits the bill!
Authorities
The Nanan Waterfall resides near the Yushan National Park by the Zhuoxi Township in the Hualien County, Taiwan. To my knowledge, the waterfall may not be administered by an official governmental authority, but the Yushan National Park is administered by the Taiwan National Government. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Yushan National Park website.
I’ll describe how we drove to the Nanan Waterfall from the town of Yuli (玉里 [Yǜlǐ]) even though it technically belonged to the indigenous Zhuoxi Township (卓溪鄉 [Zhuóxī Xiāng]).
Yuli also happened to be close to the Tiefen Waterfall, which was where we came from to get here.
So from Yuli at the junction of the Tai-9 and Tai-30 (just west of the bridge over the Xiuguluan River (秀姑巒溪 [Xiùgūluán Xī]), we drove on the Tai-30 (following the signs to stay on this road at the traffic lights and junctions) for about 11km.
The shoulder next to the short path leading to the Nanan Falls was on the left.
Overall, this drive would take under 15 minutes.
Now somehow when we made it here, we were distracted by a partial road barricade that was also by the trailhead.
At the time we first showed up, we paid more attention to the barricade and didn’t bother to look to our left at the waterfall in plain sight.
So we actually kept driving past the barricade, which climbed the mountain for the next 4km until Route 30 hit a dead-end.
While there were parked vehicles here as well as a trailhead, the waterfall was not reachable from here, so we had to backtrack.
In hindsight, the more I think about it, the more I realized that this road might have been the way to reach the summit of Yushan.
For geographical context, the Yuli Township was about 92km south of Hualien City (roughly 2 hours drive) and 95km north of Taitung (台東 [Táidōng]; over 2 hours drive).
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