Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area

Friendly staff at the toll booth. You get free entrance with your ARC (only once). The waterfall is a very short walk. Beautiful but it is all a bit too cultivated for me. There also is a small area where you can play with water, next to the river. I did enjoy the hike in the forest, nice views. The suspension bridge is under construction so a big part of the trail is closed. Dogs are not allowed in the park.

People come here for the abundant maple trees but there’s actually only a few near the reception area. You may hike 10mins to a waterfall which is kinda disappointing and underwhelming. The drive into this park is around 2hrs from Qingjing and would only recommend it if you have nothing else to explore and need to kill time in the area. Unless you want a photo with the maple leaves which are definitely available elsewhere, I suggest you may give this spot a miss.

The maple leaf still not fall yet when I come there (the end of November) But the scenery is beautiful The staffs and guides are nice and helpful, some of them can speak english well

Took forever to get there. By the time we arrived, we had no energy to enjoy the scenery, so we used the "facilities," had a meal at the restaurant, and relaxed until it was time to go.

If someone ask me where to see the sakura blossom in Spring and maple in Autumn but not to remote that requires a long drive, I would recommend Aowanda. About one hour dive from Qing Jing and Taichung city, has a grass land with numerous sakura planted, and a hiking trailing toward the Aowanda hanging bridge, if two kilometer hiking is not enough, Aowanda also provides a seven days hiking trip into the mountains across the aowanda hanging bridge, fir the visit this time, I only walk to the aowanda hanging bridge like most visitors do, since the main purpose is the sakura blossom.