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Hordes of weekend hikers damaging Jiaming Lake

A high mountain lake in the Central Mountain Range has been compromised by hordes of hikers, a local porter said yesterday.

More than 500 hikers and porters swarmed the area surrounding Jiaming Lake (嘉明湖) — the nation’s second-highest mountain lake at an altitude of 3,310m — over the first weekend this month, the three-day Labor Day holiday.

The ecological balance of the mountains was greatly disturbed, said Ta Hai (達亥), an Aboriginal porter from Lidao Township (利稻) in Taitung County.

Local police are worried that even more hikers plan to visit the lake during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday on May 28 and could cause more damage.

Jiaming Lake, a 120m-diameter lake in Taitung’s Haiduan Township (海端), is the biggest mountain lake in the Central Mountain Range. The 14km trail to the lake is equipped with just two huts for shelter.

Ta Hai said that during the Labor Day holiday, hikers’ tents covered every centimeter of available land around the shelters, with hundreds of hikers sharing six primitive toilets.

The limited amount of camping and fresh water sparked some fights, he said.

Police have failed to address the problem even though the lake has been attracting more than 10,000 hikers a year since the approach trails were renovated four years ago.
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