Divine Trees Garden (棲蘭神木園, also known as Cilan Divine Trees Garden) is within the Makauy Ecological Park (馬告生態園區). The Makauy Ecological Park consists of Cilan Resort (棲蘭山莊), Mingchih Resort (明池山莊) and Divine Trees Garden. It is located in Yilan County about 117 km (72.7 mi) from Taipei Station by car. Makauy Ecological Park belongs to Veterans Affairs Council, R.O.C. (國軍退除役官兵輔導委員會) and outsources the property to the Lealea hotels & resorts (力麗觀光).
We normally stay at the Cilan Resort or Mingchih Resort. The Mingchih Resort has a beautiful lake next to the resort and is a popular location for photographers. You can’t go to the Divine Trees Garden without permission. The best way is by joining the tour from the resort. It takes about an hour for the 25 km (15.5 mi) drive, and the last 11 km (6.8 mi) is the forest road. Once we passed the Service Information Center (棲蘭神木服務站), the shuttle bus ran another 500 m (1,640 ft) to the trailhead. There are two trails – long (2.3 km / 1.43 mi) and short (1.2 km / 0.75 mi). Most of the people visit the two trails because you can see most of the thousands year divine trees. The Divine Trees Garden is the largest in Asia. It has only three-scheduled tours per day. Therefore, you should book the tour once you decide to visit the Divine Trees Garden before it sells out. There are 51 cypress trees in the garden which are named after the leaders of same period in Chinese history. Some of them are over 1,000 years old. The slippery trail took us more time to hike due to some showers last night. The final trail is the uphill wooden stairs to the service information center. The whole hike takes about 2 hours. It was a wonderful journey to enjoy the nature and learn why we need to protect nature to help us and generations to come.
There are some other divine trees in Taiwan, but these are the best of them and include detailed information for each named cypress. You might be able to book the tour onsite but it is almost impossible during summer vacation, weekends and holidays. Wear a good hiking shoes or at least sneakers when visit. Elderly visitors should avoid visiting especially in the wet season. Be sure to bring your camera with a wide lens when you visit the site to have the whole tree in one shot. We visited many redwood parks in the US west coast, and the trees here in Taiwan are comparable.
We normally stay at the Cilan Resort or Mingchih Resort. The Mingchih Resort has a beautiful lake next to the resort and is a popular location for photographers. You can’t go to the Divine Trees Garden without permission. The best way is by joining the tour from the resort. It takes about an hour for the 25 km (15.5 mi) drive, and the last 11 km (6.8 mi) is the forest road. Once we passed the Service Information Center (棲蘭神木服務站), the shuttle bus ran another 500 m (1,640 ft) to the trailhead. There are two trails – long (2.3 km / 1.43 mi) and short (1.2 km / 0.75 mi). Most of the people visit the two trails because you can see most of the thousands year divine trees. The Divine Trees Garden is the largest in Asia. It has only three-scheduled tours per day. Therefore, you should book the tour once you decide to visit the Divine Trees Garden before it sells out. There are 51 cypress trees in the garden which are named after the leaders of same period in Chinese history. Some of them are over 1,000 years old. The slippery trail took us more time to hike due to some showers last night. The final trail is the uphill wooden stairs to the service information center. The whole hike takes about 2 hours. It was a wonderful journey to enjoy the nature and learn why we need to protect nature to help us and generations to come.
There are some other divine trees in Taiwan, but these are the best of them and include detailed information for each named cypress. You might be able to book the tour onsite but it is almost impossible during summer vacation, weekends and holidays. Wear a good hiking shoes or at least sneakers when visit. Elderly visitors should avoid visiting especially in the wet season. Be sure to bring your camera with a wide lens when you visit the site to have the whole tree in one shot. We visited many redwood parks in the US west coast, and the trees here in Taiwan are comparable.
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