Taroko Gorge is a slot cut through marble. The Liwu river has sawn down through a block of metamorphic rock that was lifted from the sea floor as the Philippine Sea plate pushed into Asia, and the result is a canyon so narrow in places that the cliffs nearly meet overhead, their faces streaked white, grey and pale green. The road, Provincial Highway 8, follows the river through tunnels and under overhangs, and on a quiet morning, with the river roaring below and swifts darting along the walls, it is one of the great rides in Asia.
The road itself is a monument. It was built in the late 1950s, largely by retired soldiers who had come to Taiwan with the Nationalist government, working with explosives, picks and their hands on cliffs that offered almost no footing. More than two hundred of them died during construction, and the Eternal Spring Shrine, built over a spring that pours from the cliff near the gorge entrance, commemorates them. The shrine and its waterfall make a good first stop when you enter the gorge from the Hualien side.
Further in come the famous narrows. At Swallow Grotto the cliff face is pocked with holes once used by nesting swifts, and at the Tunnel of Nine Turns the road and an old footpath wind through the narrowest part of the gorge. Helmets are recommended for walkers in some sections, which tells you everything about the rockfall risk. That risk became painfully real in April 2024, when a strong earthquake off Hualien caused huge landslides in the gorge, damaged the road and closed much of the national park. Repairs and reopening have been gradual, so check the current status of the road and the trails before you ride.
When it is open, ride it slowly. Tarmac is mostly sound, but tunnels are unlit or dim, tour buses fill the road around the main stops, and fallen stones are common after rain. Typhoon season, from late summer into autumn, can close the road for days. Hualien City, about twenty-five kilometres away, has fuel and all services, and it is wise to fill up there before entering, because stations in the mountains are few and far between.