Picturesque for its setting, backed by toweringly steep mountainsides, this small shrine sits above a gushing spring that pours out onto the rocks below, creating what some have likened to a hoary old beard.
Most, but not all, southbound buses stop in a car park just off the main Rte8 from which there's a fine view of the shrine and two other associated forest buildings. A 2.2km loop walk takes you from here via a half-tunnel lane to the shrine, climbs up a very steep zigzag stairway to a cave, then cuts back through the forest past the Taroko Tower and Bell Tower (superb views) before crossing a rickety suspension bridge to the Chungchuang Temple. From the latter, a paved road leads back to a point just 150m short of where you started (via a tunnel – beware of traffic).
