Shuiliantou Trail (Nine Frogs)

The Shuiliantou Trail is located between Dazhuhou and Yidashao. At its entrance, there is a frog sculpture and a car park. The trail is 500 meters long with an elevation difference of about 60 meters. It is built as an elevated boardwalk, winding through a serene bamboo forest, ending in a circular route by the water's edge. It passes through Moso bamboo groves, offering beautiful scenery. The area boasts rich native trees and ferns, with numerous Schima superba trees lining the trail, which bloom with white flowers in summer, providing high ornamental value. Along the way, visitors can observe lively ecology, including butterflies dancing, birds flying, fish leaping, and frogs hopping. A bronze sculpture called 'Frogs Stacking Arhats' is situated by the lake, vividly narrating the origin of the place name and serving as an indicator for observing water level fluctuations. The story of the Nine Frogs Stack: The original design for the Nine Frogs came from Mr. Lu Zhaoliang of Qingjing Company, who was commissioned by the Nantou County Scenic Area Administration to design the Shuiliantou Nature Trail before the 921 earthquake. Mr. Lu then entrusted Mr. Shen Zhenying, a renowned artist from the Sun Moon Lake area, to create the prototype. The plan was to install frog sculptures on the water at the end of the trail to reinforce the impression of the place name 'Shuiliantou' (literally 'Water Frog Head'). The imagery of 'Frogs Stacking Arhats' was intended to highlight the interesting phenomenon of Sun Moon Lake's pumped-storage hydropower, which causes a daily water level fluctuation of nearly two meters. Visitors, at different times on the same day or during different visits, will notice why the number of frogs exposed above the water is different, thereby discovering the crucial function of Sun Moon Lake's pumped-storage power generation. Water levels indicated by the top of each frog in the 'Nine Frogs Stack': * 748.48 meters above sea level (top of the topmost frog) * 748.31 meters above sea level * 748.14 meters above sea level * 747.81 meters above sea level * 747.51 meters above sea level * 747.16 meters above sea level * 746.82 meters above sea level * 746.38 meters above sea level * 745.90 meters above sea level (top of the bottommost frog)