The first ‘Quiet Trail’ was established in 2018 around Cuifeng Lake, which is the largest alpine lake in northeastern Yilan county of Taiwan.
Cuifeng Lake Mountain Trail is made besides the old freight track. Measuring 3.95 kilometers long it is located around the Cuifeng Lake between Taiping Mountain and Dayuan Mountain in Yilan County.
Being the longest trail in the Taiping Mountain National Forest Recreation Area, it is frequently visited by tourists who taste the natural silence of the trail, and especially the actual ‘Quiet Mountain Trail’ between the mileage markers – 2.2km and 3.7km.
Coming Into Being Of The Quiet Trail!
The credit goes to the well known natural sound recordist from Taiwan – Laila Fan. In 2012, she made her first audio recordings around Cuifeng Lake. Since then in a span of six years she made sound recordings from 50 more locations around the island and developed a online database to raise public awareness about preserving the quiet environment of the location. According to Laila, “Silence does not indicate that there is nothing there. Whereas, there is already something to which we never pay attention and never really listen.
Cuifeng Lake Forest Tradition
The Cuifeng Lake forest area has been the traditional hunting ground for the Hagaparis tribe of the Atayal People (pronounced silent S as Tayal), a indigenous group of Taiwan from Nan’ao Township.
Recognition Certified
The accreditation of being the first ‘Quiet Trail’ in the world was granted by a USA based non profit group – QPI-Quiet Parks International, which is involved in research and creating awareness about importance of ‘Quietness.’
Based in Los Angeles, the mission of QPI is to – save quiet for the benefit of all life.
The Quiet areas of the world are divided by QPI into five categories:
1. Urban Quiet Parks,
2. Wilderness Quiet Parks,
3. Quiet Trails,
4. Quiet Stays, and
5. Quiet Residences and Communities.
QPI Core Concepts:
Hopes that people will protect this mother earth by observing the three core concepts of:
- – Listen,
- – Learn, and
- – Love.
