Wow, seems like you had loads of fun there! And you were even lucky with the weather! I think it's quite rare to see this place without rain :)
I went there a year ago. Since I didn't have an international drivers license, I needed to take the public bus to explore the park. Unfortunately, my Chinese at the time was pretty much non-existant so I got off at the wrong stop for the Eternal Spring shrine and had to walk all the way through the first tunnel. From then onwards I started hitch-hiking!
Taiwan is awesome! Glad you're coming back there often!
It was definitely a tonne of fun and i'm sure you can attest to that too. Sadly I also don't have an international license but I think it is a blessing in disguise because the bus I eventually took had an excellent tour guide. I'm impressed you made it via walking though, it's quite a distance!
I had amazing tour guides when I started hitchhiking afterwards :) Even met a Taiwanese guy who studied at the same university in Australia at the same time as me! Keep on enjoying your travels!
That's so cool! Meeting like minded people on travels is part of what makes travelling so great! Thank you dear!