Taiwan, an island of 22 million people, is one of the world’s most densely populated places. But one national park just north of Taipei—home to rare aquatic plants, chirping frogs, and the endemic ...

But as I climbed what felt like my millionth flight of stairs toward the peak of Qixing Mountain, in Taiwan’s Yangmingshan National Park, I was reminded that a mountain can also be relative. I had ...