The river is called the Liwu, and it has been slowly cutting through the rock for millions of years. Imagine running a finger through a block of soft butter - that is what the water is doing to the stone, only thousands of times slower. The valley walls keep getting taller as the river gets deeper.
In some parts of the gorge, the cliffs are so close to each other that the road has to go through tunnels carved into the rock. From above, the river looks like a thin blue ribbon at the bottom of a stone slot. In other parts, the gorge opens up wider and waterfalls trickle down from far above.
The Indigenous Truku people have lived around the gorge for many generations. The valley is named after them. Today, Taroko Gorge sits inside a huge national park where visitors can hike, swim in safe pools and ride along scenic roads. Many trails were originally paths that local people used to cross the mountains.
Because the rock is marble, in some places the water has worn it smooth and shiny, like a polished kitchen worktop. If you put your hand on the cliff in some spots, it feels cool and almost like glass. The whole gorge is one of Taiwan's most loved places to visit.