Hong Kong Trail Tales

Trail Tales
80% of Hong Kong's land area is mountainous and cannot be developed. While making daily life more cramped for us all, it also provides a large land area for outdoor activities like hiking. Various British governors have been avid hikers and have promoted an extensive system of trails on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the Outlying Islands. I spend a lot of time on these trails and here are some notes from my hiking trips.

Hong Kong Island

Cape D'Aigular

Cape D'Aigular is the southern most part of the Hong Kong mainland, a peninsula jutting into the South China Sea. It is a relatively undeveloped part of HK, and one that I had not seen, so I took the #9 bus from Shau Kei Wan down the peninsula today and planned to explore and then walk back towards town.
By great luck I got off the bus exactly where I wanted to be--without knowing that I was at that spot!--and started walking down a service road toward the end of the peninsula. I thought there would be relatively little traffic on the one-lane road but quite a few trucks, vans, and cars whizzed by me, forcing me up against the rock face or into the brush along the sea-side of the road. I was disappointed that there were quite a few old rundown buildings and small commercial operations along the way, real eyesores. I had expected more unspoiled natural beauty.
When I got to the end of the cape, ignoring the "No Unauthorized Entry" signs, I found myself at an installation owned by HK Telecom and used as their high-frequency radio communications center and the entry point for their major undersea cable linking HK with the rest of the world. I was dazzled by the number and the diversity of the HF radio antennas! I am a former ham operator and could pick out the different types and frequencies of the arrays set up over dozens of acres, but just wasn't prepared for so many configurations. I hiked up a couple trails that took me up the hill where the antenna farm was located and found myself in a maze of guy wires, ground wires, and various parts of antennas stretching every which way.
Backtracking to my original starting point where I got off the bus, I then climbed a small hill which is the highest point near the end of the cape. Or at least I tried to. For some reason there was a fence blocking access to the very top. But halfway up I decided to sit and eat lunch, and I was able to look down into a large quarry right on the coast line. I thought it looked like the workmen were preparing to blast, and I was lucky enough to actually see them detonate some grouped charges that tore off another fifty feet or so from the cliff face. It was really interesting to watch the blasting process from above.
Then I picked up the beginning of Stage 8 of the Hong Kong Trail, a stage I had already walked. But I found that before I got to the top of the ridge where the formal trail lies, there was another trail parallel to the main one but about halfway up the western side of the ridge. I decided to take that because I had never walked it before, and it provided a nice level track following the winding contours of the hillsides as it headed north. Eventually the HK Trail came down from the ridge crests above and my trail and that one merged.
I was looking for some smaller side trails that, according to the map, branched off and headed down to the road below, but never did see them. They must be really overgrown. I just continued on all the way to the northernmost part of the trail where it reaches the edge of the urban area and then doubles back toward the south along the eastern edge of the cape.
I found an unofficial trail, not marked, heading down into the urban area from the main trail, and decided to take it to see where it went. I was surprised at the amount of effort someone--not the government--had put into making this shortcut from the Hong Kong Trail down to civilization. Steps had been cut into the earth and a handrail made of pipe had been erected along the steepest sections. I'm not sure why there was such interest in developing such a small trail that can't get that much traffic.

Hong Kong Trail--Stages 1, 2, and 3

I decided to rewalk part of the Hong Kong Trail today, to look for sections that the deaf group can use on Sunday. I started off in downtown Wanchai, next to the old post office, and went uphill on the Wanchai Gap Road. It's a really steep climb, a unique little road that most people don't know exists. It goes basically straight up the hill through a heavily wooded area, an anomaly because it's surrounded by all the high-rise of the Wanchai business district. It used to be a real road but not for vehicles. Chinese laborers carried sedan chairs up the hill, taking the wealthy foreigners up to their massive homes in the Peak area.
I was struggling up the hill and near the top saw a strange sight--a woman holding an umbrella and walking down the very steep hill, backwards. In the US one might consider asking a woman like that if she needed some help, but here you just figure it's some aspect of the local preoccupation with health and exercise. Over the years I've seen quite a bit. Most memorable was one older woman repeatedly and forcefully pounding her forehead with the heel of her hand.
At the top Wanchai Gap Road is a small park, and behind it an access road leading to the Aberdeen Reservoir. I went down the road to the point where it intersects with the HK Trail. Actually I missed the intersection (embarrassingly for the great woodsman!) and continued all the way down the hill to the water where I realized something was amiss and doubled back. But getting to the bottom of the hill showed me some other routes that might be possible hikes with the deaf group another day. Also at the bottom of the hill were several old World War II-era ammunition bunkers, now sealed up and surrounded by park areas with benches.
The intersection was the end of Stage 3, and it is a beautiful dirt trail through the heavy forested area of the HK Island ridges. It follows a fairly level route along the steep hillsides, winding back and forth around deep hollows. The underbrush is quite thick and it is difficult to see down the hillsides to what is below although often I could hear running water as rain-fed streams splashed down through rocky courses.
Stage 3 came out of the woods overlooking Aberdeen on the south side of the island. It is a really beautiful view from there, looking down on the city there and its harbor and beyond it to the South China Sea and the islands. The trail, leaving the woods, follows a catchwater for a while, and then abruptly heads up the hill, a very steep climb but along steps.
At the top of the hill, Stage 3 ends and Stage 2 begins. There are several paths leading to Wah Fu and other areas leading off the main trail from the hilltop which makes it a good trail for people who may not have the desire or the energy to complete a full stage in one walk. Stage 2 goes back into the woods at the top of the hill and winds around more hollows. Below the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir is visible, a rather small body of water.
Finally on the north side of the ridge again, the trail meets a road in the Pok Fu Lam Country Park and gives access to several picnic areas and barbecue sites. I turned west on the road and that lead to Stage 1 of the trail that goes around the peak of Sai Ko Shan hill (1500') and gives a spectacular view of the western end of Hong Kong Island and Peng Chau, Cheung Chau, Lamma, and the other outlying islands to the west. Overlooking the main HK harbor, there are some WWII observation posts and gun emplacements, a nice place to rest from the climb and just take in the scenery.
Because it was getting late, I left Stage 1 and cut across to the Peak on Harlech Road, a small private road that serves the very few mansions on that part of the Peak. That is a well-developed section of the park, attractive to many visitors who walk there from the Peak after coming up on the tram.
I arrived at the Peak visitors center about 1645 and then caught a bus down to Central. The whole hike was about 12 miles.

East End of the Island--Wong Nai Chung Gap around Violet Hill

Today started off a little off-target, but at the end of the day, it seemed pretty good. First I had to schedule a meeting on the evening of my day off which puts time restraints on what I can do. Then I had to get up at 4:40 AM to make contact with the California Internet company that manages our MMAF mailing lists. And then when I finally got going, I took the wrong bus over on Hong Kong Island. I was supposed to take the #6 bus which goes over the ridge and past the Wong Nai Chung Reservoir, but instead, without thinking, I took the #6A which goes through a tunnel under the ridge and reservoir.
Deciding to make the most of the mistake, I looked for a good place to get off the bus close to the ridge after the tunnel, and because I knew there was a catchwater (a concrete creek running around a hill about midway up to collect rain water) halfway up the hill, I struck out cross country, up the hill, to try and intercept the catchwater. Soon I was pulling myself up the hill through dense forest, pulling on tree roots and vines, and thinking that once again I had got myself into one of the spots where I shouldn't be alone, in case something happened.
On top of the ridge I found a catchwater, but it turned out to be the wrong one. It led into a "service reservoir," a small underground reservoir built on a hilltop and then covered over with dirt so that it looks like a level football field. I could see Repulse Bay to the east so I lined up the map, but when I followed the path, it went toward some condos down the hill--and straight toward a pack of loose dogs barking like crazy at me. I decided to backtrack, but going the other way from the service reservoir took me back down the hill I had so roughly climbed, this time on a path, and I ended up on the road where I started.
This time I stayed on the road to Wong Nai Chung Gap and the big reservoir there, and found the catchwater trail around Violet Hill, next to the reservoir. There was a sign on it saying it was closed till October for improvements, but since I knew it wasn't much of a trail to begin with, I went ahead anyway and didn't have any problems.
The nice thing about catchwater paths is that they are level because they have to carry water all the way around a hill. This one was quite rough, though, with lots of grapefruit-size rocks all over that made walking difficult. I was making mental notes as I went because one of the purposes for this trip was to scout out trails where I can take the deaf group on Sunday outings starting in April. It took me 45 minutes to follow it around to the backside of the hill. The path has a magnificent view, looking down on Repulse Bay and all the 25-30 storey condominiums in that area.
At the other side of the hill, I sat and ate lunch, my peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich and some cookies, before heading around the other side of Violet Hill (also known as Tsz Lo Lan Shan) back toward my starting point. This part of the trail is also a catchwater but has signs saying closed and extremely dangerous because of the drop-offs on one side of the catchwater. In this area there are no guard rails or anything to protect people from falling, but it is rather easy walking except where creeks and gullies go under the catchwater and you have to step over pipes and low places in the path which create waterfalls down the hillside. It took another 45 minutes to get back to the north side of Violet Hill, at Tai Tam Reservoir, about a mile from Wong Nai Chung Gap.
I decided to go all the way back to the gap because I wanted to note the time required to circle the hill and also the distance which I was measuring with a pedometer. Unfortunately, although there was a service road leading from Tai Tam Reservoir up to the gap, it was all uphill, a steep hill. That took 30 minutes, and I found myself at the little concession stand at the Wong Nai Chung Reservoir so I had a Coke there and rested. There are ducks and swans on the lake, and it has paddle boats for rent, but there was no one out today in the low-50°s F weather.
Then I doubled back a bit until I picked up the Wilson Trail which crosses the Tai Tam Country Park at that spot. That part, Stage #2, is marked as a "very difficult" trail because that section is all steps, up and down the ridges. There are some beautiful views as you head toward Jardine's Lookout and Mount Butler, but you pay a price for them. It's a good feeling, though, to start at Tai Tam on the south side of HK Island and then cross Mount Butler and look down on the north side of the island, the harbor, and Kowloon in the distance across the harbor.
Coming down toward Quarry Bay and civilization, I met a young Chinese man who spoke American English, and we talked about hiking HK trails for about fifteen minutes. He was heading the direction I came from, but was going to have to hurry to get to the end of the Wilson Trail before dark.
Part way down the Wilson Trail, I saw a trail marker that was ambiguous and decided to take the section away from the road. It turned out that put me on a jogging trail so I didn't get to finish that stage of the Wilson Trail (next time!), but I got to go more through wooded areas which was nice. Finally I ended up in North Point, back on the crowded streets of HK again. I was a bit surprised to note that I recognized the area because I had visited a deaf family back up those small side streets before.
All together, I walked from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM today, and covered about 12 miles. A great day!

Kowloon

Lion Rock Ridge

I only had a few hours today so I decided to take a quick trip along part of Lion Rock Ridge. The 11K bus took me to Chuk Yuen Estate, and from there I walked up Shatin Pass Road to the ridge where I caught the Maclehose Trail.
I had expected to see dozens of school-age youth on the trails today but ran into none. Partly that was because today the Education Department released the examination results from the Form 5 exams in June, and many high school students had to literally run all over town trying to find a school for next year. (The HK education system is weird, IMHO, but that is another story.)
This time I climbed all the way to the top of Lion Rock, a famous formation on the ridge that looks like a reclining lion. From that vantage point looking over Kowloon toward HK Island I ate lunch, and then started descending.
At the next trail juncture, I met a local young man in his 30s, and he started a very interesting conversation about hiking and its spiritual effects. He offered his opinion on how getting back to nature can refresh us and put our normal busy lives into perspective. That led to his thoughts on Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson, a movie from the early 1970s. He knew the full history of Johnson, even down to the years he spent in the Union army during the Civil War, his burial place, etc. He is obviously a fan of Robert Redford and commented, too, on The Horse Whisperer. It was a really amazing philosophical discussion high on a ridge above busy, complicated Hong Kong! And all the while we talked about getting away from it all in nature, this young man's back pocket kept beeping regularly from some electronic device!

Shing Mun Reservoir Circuit

I took the MTR (Hong Kong's subway) to Tsuen Wan and then a #82 minibus to the Shing Mun Country Park Visitor Centre. I had walked the main trails around the Shing Mun Reservoir several times in the past so today I was concentrating on smaller side trails. I took a paved service road heading west toward Route Twisk along a catchwater channeling rain runoff into the reservoir. I found a footbridge over the catchwater and headed up a hill toward the north.
The trail climbed steadily through a wooded area until I arrived near the top of the lower ridges. Behind me to the south were wonderful views of Hong Kong Island, Tsing Yi Island, parts of Kowloon, and the outlying islands in the distance. Tsing Yi Island had trails on its hills visible from where I stood and I resolved to head over there soon to check out that island.
Because these trails are not marked, I wasn't even sure which one I was on. Several are shown on the topographical map I was using, but the map lacked several important landmarks (a road and Agriculture and Fisheries Department buildings) that I passed so I was not sure just where I crossed the catchwater. Once on the hill, though, I was able to use several high-tension power lines coming across the ridge as reference points and soon located my trail and direction.
I found a junction where the left fork went to Chuen Lung to the west and the right went uphill still higher to the east. As I was checking the map, a couple "Halloo"s echoed down to me and I looked up to see several people on a trail farther up the hillside. They were asking me which way to Chuen Lung and I used my best Cantonese and a lot of arm waving to point out the direction, and then headed up the hill to meet them as they started down toward me. They were three elderly gentlemen who paused for a rest and then continued on.
The hilltop there was grassy with a strong wind blowing over it so I decided to stop there for lunch and enjoy the view. After eating I read my novel for about 45 minutes before heading on.
The trail now followed the contour of the hillsides and started into a wooded area heading north. This was my favorite kind of trail, generally uneven with natural rock steps in places, lots of mature trees and underbrush. I crossed a stream that is the source of Shing Mun Reservoir, and the trail then took a turn to the east.
The trail started climbing again, heading up toward Leadmine Pass, but the most significant feature was a bamboo grove that suddenly appeared. It was all bamboo, mostly trees less than an inch in diameter, but thousands of them on both sides of the trail, with no other species mixed in with them. It was almost spiritual in its effect, a mystical little garden of bamboo rising 30-40 feet above me. I'd love to go back there to take some pictures.
My trail kept climbing and finally joined the Maclehose Trail, Stage 8, and then took a turn to head downhill until a few minutes later I came out at the Leadmine Pass picnic area where I stopped, ate an apple, and finished my book.
By that time it was already 4:20 PM. I had considered searching out another small trail leaving the main trails at the pass but decided I'd better head back to civilization. It took about an hour to get back to the minibus stop at the visitor centre. On the way I passed a police truck parked on the road and found six or seven policemen coming out of the woods. One of them was leading a police dog, and in the back of the truck was another German Shepherd, the largest dog I've ever seen. The police were not in uniform and I'm not sure what they were doing. There were three loud bangs while I was in their area, either firecrackers or gunshots.

Route Twisk to Yuen Long

My intent today was to find a way from Yuen Long back to a point where a hiker could pick up public transportation again because I was hoping that when the deaf group goes to Yuen Long in the future for a Sunday morning mass with a hearing parish, we might be able to hike back, at least part way, to Kowloon. I figured it would be easier to find a way to Yuen Long rather than find a trail leading out of the urban area there so I decided to head north from the Maclehose Trail which runs East-West to the south of Yuen Long.
I took the subway (MTR) to Tsuen Wan, and from there the #51 bus to where the Maclehose Trail crosses Route Twisk (Stage 8/9). Instead of heading west on Stage 9, I followed a smaller dirt path heading directly north through the heavily forested area. I took some photos there because I want to collect pictures of the various kinds of hiking venues in Hong Kong. The trail switched back and forth as it followed the contours of the hollows there, and I was careful going round the bends because I noticed very fresh cow pies on the path and didn't want to surprise any wild cattle. The trail intersected with several other well-marked trails until it gradually descended to its end at a catchwater after 1:15 hours.
As is often the case in hiking in HK, arriving at the catchwater offered a little surprise, the Farm Milk Dairy. A sign erected by its open main gate welcomed hikers to come in and buy fresh milk, ice cream, and other treats.
The catchwater had a wide concrete maintenance road running beside it, but it was not a boring walk. Soon after heading west on the catchwater, I encountered a water tunnel where the water course tunneled through the ridge to avoid the twists and turns of the road following the hillside contours. The tunnel looked interesting and I wondered how safe it would be to traverse it. It has to be level since it's carrying water, unless there are some water falls or some such inside. On the map it appears to extend about a kilometer through the ridge.
Farther along the road, the trail passes numerous picnic and barbecue sites, all thickly overgrown with grass and apparently little used. Then it goes past two small reservoirs created in a narrow hollow by tall, cut rock dams. A sign says no fishing from April to September.
Then the road goes by a recreation area with picnic tables and barbecue pits where a family trail originates, heading to Ho Pui Reservoir. I have not been there, but on the map it looks like it might be a lake of 10-15 acres. From there, the trail starts descending from the height of the catchwater to where it intersects with several roads leading off to nearby villages. As the trail start a steep ascent back up to the catchwater level, both the smell and noise of several pigs farms in the valley below wafted up to me. Soon the trail was crossing over a new limited-access highway that ran into a tunnel right below the trail. Workmen were putting finishing touches on road signs and the tunnel entrance.
After another intersection with some utility roads heading north, the trail road started curving back around the mountain and I could sense where I was in relation to the Maclehose Trail running parallel to the south of me. The other end of the water tunnel appeared, and the catchwater then continued carrying the flow around the hillside toward the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir ahead. I passed another trail leading to the Ho Pui Reservoir, this one from the west, and soon I was at the intersection of Stages 9 and 10 of the Maclehose Trail, at the eastern end of the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir.
I followed Stage 10 for maybe half a kilometer until signs directed me to the Ancient Trail leading toward Yuen Long. Descriptive tablets set along the way described its history, dating from 400 years ago, as a commercial connection between Yuen Long and its agriculture with Tsuen Wan and its trade and commerce. The Ancient Trail soon became a dirt path after leaving the road, but it also soon left the forests and moved into scrub land as it headed north. Several forestry department markers described how land in this area slowly recovered from hill fires, first acquiring hardy ferns, then scrub brush, and gradually small trees as the landscape stabilized.
Yuen Long's tall buildings soon appeared in the distance as the trail went up and down around the hills, and finally I took a side trail for Tai Tong. It ended up following a nature trail that began and ended in the Tai Tong Park high on a hill overlooking Yuen Long. Below me in the valley there was a radio-controlled airplane flying area, and one of the planes was putting on an impressive display. When it landed I could see that it had a wing span approximately the height of its owner who came out to retrieve.
At the bottom of the hill, major roads crisscrossed and I caught a minibus into the center of the urban area where I caught a big bus that took me to the KCR rail line that led me to the MTR. The whole trip was about 4-5 hours of walking.

Maclehose Trail (Stages 1 and 2)

Last week I walked the last two stages of the Maclehose Trail, at its western end. Today I walked the first two stages, in eastern Kowloon. I took the MTR (subway) to Choi Hung and from there took a minibus to Sai Kung, a beautiful area outside the city where many expats live. From there I changed to a regular city bus, #94, for the 15-minute trip to the visitors center at the Sai Kung Country Park.
One of my complaints is that the trails are often not clearly marked. This time it took me a while just to find the beginning of the trail. There were no signs at the visitors center pointing to it but luckily I knew which direction it should be. When I walked along the road, I found a big sign marking the beginning of the Maclehose Trail, but there wasn't a single clue which direction to walk from there! I wonder if the Agriculture and Fisheries Department people are so familiar with the trails that they don't think clearly when putting up (or not putting up) signs.
Stages 1 and 2 basically circle the High Island Reservoir, an approximately two-mile valley that used to lead down to the sea. The ocean end was dammed to form the reservoir. The valley is on a peninsula jutting out into the sea so there are beautiful views of the sea on several sides, especially from the rugged peaks--some up to a 1000 feet--surrounding the reservoir.
Stage 1 is a "wheelchair trail," that is, a road that would be manageable by a person in a wheelchair. We had done part of it several years ago with the deaf group and the road idea really turned me off, but I thought I would walk it just to say I've done the whole Maclehose Trail. The water level today was down about 30 feet from its high-water line. Along the eastern side of the reservoir, between the reservoir and sea, there is the old High Island Detention Center where thousands of Vietnamese boat people spent years of their lives. Now it is deserted except for a custodial crew. The loudspeaker system that used to awaken and direct the boat people was today playing popular music that I could easily discern across a half mile of water. Next to the detention center is a HK-government sponsored water sports recreation center. It always seemed incongruous to me in the past that the water sports center was right next to the detention center whose inmates could only look out at the HK people enjoying themselves and wonder if they would ever find such freedom and opportunity.
I started walking at the visitors center about 1015 and ended up at the dam by the sea at 1250. Because the trail so far was all along the road, it gave me an opportunity to calibrate my pedometer because the walking was smooth and consistent and there were kilometer markers to give the actual distance. The distance for that stretch was 9.94 miles.
I ate my sandwich after crossing over the dam and rested for 25 minutes before heading uphill, away from water level. The trail climbed for the next hour or so, and then kept going up and down ridges. That part of the Sai Kung Country Park is really beautiful, heavily wooded along the lower reaches, and then tall grass and scrub bushes higher up. And always there are the beautiful sea vistas and scenic beaches below. The beaches seem to be some of the best in Hong Kong but there are no roads leading to them so they are protected in a relatively pristine state.
The temperature reached 82°F today and the humidity 94% so it was relatively uncomfortable after the early morning fog dissipated and a weak sun came out. On previous trips I had carried a half-liter water bottle and a canned soft drink and that was enough in the cooler weather, but today I was staying constantly thirsty. At my lunch spot I was still not halfway through the whole distance so I decided to give myself an option to shorten today's trip, depending on how I felt, when I reached a trail junction ahead.
I reached the junction at 1515 and took a rest while I debated which way to go. Considering that the trail was now going to be up and down more hills and it was the hottest part of the day and I was low on water, I decided to take the short way (3.9 miles) back. Most of the this trail was along a little service "road" about the size of a sidewalk. Park workers use little tractor wagons to bring in supplies along the narrow path. I followed it for about an hour, and then it intersected a real road where there was a little pagoda-style kiosk. I started following that road, which led back along the reservoir on its western side, until I finally got back to the main highway, where I had started, about 1700. From there it was a short walk to a bus stop and I caught the #94 (air conditioned!) back to Sai Kung and ate at McDonald's, the usual routine, before catching two more buses to take me back to the Bishop Ford Center where I arrived at 1910. Just in time to take a shower before the 1930 news!

Maclehose Trail (Stage 8)

I knew I wanted to start my hiking today at the Shing Mun Reservoir where I had finished up last time, but I wasn't sure how to get there because I had forgotten what bus I had taken from what housing estate several weeks ago. I decided that there must be a bus to that area from the Kwai Hing MTR (subway) station so I took the subway there and asked how to get to Shing Mun. I didn't get an answer that I could fully understand, but the man mentioned the #40X bus so I hopped on. When I told the driver where I wanted to go, he gave me a rather blank look, so I asked him where the bus was going and he said to Shatin, on the other side of the ridge, and I decided that was OK because where I hoped to pick up the trail again was near this end of the tunnel through the ridge.
I sat in the front of the bus to look for hopeful places where I might get off, and, lo and behold, we went right past the place where I had come down from the trail before! I jumped off the bus and was soon up at Shing Mun, this time walking the west side of the reservoir toward the north. Starting at a visitors center, the route follows a Nature Trail with about 20 plaques pointing out various phenomena of the geography and plants.
My direction was directly north, toward the China border, to intersect the Maclehose Trail which runs east-west across the Kowloon peninsula. From the north end of the reservoir, the trail (actually a restricted road at this point) keeps continuing uphill through a "country park," like a state park in the US. There were just one or two other hikers or joggers in the park.
I had left the bus stop at 10:00 AM and at 11:35 AM I had arrived at Leadmine Pass, the top of the ridge where the Shing Mun trail intersects the Maclehose Trail. Again, no people were around, but there were two wild cows grazing in the park-like setting of the trail intersections. I had often seen evidence (cow pies) of their presence on previous hikes, but this was the first time I had ever actually encountered the cattle. They gave me a leery eye but kept on munching. I decided it was time to eat lunch and gulped down my usual peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and a coke. I also took time to take a couple photos and used my knife to smooth out the handle of a walking stick I had picked up in anticipation of the higher elevations.
From Leadmine Pass, I took the Maclehose Trail west and immediately started climbing. Right at the bottom of the ascent, off to one side of the trail, I saw something unusual and it turned out to be a German-made collapsible metal walking stick! It was obviously used, but there was no clue why it was just abandoned there. I picked it up and put it in my backpack because, after preparing my wooden walking stick, I wasn't about to throw it away so quickly!
About the 1600' level, the mists started getting heavy, and soon I was fully in the clouds, with visibility limited to probably 50 yards in any direction. The trail kept climbing higher and higher, sometimes on steps carved into the hillside. It went first through wooded areas and then the terrain changed to grassy areas with tough grasses as tall as I. The trail fell off steeply on both sides of the ridge peak along which I walked. It was a bit eerie not to be able to see anything of the valleys that I knew were below, between me and the sea. I encountered no one at all for the 2+ hours I walked along the ridge tops but it's not bad being alone up there because it's a well-marked trail and I had left a note at home telling them where I was going.
I kept climbing and eventually reached the peak of Tai Mo Shan, a mountain 3100' high. It was really windy there and at times I had trouble keeping my balance. The clouds being driven across the ridge kept my face dripping wet from condensation and made the trail muddy in places and the rocks slippery. Several times the walking stick kept me from falling.
Near the peak there are several radio and antenna installations so coming down the opposite side was along a narrow roadway. I hadn't expected to meet anyone there either, but once walking beside one of the installations hidden off to the side in the clouds, I could hear voices and hammering, and several trucks with workers passed me on their way up to the top.
On the way down, I got below the clouds about the 1500' level and it was neat to see the beautiful valleys spread out below. For the first time since I've been in Hong Kong, I got to see a little airport near Sai Kung, near the border with China. It had been built after the war as a training base by the British military but was never used except for small private aircraft training, because the flight path for larger aircraft would have taken them across the border which China wouldn't allow.
At the bottom of the trail, Stage 8 ended at a developed area of the park with a concession stand, a play area, exhibits, and toilets. I looked around a bit, and noted that the time was 2:35 PM. My pedometer indicated 13.1 miles from the starting point, but I would believe that figure is way off because of the ups and downs of the trails.

Maclehose Trail (Stages 9 and 10)

The plan for today was to start hiking at the Shing Mun Reservoir where I ended my hike westward along the Maclehose Trail last week. It seems the hardest part of each hike is getting to the starting point because I am not familiar with those areas and the buses that serve them. I took the MTR (subway) to Tsuen Wan and then--after twenty minutes of looking around the area--found the #51 bus that heads north on Route Twisk.
The bus ride north is continually uphill and the bus pulls over often to let other traffic by. Coming down the hill, the bus is required to stop at every bus stop, whether people want to get on or off there, to make sure that the driver has the bus under control. On the coin collection box as I entered the bus, there was a sign in Chinese that only three standing passengers would be allowed on the bus at any one time. I'm not sure of the reason for that restriction but it is probably related to the steep route.
It took about 1½ hours to get to Tai Mo Shan park where I finished hiking last week, and I got going on the trail at 1015 with the pedometer reading 2.12 miles. Almost immediately the trail started climbing and I was back in the clouds like last week but they were not so thick and I could still see below me. And during the day, the clouds started dissipating and the sun was even trying to poke through late in the afternoon.
The trail markers along these stages have a metal tag set showing the trail position number on top of a concrete post. I think they are a test tag because they were not on other stages of the trail. These have a three-digit number space on them, but it's in the format of a digital watch number, with the different sections that are used to show the digits from 0-9. The appropriate sections of each digit are filled in with yellow paint. I think they're a failure. They are almost impossible to read unless within a foot of them, and as the paint wears away, they will be fully unreadable.
Stage 9 was a real disappointment. The entire stage was along a new paved road within the country park. It went through some beautiful areas along the ridge tops, often with heavy growths of trees around, but walking on a concrete road is not my style.
I got to the end of Stage 9 at noon, checked my map, and kept going on Stage 10. The trail changed immediately as it started around the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir, becoming a dirt trail through the woods around the lake. A welcome relief! About 1300 I ate my peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich by the lake, and then resumed walking quickly because I was worried about getting to the end of Stage 10 by 1600-1700 because I had a meeting at 1830 back at Lok Fu.
There were 8 or 10 small islands in the reservoir and I thought of them as possible campsites if I can ever get some of the deaf people experienced enough as hikers to go out overnight. We might be able to take a small inflatable boat with us and sleep on an island. I'll have to check the laws about camping in the HK country parks.
Some of the hilltops were burned off by hill fires. Most of the trees were gone and new growth was taking over. Those might also be possible campsites because there is almost no level space for sleeping on the hillsides. Maybe the ridges would provide some spot that is out of the way but level enough.
A high-tension power line crossed over the trail at one point, and it was strange because as I passed two or three pylons, I could hear some sort of buzzing, like an electrical short circuit. Since it was on more than one tower, I'm sure it was intentional but I've never heard that kind of static from a transmission system. Another sound that confused me for a bit was a heavy engine off in the distance. I couldn't figure out what it was but then saw a helicopter with a water bucket flying back and forth between another part of the lake and over a ridge where I guess there was a hill fire although I never saw any smoke.
About 1400 the dirt trail ran into another road and it was back on the concrete for the rest of the afternoon. The country parks in the northwest New Territories are really well-developed so there are a lot of roads. For the last several miles, the trail left the road and followed a catchwater, a concrete channel cut along a hillside to take water into a reservoir. This one was especially big and the path beside it was actually a road. There were some really neat views of Tuen Mun and the sea from up on the hillsides, however, so it wasn't too bad.
Finally at 1500 I came to the end of the trail and followed a steep path down series of steps to the area along the sea in the New Territories town of Tuen Mun. I went through several small villages and clumps of houses on the way down. From there I caught a bus back to the MTR to end another day of hiking. The pedometer reading at the end of the trail in Tuen Mun was 17.69 miles. The map indicated the distance was a total of 21.9 kilometers (13.14 miles) and should take 7½ hours. I did it in 4:45 hours.

Pak Tam Chung Nature Trail

I got a late start today so I decided to check out some minor trails near the High Island Reservoir in northeastern Hong Kong. I took the MTR (subway) to Choi Hung and then the #92 bus to Sai Kung where I caught the #94 bus heading still farther north toward the Chinese border. I got off at the visitors centre and walked across the road to where the trails begin.
The nature trail there is an easy family-type walk heading south toward the sea. It has numbered posts along the way to help in identifying various types of trees. At post #21 the trail goes up the hill and doubles back toward its starting point, paralleling the first part of the trail which is along the river bank. I continued on southwards, though, on another trail, hoping to cross the little peninsula on several minor trails that appeared on the map.
I passed several abandoned, half-sunk boats along one stretch of the trail that skirted a bay of the sea, and then ran into a stack of kayaks that at first seemed abandoned also. Shortly past them, though, there was a small grouping of two or three houses that are probably the nucleus of a boat-rental business during the summer months.
Past the houses, the trail got rougher and at times completely overgrown. Another village grouping of four small cottages appeared out of the undergrowth, but the buildings were in an advanced stage of collapse. Shortly beyond them, I sat on the banks of a small creek to eat my sandwich, but when I crossed the creek to continue, I immediately ran into a fork in the trail with a "No Entry" sign blocking farther progress on both sides. I don't know why the signs--from the Agriculture and Fisheries Department--are there, but I thought today I would respect them so I doubled back to the #21 post on the nature trail and started following it uphill back to its origin. I did take one small deviation that led me through a camping area which I wanted to check out for possible future use with the deaf group.
Back at the bus stop, I decided to take the first bus that came along, either farther away from town to Wong Shek Pier, or back to Sai Kung where I had caught the #94 bus in the morning. I had never been to Wong Shek Pier and didn't know if there was an active ferry there or where it went, so I was glad to see that bus arrive first.
Wong Shek Pier turns out to be at the end of peninsula jutting northwards into Mirs Bay, with China on the other side of the bay. Apparently it gets quite a few people there because there were several old ladies in kaidos--small Chinese-style power boats used as taxis--ready to take people to various spots on the nearby islands and along the coast. There is also a snack shop there next to the bus terminus. And most exciting, I found that the Wong Shek ferry goes out to Tap Mun Island, a mile out into the bay. That will be one of my next destinations for exploration.

Wilson Trail (Stage 4)

I walked this same section of the Wilson Trail three weeks ago to check it out for our deaf group. Today I walked it again, mainly concentrating on the bus routes getting to and from the beginning and end of Stage 4.
We'll be leaving from our Homantin mass centre on Sunday to make this hike, so we can take the #113 bus to Choi Hung and there transfer to either the #91, #91M, or #92 buses for the fifteen-minute ride along Clear Water Bay Road to where it intersects with the Wilson Trail.
As I started the trail today, I noticed again how bad the signage is for someone attempting that section of trail. Mostly the signs are just not there. Even after walking that section two times before, I hesitated a couple times today at various intersections as the trail wound through a little village of randomly situated concrete houses on the valley floor.
For more detail of hiking conditions on this stage, check the hike description following this one (1 October 1998). That time I encountered many people on the trail. Today I ran into only two people--and one wild pig! I didn't know before that we had any wild pigs in Hong Kong, but I certainly know it now. I was walking through a heavily forested section just after the trail left the valley and started climbing over a ridge. Suddenly I heard a loud snorting and crashing in the bush off to the side of the trail, and there was a 300-400 lb boar staring at me just 50 feet away. It looked just like one of those razorbacks that are mascots for the University of Arkansas! Both of us had surprised each other, but it didn't inspire him to flight at all. I just stood and watched him to see what move he would make, but after about a minute or two, I decided to proceed and put some distance between us. The boar then turned to face me head on, but I just kept on going, checking all around for large rocks and climbable trees in case I needed refuge. Later along the trail I saw places where the boar had been rooting in the ground looking for roots to eat.
I also saw my first larger snake today, one about two feet long on the edge of a catchwater. I scared him, too, and he moved into the water and tried to hide beneath some grasses growing along the edge. Usually the snakes I see are only 10-12 inches--and very dead after being run over.
Because I had walked this section of trail before, I thought about branching off and following a minor trail along some ridge tops back toward Choi Hung. I found where the trail left the Wilson Trail and headed out toward the top of Middle Peak, but soon I realized that this was another area where I shouldn't be alone. The trail was not particularly dangerous, but if anything happened, it would be a while before anyone found me. On either side of the trail, it fell away almost straight down for 500-600 feet along very steep grassy slopes. There would be nothing to stop a fall until hitting the wooded areas below. I went to the top of Middle Peak but then turned around and took an alternate path back along the shoulder of the ridge instead of continuing over Kowloon Peak to Choi Hung. Next time I'll get someone to go with me. On a clear day, that should be a spectacular hike.

Wilson Trail (Stage 4)

The purpose of today's hike was to check out a section of trail that I hope the deaf group can hike later in October. I selected Stage 4 of the Wilson Trail (the north-south trail) because it's in Kowloon, relatively easy to get to from our center, and can be hiked in an afternoon.
I took the MTR (our subway) to Choi Hung, and then the 91M bus along Clear Water Bay Road to where it intersects the Wilson Trail. The first part of the trail is through a small village with narrow concrete sidewalk "roads" leading here and there along a narrow valley floor. I got confused going through it today just as I had been confused when I walked that stage in the past. The signs marking the trail are terrible or non-existent there, and I reminded myself to write to the Agriculture and Fisheries Department about it.
Once past the little village, the trail heads into the woods on the valley hillsides and heads straight up. At least it is a dirt path and the thick forest offers a welcome shade. The trail, once it hits the top of the ridge, though, descends on the other side--still in the trees--partly along a watercourse, and the path itself is rough and uneven.
After about twenty minutes it joins a small paved road leading to Tai Lam Wu village in the woods rather in the middle of nowhere. The trail stays with the road for about fifteen minutes, and then heads even higher up into the hills. The hike today was notable because on this holiday--China's national day, the equivalent of the US's Fourth of July, I encountered more people on the trail than I have met in all of the past year of my Thursday hikes. In one area I was reflecting that the steep descent over uneven rocks might be too difficult for the deaf people when a group of eight elderly white-haired men and women came chugging up the hill and moved right on!
The trail comes out of the forested area in about ten minutes, and from then on, the rest of the hike is in the open, along the hilltops and ridges covered with thick tall grass constantly moving in a steady wind. When I reached the Tate's Pass, I got off the path and went around to the sea side of a peak and sat and ate lunch and enjoyed the view for about forty-five minutes.
Shortly after that, the dirt trail runs into Shatin Pass Road at a shelter and observation point. About 8 or 9 people were flying radio-controlled planes in the steady updrafts blowing over the peak. From there the road starts descending toward the area where I live, along the side of a ridge that runs parallel to Kowloon. The view is tremendous and today it was especially interesting to see the deserted old airport 1500' below. This part of the trail is quite easy because it's all paved, and there are even some small shops for soft drinks and ice cream at an intersection where a road comes up from Kowloon below.
I followed the access road down and ended up in Chuk Yuen where I caught the local bus back to my home. I got off the bus this morning at the beginning of the stage at 10:30 AM and got back on the bus for home at 2:00 PM.

Wilson Trail (Stage 8)

The Wilson Trail is the newest of HK's major trails and runs north and south, from the Chinese border in Kowloon to Stanley on the south side of HK Island. The plan for today was to walk part of Stage 8 and all of Stage 9 and maybe Stage 10.
I took the KCR, the commuter train, to Tai Wo and located the pedestrian underpass where the trail goes under the railroad tracks. Previously I had started there and headed generally south. Today I headed north in an area I had not hiked before.
At the railroad track underpass I found the first sign pointing toward the Wilson Trail, but at the third one, as the way to the trail led through the streets of an urban area, the signs failed me. I spent 45 minutes looking first in one direction and then in another before I accidentally found where the trail actually began. It seems that finding the trail heads of the different stages is a recurring problem. And even after I found a marker and sign post for the trail at the end of a street abutting on a wooded hillside, the trail itself was nowhere to be seen. I followed what looked like an impression in the waist-high grasses ahead of me and ended up part way up the hillside in a grave area where several large earthen-ware pots of human bones were half buried. That was a dead end so I backtracked to my starting point, checked to be sure that the sign post was permanent and hadn't been manually rotated (it was set in concrete), and then look for any other markings that might indicate a trail through the grass. I found a faint trace leading up the hill and found that the grass there actually was covering a set of cement steps up the hill. The steps were totally invisible. I took photos of the area to illustrate a letter I want to write to the government department that manages the trails.
The trail opened up a bit as it went into the woods and became a muddy dirt path that climbed steadily toward the northeast. Soon I was on top of the ridge, following the backbone. To either side of me were visible Tolo Harbor and the Tai Po new town with all its high rises, now far below me. Clouds from below were being blown up the hillsides and over the ridge ahead of me.
Today was the hottest and most humid--and the most uncomfortable--day that I've been hiking. I started off tired and after just two hours--with the prospect of a really extended hike to the end of Stage 9 or 10, I was considering looking for a shortcut that would take me from the trail to some public transportation. I reached one of the first peaks and sat down to rest on the base of a survey marker. That felt good, and even better was the cool rain that started falling after a few minutes there. That revived me and I put my camera in a plastic bag and continued on.
The trail followed the crest of a series of ridges and I was rejoicing that the trail was real dirt--actually mud because of the overnight rains, but then, going over one of the ridges, I saw construction on the trail ahead. Seven or eight men and women--they looked like mainland Chinese--were laying a concrete sidewalk and putting steps into the steepest portions of the trail. Ughh....
Shortly beyond the end of the construction, the trail ran into a narrow paved service road leading to a TV relay transmitter on the top of Cloud Hill which has an elevation of 1360 feet above sea level. I ate my sandwich there and decided I'd take the shortcut home so I headed toward the village of Sha Lo Tung down in the valley. It took about thirty minutes to descend, and it was an uncomfortable stretch because once I got away from the crest of the ridges with its wind, the heat and humidity was really oppressive.
At the bottom I continued on another paved road which eventually led me through the larger village of Fung Yuen, actually a part of the urban area of Tai Po. The area is a good example of the degradation of the land and community there in the New Territories, with construction company depots, bus garages, container storage, and other unsightly developments mingled in with rather expensive tiled homes that families have built on their ancestral lands.
On the main road, I caught the 75K bus that took me to the Tai Po railway station and I was home in an hour.

Lantau Island

Lantau Trail--Stage 1 / To Tung Chung

map

Today I began coverage of the Lantau Trail, a trail that runs east and west on Lantau Island, the largest of HK's islands. The plan was to start at Mui Wo where the trail begins, follow the trail for part of Stage 1, and then leave the trail and head north to new Tung Chung, the town at the site of the new Chek Lap Kok airport.
I had my usual problems getting to the head of the trail. I hurried to the Outlying Ferry Piers in Central, on Hong Kong Island, to catch the 9:30 AM ferry to Mui Wo on Lantau. In my rush, I didn't notice that I dashed through the gate for the Cheung Chau ferry. When I saw the ferry pulling out at 9:20, I realized something was wrong. By that time, the Mui Wo ferry on the other side of the pier had finished loading and closed the entrance gates. Luckily a helpful ferry ticket-taker gave me my money back and directed me two piers down to another ferry--the high-speed one, at 2½ times the price of the slow ferry--which left at 9:40 PM.
At Mui Wo I checked the large maps at the pier, got a couple brochures from the country parks information office there, and headed out on Stage 1 of the Lantau Trail. This first stage starts uphill right away on the major road leading to the western end of the island. I climbed for 30 minutes and finally found the juncture where the trail left the road and headed inland. I stopped to rearrange my backpack before heading on, and there was a strange animal sound from the other side of the road, rather like a dog's bark, but always just a single yelp. I have never heard a dog bark like that so maybe it was a large monkey of some sort. It was a bit eerie.
Upon leaving the road, which had been constantly climbing, the path began going up even more steeply. This first part was all steps, made from stones fitted into the dirt trail to prevent erosion. It was rough enough that it was easy to walk, meaning almost anything is better than hiking on smooth, irregular stairs like in a building.
The day was overcast, with sun predicted for later in the afternoon, and when I got up to about the 1700' level, I was in the clouds. The higher I went, the denser the mist got, and most of the next two hours had a visibility of only 20-30 feet. The moisture is visible and blows across the ridges in strong gusts, coating my clothes and pack and gradually getting everything wet. I didn't see anything below me again until I descended below the clouds on the other side of the ridge, when I was just 25 minutes from Tung Chung.
Hong Kong is full of butterflies and some species are visible all year round. Today was no exception, especially in the wooded areas. I was surprised to see so many flying cockroaches in the woods also. I haven't noticed them before, but the section of woods where I was today was very wet and so may have provided a special habitat for this species. Climbing through the mists, I started noticing large cow pies, quite fresh, and began watching for the wild cows. The trails at that point were quite rocky and rough, with drop-offs of several hundred feet on the side, and I didn't want a cow and I to surprise each other and the cow bolt and knock me over the edge.
I had started out at 10:30 AM from Mui Wo, and it was 12:30 PM when I got to the junction where a path left the Lantau Trail and headed north toward Chek Lap Kok. I stopped and ate my sandwich there, and then headed down hill. A prominent sign warned that the trail ahead was very slippery, and it was. On top of the ridge, the trail was in the open, passing through large rocks and tall grass, but now it went back into the woods that apparently never dry out. Several times my walking stick kept me from taking a fall.
At 2:00 PM I was at the bottom of that trail, where it ran into a small access road that led into civilization. Just a few minutes before hitting the road, I came out of the clouds and was able to see the new airport stretched out before me in the sea where Chek Lap Kok island was leveled off. The hills there are extremely steep and several water falls plunged 50-100 feet. They should be really neat when there's more rain.
I walked the road into the area where the new town is being built to accommodate the people and the commerce connected with the new airport. A great deal of infrastructure is still incomplete although the airport opening is set for 6 July. I walked both ways along the road just to get a feel for where I was, and then headed to the Tung Chung town center where I could catch a bus. There used to be only a single, infrequent bus to the small village of Tung Chung, but now large double-deckers run every 5-10 minutes to various destinations on the Kowloon mainland. I could have caught a bus almost directly back to my house, but that would have ended my day off too soon, so I took a bus back to the Mui Wo pier instead and rode the ferry back to Hong Kong Island. All in all it was about a five-hour trek that covered about 7 miles. Great day!

Lantau Trail--Stage 4

A Louisville priest returning from Vietnam passed through Hong Kong, and he and I hiked part of the Lantau Trail today. We took the ferry to Mui Wo and then the #2 bus to Nong Ping, the site of the Po Lin Monastery and the big Buddha statue. We took the usual hike up to the Buddha and walked around the base of the statue where there are six other statues of Buddha's attendants offering various objects.
Then we found markers for the Lantau Trail on a small road off the main bus parking lot. I had never been back that road which goes past a tea plantation that I did not know even existed until today. There are one or two restaurants along the narrow road but they were closed today. Probably on weekends they do a good business, especially since they offer dishes like lemon chicken which you can't get at the all-vegetarian dining hall in the monastery complex.
These are six attendants surrounding the base of the Buddha statue. I'm not sure what they really represent.
The monastery is a good point to join the trail because the temples is at about 1200' altitude already. Avoiding that much of a climb is significant because from Po Lin the trail goes straight up the hillside--in typical HK fashion--to the top of the ridge. Most of the steep climb is on rocks set into the path as steps in a very natural formation.
We passed ten people today, a huge number for a non-weekend trip, and we noted that only two of them were local Chinese--and they were the last ones we saw during the day.
Lantau Island runs east-west and the ridge is right down the middle of the island so the views from the top are spectacular. The highest peak on the island is Lantau Peak at 3030 feet. It took us two hours to reach the top along a path marked "maximum difficult" on the map. From the peak the trail started back down as the ridge line slowly sloped toward Pak Kung Pass. On the right, to the south, we could see the inhabited islands of HK and the ship channel to Macau with high-speed ferries constantly plying back and forth. To the north we came in sight of the new airport and could appreciate the size of the manmade island, now the third largest in the 400 that make up the former colony.
The nice part of the trip was that there was no concrete. There were too many steps up and down the steepest part of the slopes, but it was manageable. Steps are bad because they require constant attention because they are not even and regular because of their stone construction. Going down becomes just as difficult as the ascent.
When we arrived at Pak Kung Pass, we waited on the road there for less than two minutes before an air-conditioned bus came by, heading for the Mui Wo, so we hopped on and traveled the last 40 minutes in comfort that was greatly appreciated after the brilliant sun and high humidity during the day.

Lantau Island

Lantau Trail--Stages 7 & 8

I had never hiked Stages 7 and 8 of the Lantau Trail mostly because they are the sections farthest away from everything else in Hong Kong and because they have to be done together because there is no access to public transportation at the junction between the two sections. I decided this was the day, and left at 7:45 AM to catch first the subway to the ferry piers, then the slow ferry to Lantau Island, and then the #11 bus to Tai O, the westernmost settlement in HK.
Tai O is an historic place with its own quaint charm and style. It is noted--and has been for centuries--for its salted fish, renowned throughout Asia. It also has a settlement of houses built on stilts along the tidal mud flats along the creek running into the sea at that point. Until last year, the only way to cross the large creek was on a hand-drawn sampan that two old ladies pulled back and forth for a few pennies per person. Modernity caught up with Tai O, though, and now there is a new footbridge spanning the creek.
When I arrived in Tai O (the blue dot on the map) at 10:15 AM, I went to check out the footbridge (I hadn't seen it before) and then cut through some old salt flats (Tai O's other old claim to fame) that are now being reclaimed. One large section of the flats have already become a community soccer pitch.
Across the flats, I found signs pointing to the Lantau Trail but was disappointed to see that the trail there was a wide sidewalk, my least favorite type of trail. Putting up with the pavement was made easier by the spectacular scenery there at the end of the (Hong Kong) world as the trail goes through a lightly wooded area as it follows the coastline south. Progress is catching up with that area, too, and there were five or six backhoes and groups of workmen reinforcing and raising the sidewalk over a two- or three-kilometer stretch.
At the end of the construction there was reason for rejoicing as the trail became an ancient "boulder trackway," large stones (boulders) set in the ground more than a century ago to create the first permanent path along the coast for the villagers who made a living there by fishing. At this point the trail goes inland and uphill with some wonderful views of the sea toward the Pearl River estuary--and the ever present police launch a mile offshore, watching for small craft smuggling mainlanders into HK.
In this area I noted several spots that would make good overnight camping areas. There were also four or five official government camp grounds along the coast today, more than usual. They are in an especially beautiful area and it has a unique appeal because it is also so far away from the usual HK crowds and takes more effort to get there so that the area is relatively lightly used.
The southernmost tip of the peninsula is called Fan Lau which means "division of the flows" because on one side is the muddy waters coming out of China in the Pearl River and on the other is the clear, blue ocean waters. The confluence of the two streams of water can easily be seen in the sea from the vantage point of the trail in the hills.
Also at Fan Lau is an old fort, built in 1729 according to ancient Chinese records which used to guard the shipping channel into the Pearl River from the notorious pirates which controlled the sealanes in the area for a long period. And in 1980, on a hillside right above a large coastal temple, a circle of stones 4 feet by 6 feet was found and identified as a New Stone Age creation, probably used in some ritual. To me they looked like any other stones that I see all over the HK hills, arranged around various ancestral graves. I guess my inability to distinguish between a one-hundred year old grave and a Stone Age ceremonial site is why I am a priest and not an archeologist!
I ate lunch (my sandwich and a Coke) hunkered down behind some rocks and low trees at the Fan Lau Fort where the wind was sweeping mightly across the point. Then I headed out again, now moving to the east and north. The first part of the trail from fort led down to the seashore, a beautiful broad beach at that point, totally devoid of people and civilization except for one little concrete blockhouse that was probably a government building for some purpose in the past.
From the beach the trail climbed steadily, reaching an elevation of several hundred feet where it intersected a catchwater, a concrete channel running along the hillside to collect rain water and feed it into the Shek Pik reservoir. Catchwaters always have a concrete path beside them for the maintenance crews so it was back to the pavement for the last few kilometers until I reached the main road at the west end of the dam creating the Shek Pik reservoir.
Upon reaching the road (the purple dot on the map), I had walked about 11.5 miles today. From there I caught the #23 bus to Tung Chung, the new town next to the airport, and from there I caught the airport bus back to the Lok Fu neighborhoo.

Tung Chung (new airport) to Tai O

Had a tough time deciding where to hike today. I have been out to Lantau Island several times recently so I was leaning toward hiking in northern Kowloon, in the New Territories close to the Chinese border. But then there was an article in the paper two days ago about hikers being robbed by illegal immigrants from China who hide out in the hills during the day and then make their way toward the lights of Kowloon by night. The deaf people are always warning me about them but I've never considered it a serious danger because I've always figured the IIs (as their known here) wouldn't want to make contact and give away their positions. The article said, though, that their hunger and need for money overrides their caution. So I decided to go back out to the island!
To make it different, I took the MTR (our subway) all the way out to Tung Chung, the little village now being turned into a major city near the new airport. I had previously hiked to Tung Chung and had also taken the bus there, but had never tried the new subway line. It turned out to be pretty good, and surprisingly, the $15.0 cost was less than the $18.0 for the bus coming back.
I had bought a Friends of the Earth guide to Lantau Island a couple days ago and decided to try it out. It points out many interesting and historical places throughout the island and is a good piece of work. It shows a major trail leading from Tung Chung to Tai O, the western-most outpost in all of Hong Kong, but finding the beginning of the trail was a nightmare. It should have taken maybe fifteen minutes to do the first part of the trail from the MTR station to the picturesque 18th-century Hau Wong Temple, but because of the massive construction creating the new town of Tung Chung, there was no obvious access to the trail. I had to wander around the perimeter of the construction site--which stretches for a mile or so--until I could get back into the countryside and double back to where I intersected the trail. Getting to the temple took me an hour and a half.
The Hau Wong Temple used to look across the open waters north of Lantau Island. Now it looks at the airport platform built out into the sea. A small channel around the airport maintains--just barely--Chek Lap Kok's status as an island but most observers would not even know that the airport is not part of the mainland now.
It was in this small channel that today I saw my first pink dolphin, the symbol of Hong Kong. It is estimated that there are only 85-120 of these creatures left now. The new airport was built right in the middle of their breeding grounds and they are still under great pressure from pollution, over-fishing, and the boat traffic now routed through their area, even though it has been designated a marine park. It was rather exciting to finally see one!
The trail today is an old coastal track that has probably existed for literally hundreds of years. Kilns have been found along that section of the coast that date back to the 1200s. Disappointingly, though, almost the whole trail is paved today, a concrete sidewalk. The natural surroundings are beautiful--the grasslands, rocky coasts, steep sloping hills, mudflats, forests, and the sea--but it ruins it to walk on a sidewalk like going through an amusement park.
There are many historical sites along the trail and several small villages that can be explored also if time permits. Friends of the Earth has done a great job with their guidebook to Lantau Island. (If only I hadn't messed mine up with a leaky water bottle that soaked it!)
A lot of the history of the northwest end of the island revolves around pirates which were a real problem there even into the beginning of the 20th century. Several forts and outposts were constructed to offer protection both to the villagers and to the shipping entering the main HK channels there.
The whole trip from Tung Chung to Tai O takes about 4-5 hours--more if little side trips are taken to explore forts and villages and beaches--but it is a worthwhile trip. Tai O itself is a really special place in Hong Kong. Hundreds of families in the village live in stilt houses set up over the tidal flats, and the many nets spread around the docks and streets attest to the village's fishing history and tradition.
From Tai O I took a 45-minute bus ride back to Tung Chung, and then the 45-minute bus back across to the Kowloon mainland, over the incomparably beautiful bridges with their views of HK Island.

Pui O To Tung Chung (new airport)

The air pollution has been terrible in HK the past few days and a chance to get away from the urban area with its vehicles plus a chance to get above the smog in hills led me back to Lantau Island. This time I got up early and caught the 0830 ferry and arrived at Mui Wo at 0930. On the boat I realized I had forgotten to bring my hat and also to leave a note where I was going today. Yesterday I told the cook I was going hiking and would not be home for supper, but didn't tell her where I would be. As soon as I got off the ferry, I jumped on the #7 Lantau bus to Pui O and when I arrived there (the turnaround point of last week's hike), I called the Maryknoll office about some other business and also told them where I would be--in case I didn't come back.
Stage 11 of the Lantau Trail begins at Pui O and follows the main road for about half a kilometer before heading up into the hills, a steep climb on rock steps set naturally into the hillside without concrete. The area is forested with trees about 6-8 inches in diameter so it's probably been 15-20 years since it has been burned over.
Finally the trail levels off and heads west along a dirt path through an area of steep hills and rugged grass. After about 30 minutes, it changes into a catchwater road, a maintenance road that runs alongside a five-foot deep concrete catchwater that collects rainwater runoff from the mountains and channels it to reservoirs. That was easy walking, and actually that paved section is also a designated bicycle trail.
I was looking for a path that would lead off to the right and head up higher into the mountains but because the catchwater was on the right side of the road, I never saw anything and eventually reached the end of Section 11 where it meets Tung Chung Road. I turned north on this main road and headed higher into the mountains.
After about a 30-minute uphill climb, I intersected the Lantau Trail again (it's a 42-mile loop that starts at the eastern end of Lantau at Mui Wo, goes to Tai O in the west, and then doubles back at a higher altitude along the ridges.) Three policemen were there, waiting for a bus. They had just finished a patrol along the section of trail I was starting, Stage 2 heading east. The elevation at the juncture of Tung Chung Road and Stage 2 is about 1000 feet. The trail immediately started up toward Sunset Peak
The upward track was continuous and quite tiring. I took regular breaks because the sun wasn't brilliant because of the haze, but it was hot. The higher I went the more the trees and shrubs disappeared until finally it was all steep grassy hilltops.
Arriving at Sunset Peak, suddenly coming over a ridge, was a bit spooky. There in front of me, stretched out along the ridge for a kilometer, were 25 or so squat stone houses, some with attached water tanks. All were constructed of the same quarried stone with a flat roof slightly sloped for collecting rain water into the tanks. All had windows with the same closed shutters. But there was no one around and no indication of the purpose of the houses. There is nothing on top of the peak except steep hills and valleys covered with sturdy tall grass. The sea is visible 2700 feet below across intervening valleys. It would be hard to imagine these houses as a holiday camp and they are not built like the hundreds of small Chinese villages that dot the rural landscape of Hong Kong. Someone put them together on top of the peak for a purpose but it escapes me what it could be. About in the middle of the houses, set in no order along the peak, there was a water spigot sticking out of the ground. And it worked. So did an outdoor shower built onto the back of one building. But there were no signs of any toilets. Strange.
Just several hundred feet beyond the last of the houses on the summit, the Wang Lung Hang Trail led down to Tung Chung. I had walked that trail before, approaching it then from the east rather than the west. It's a very steep trail marked with signs that it is extremely slippery. It certainly was the last time but now it had dried up some. The dangerous part is five minutes after it branches off the Lantau Trail and goes into a heavily wooded area where the sunlight never hits the ground. The trail is extremely rough there as it descends over large rough rocks set in some semblance of steps. The moss is permanent on the rocks and even though it hasn't rained for a week or so, there was water trickling along the trail.
After about 30 minutes, the trail, always descending, comes back into grassy steep terrain at about the 1500-foot level. The hillsides surrounding the valley are incredibly steep, with faces that drop 600-800 feet straight down. The trail is very tedious, too, with a constant descent on very high stepdowns on large rocks. Because the descent is so precipitous, you cannot just walk but must take one step at a time, putting both feet on each rock before stepping down to the next one. I would never want to hike UP that trail!
At the bottom of the valley, after an hour's descent over 2200 feet, the trail ends on Wang Lung Hang Road which leads into Tung Chung, the new town created around the new airport. Construction is everywhere. I went to the town center and caught the airport bus that leads to my neighborhood across the new bridges that now link Lantau to the Kowloon mainland.

Mui Wo To Chi Ma Wan Peninsula

The plan today was to hike around the Chi Ma Wan peninsula, a part of Lantau Island that juts into the major shipping channels between Hong Kong and Macau. I got a late start, however, because I began downloading the latest version of Netscape as soon as I got up, and it took 1:20 hours to complete with the result that I arrived for the 0930 Lantau ferry at 0940. The ferry ride is an hour so I finally got to Mui Wo on Lantau at 1130 and headed out.
I had walked the Lantau Trail--on top of the ridges--westward from Mui Wo before, so this time I wanted to stay along the sea and check out the numerous trails marked on the maps as I headed for Chi Ma Wan.
There were three distinct areas of growth along the trail today. First, near Mui Wo, there were steep, rough grassy hillsides without any large vegetation except for the hardy seagrass. Probably hill fires in the past year or two had removed everything more substantial. The second type of area was larger secondary growth where the environment was starting to recover from being burned over by hill fires. Here where there had been 3-5 years of uninterrupted growth, heavy underbrush--up to my shoulder--and small saplings were making a strong recovery. The third areas were the hillsides that have been regrowing for perhaps 10-15 years. Here the trees, many of them deciduous (hardwood) are five to six inches in diameter and 40-50 feet tall.
As I skirted the sea coast, the old trails ran through several small villages, usually 3-5 concrete cottages in various states of repair and occupancy. Some were obviously abandoned, some were locked up but livable, and in a few I saw and heard residents. These families have probably lived in those spots for many generations. Most would have electricity but no running water or telephones.
I was surprised at the number of dogs I encountered today, especially along the rocky coast. I expect to find them near the clusters of isolated houses, but they were more widespread today--and so aggressive that I finally got my hunting knife out of my backpack and put it on my belt in case my walking stick would not be enough to keep them at bay.
Another fact of life along these isolated trails amid really rugged hills are helipads! There are no roads back in some of these areas and to get fire fighters and emergency medical teams inland, the government has built helicopter landing pads in really remote areas. It's sometimes a bit jarring to progress through really heavy rainforest undergrowth and suddenly stumble out into a paved area marked with a big yellow "H".
Going along the coast, when I entered one little cluster of houses, I could not immediately see where the trail continued on the other side. I went down to the water's edge to climb along the rocks there until I picked it up again, but getting too near the water I slipped on some wet rocks and went crashing down into a tidal pool. I banged my camera into the rocks and then submerged it for an instant (and found later that I have knocked the aperture mechanism out of whack), but I also cut my finger on one of the rocks. Normally I would think nothing of that, but right now we are constantly being warned about a flesh-eating bacteria that has just been identified as coming from the sea. The health department has been warning anyone with wounds to keep them out of sea water and encourages anyone handling fresh fish to wear gloves. The bacteria, when it hits, works quickly so I should know by morning if I have it. The doctors blame its recent occurrence on El Nino, of course.
From the place where I fell I could not find the path, but I knew it was farther up the hillside, paralleling the coast so I choose what seemed the less steep incline and started up cross-country. Normally I don't do that when alone, but it was only 150 feet or so to the path and I was taking it slowly. The going was really quite rough, through brush as tall as I with a lot of thick ferns and grasses covering the irregular terrain. Several times I fell and immediately was out of sight from above as the vegetation closed over me.
Three weekends ago, a young Frenchmen working in HK went hiking on a Sunday while his wife and two daughters were out of HK. He didn't show up for work on Monday morning and searchers found his car near Castle Peak, a rugged area in Kowloon. They still haven't found him, however. HK is very deceiving that way. You can see 40-story housing estates in the near distance but be surrounded by extremely dense sub-tropical rain forest. It's surmised that he went off the main trails cross-country--a no-no when a hiker is alone--and then fell into a ravine or something. His wife and daughters have since returned to France after the search was officially ended. Probably his body will turn up later in the "winter" season when a lot of the vegetation changes or it might be a year or more before he's found.
It took much longer to follow the sea coast than I had anticipated, and by the time I got to Chi Ma Wan, it was too late to start exploring there. And I was already beat! The temperature was in the high 80°s and the humidity was in the high 80%s. I took a long rest, and then started back toward Mui Wo along the ridge tops, on the Lantau Trail section I had traversed before. Of course I got back to the ferry at 1635, just as the 1630 ferry pulled away from the pier! I waited on the beachfront there, then went to McDonald's for supper at 1700, and finally caught the 1730 ferry back to HK. Great day!

Mui Wo To Tung Chung and Chek Lap Kok

map

This hike started off from the ferry pier at Mui Wo on Lantau Island like the previous hike two weeks ago, but this time I followed the beach a kilometer farther before heading inland. As it left the beach, the trail ran beside a freshwater stream coming down from the hillsides and running across the beach into the sea.
Today's trail was not an officially marked route with government maps and lots of signs for the weekend hikers. I knew an old silver mine entrance was in the area, and I did find that with no problem. Mui Wo in English is known as Silvermine Bay because of this mine which closed down about 1886. The entrance has been preserved but further entry is block by a wall about fifteen feet inside the mine.
I had to explore dead ends several times and sometimes just guess which of the trails before me, at a junction, was the one I wanted on the map. One lady waved me away from her property when what I thought was the trail ended at her gate, but she then guided me to the real trail over the ridge.
Once I found the trail I wanted, it immediately went straight up the side of the ridge, with a lot of concrete steps. These trails are more for commuting by the villagers than for weekend hikers. It was a hot climb through a grassy area that went up and over the low ridge. At the top was a little shelter erected by the Rotary Club that provided some welcome shade.
Once on the other side of the ridge, I quickly ran into an area that had been burned over by a very recent hill fire. Ashes were still on the concrete path and the fire smell lingered in some areas. About 20-30 acres had been burned. Unfortunately the fire hadn't been hot enough or lengthy enough apparently to burn up all the plastic water bottles that had been discarded in the underbrush that now was no more.
Soon after crossing the ridge, the airport came into view as well as Tai Ho Bay. The bay has now become almost a lake because the multi-lane airport highway and rail link has been built across its mouth as the new roads follow the coastline back to Hong Kong. I followed a path that went along the eastern side of the bay to where it ended in a small temple. The map showed the trail continuing past the temple, but there was no sign of it in the heavy woods and underbrush around the building. I suspect that if I had entered the temple grounds and gone out the other side I may have discovered the trail there, but although the temple was empty and the gates unlocked, I didn't want to cut through its grounds without a local person with me.
I backtracked to the other side of the bay and soon found myself following the coastline toward the airport but on a trail halfway up the hillside with the highway and rail link below. All that part is new and a group of Hakka women, with their distinctive straw hats with the black veils, were planting new shrubbery on the newly graded hillsides below me.
Soon after passing the Hakka women, the trail went higher up the hill and back into the woods and away from the coastline. I was surprised to see an old abandoned soccer field--about half the size of a basketball court--appear out of the woods, but then around the next bend of the trail I came upon the abandoned Pak Mong School, deep in the rain forest on a hillside. In addition to the school name painted on the wall facing the trail, were the words "Three Villages" suggesting that it was a school serving three small settlements that themselves have largely disappeared now as the airport has remade the north side of Lantau Island. The rough wooden desks and tables were still in the two-room school house, along with some of the school books and papers that no one ever returned to claim.
Soon I was back in Tung Chung, the new airport town, and made my way to the bus stop. The E22 bus goes very close to Bishop Ford Center in Kowloon so I paid my $18 and hopped aboard, welcoming the air conditioning. The ride is spectacular, going over the new bridges that have become part of HK's landscape in the last three years. They are some of the most beautiful suspension bridges you can imagine and give breath-taking views back to HK Island and the main business area.

Lamma Island

South End of the Island

Today I tackled the south--and bigger--end of Lamma. I landed at Yung Shue Wan, the same place as last time, and headed out of the little town, guided by shouted directions from a young Brit in an English-style pub as I walked by with map in hand and looked quizzically up a side "street."
I walked for six hours through all kinds of terrain, an amazing variety considering it's an island you can walk easily from one end of to the other in half a day. Right outside of Yung Shue Wan it's heavily wooded, on the order of rain forest, with a lot of very green trees and a lot of heavy undergrowth of vines and creepers and bamboo. Then it moves up a few hundred feet above sea level and turns to more grassy areas, some of it over my head. High up on the hills (relatively high, since the highest point is only 350 meters), the grass turns quite brown (it is winter even though the temperature was in the mid 70sF today) and is mixed with stiff shrubs, and the terrain was quite dry and heavily eroded on some slopes.
After leaving the wooded area, I went through some flat land planted in rice and various vegetables. Because the level land is set between hills, on the valley floors, the fields are small and fitted to the contours of the land.
By the time I got to Sok Kwu Wan, the second ferry port on the island, it was lunch time so I sat out on the ferry pier and watched island life while I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cookies. Next to the pier is an area of fish farms, floating structures anchored in the bay, many being tended by their owners who navigate out to them on large chunks of flat styrofoam enclosed in a mesh of chicken wire.
I was surprised how many of the trails marked on my map are now actually concrete sidewalks. The government has been rapidly developing the island's trails apparently, and many of them are now designated "Family Walks." A little too much concrete to suit me.
Once again there were a great number of dogs running loose all over this end of the island, probably a factor of the more rural setting and village life. Chickens were in evidence, too, a week now after the great HK chicken massacre by the government to try and wipe out the source of bird flu.
There were even more graves in evidence today than there were last week. I was constantly stumbling upon isolated ceramic pots half buried in the hillsides as well as the larger armchair graves with their commanding positions near the hilltops, over looking the sea, the most favored of grave sites for the ancestors.
In Tung O, on the far side of the island away from the bigger towns, there were several nice beaches that are relatively undeveloped. On one a western family--a mother and four children--were enjoying a swim although the water was rather cool. From the hilltops, the water at the beaches was clear and showed the color variations of the bottom. There was a lot of plastic bags floating in the water at those beaches but not the great piles of plastic bottles and styrofoam that seemed to mark the eastern shore beaches. There are no shark nets on the island beaches but I've never heard of a shark attack out here.
My goal had been to climb Mount Stenhouse, the highest point on Lamma at 353 meters, and had planned my wanderings to end up near the hill. I started up but realized halfway up, struggling in very rough gullies and loose shale-like surfaces, that I was getting to where I shouldn't be alone. If I had fallen into one of the gullies there, it would have been a while before they would find me. I climbed to the 260 meter mark, according to my topographic map, and took time to rest and meditate there before returning down the same way I had come up. Next time I'll approach the peak from another angle, earlier in the day, and when I have someone with me.
Departure was from Sok Kwu Wan on the ferry back to Central in downtown Hong Kong, and then I finished off the day with a sandwich at Hardee's before heading home.

North End of the Island

Lamma Island, Hong Kong's third largest, lies directly west of Hong Kong Island and controls the two major shipping channels into the main harbour. The normal ferry (HK$9.2) takes about 45 minutes to the little town of Yung Shue Wan but this morning I accidentally got into line for a high-speed ferry trip on a hovercraft ($15.0) that took 25 minutes.
In Yung Shue Wan, I couldn't find a path indicated on the map, so I started off on another "road" that I knew and headed north. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island except for some small tractor-like wagons used for hauling supplies, furniture, garbage, or whatever. The "roads" are really just sidewalks so it is hard to know which part is the main road and which is just a sidewalk leading to someone's house.
The path quickly started climbing and soon I passed the island firehouse where the crew was playing volleyball. Their equipment consists of two small motorized vehicles, one a mini-fire engine about three-feet wide and the other a similar style ambulance.
Throughout the island are hundreds of Chinese-style graves. Richer deceased lie in state in "arm chair" graves, big concrete settings with wings that make them look like big overstuffed chairs. Others, less well endowed, have their remains in big ceramic urns half buried in the earth and covered with an inverted ceramic bowl. In some places signs warn of unseen "grave holes" left from several centuries of burials.
Dogs are all over the island, some domestic, some running wild. They are a constant problem for hikers and I usually carry a stick to make sure I have some protection.
Heading north, the concrete sidewalk turned into a dirt path and went over a major hill toward the sea. After passing the last inhabited dwelling, I continued on the path down to an abandoned stone and cement hut on the rocky coast, in a dense grove of trees, where a sign indicated it had once been a bee farm.
By then it was lunch time so I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some cookies I had brought with me.
Then I headed to the top of the highest hill on the north end of the island, about 420 feet high, but a steep climb. The view from the top overlooks the East Lamma Channel and I watched dozens of ships entering and leaving the harbour.
As I headed back to Yung Shue Wan along the coast, I went through many small villages. Obviously the people there hadn't heard (!?)about the government order that all chickens were to be killed--to stop the spread of the bird flu--because many were still in their coops and others were running loose like they always do.
I didn't pass many people on the trails, but the westerners I saw were a strange bunch. The most normal were a tourist family out exploring the island. The rest were members of Lamma's New Age community which have tended to migrate toward the islands to get away from the big city. I think I was the only western male without frizzy hair and earrings. Their New Age lifestyle couldn't be more of a contrast with the centuries old Chinese traditions around them.
Signs and posters near the village centers where the westerners live amply indicated their leanings and preferences:
- "Seven Point Mind Training" sessions
- The Yoga Room
- "Bring in the New Year with an Herbal (tea) High"
- Rinpoche, the Tibetan Tantric tradition speaker (first time out of Tibet)
- Tai chi for beginners
All in all, a good five hours of hiking through both hills and Chinese villages that pretty well covered the island's northern end.