trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
On advice of the The Inside Guide to Hikes and Walks in Hong Kong booklet distributed free by Hong Kong Tourism, I set off for what they call “Shing Mun Reservoir” (11km) in the New Territories.
It’s easy to get to the trailhead by public transit — except on Sunday afternoons in November when the bus is PACKED. Huge groups were organizing barbecue parties in Shek O Country Park.
I checked in first at the small Tai Mo Shan Country Park Visitor Centre and was greeted by these local critters …
That’s a Barking Deer. Weird.
It’s an easy up from the Visitor Centre on well marked and maintained trails.
But at one point, the trail became a paved road. Not awesome. I opted to detour instead under the peak passing the Youth Hostel. This turned out to be the right decision.
Since I never got to the top of the mountain, I left a Summit Stone in this outcropping, my lunch stop.
Here are my favourite cookies. Buy them.
Once past the hostel, I saw only these two other hikers the rest of the day.
I was off-trail of course, yet some kind of path was flagged all the way down.
It led me to a Chinese graveyard.
Many memorials had tables and stools to welcome visits from surviving family and friends.
Eventually I found my way to a bus stop. And back to the subway. It’s not all that easy to get “lost” in Hong Kong, one of the advantages of an urban hike.
Great adventure. … On my advice another couple from the hostel tried the same thing — and also had FUN times inventing their own route down the mountain.
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