Saturday, July 29, 2017

Shek Lung Stream (石龍坑 )

Duration: 
2 hours, 10km
Difficulty:
8/10. 200m. Light rock climbing, rope climbing, bushwacking


Cel phone coverage: Mostly everywhere

Water needs: 1 liter

Appreciation:
10/10 after a lot of rain when waterfalls are full (as pictured) , 7/10 otherwise. Very tall waterfall.

Transportation:
Bus 234B or 53 from Tsuen Wan West MTR station (Bus terminus on top of station). Return via same bus across the road, or any one of the green minibus stopping at MTRs.


Why it's worth it:

------------------------------
Get off at the Ting Kau stop. 
Go over the bridge behind you
Climb the little "bump" in the road, and take the road to the right...


... that road to the right...




About 15 minutes walk in, you'll see the waterfall which is the stream's entry-point

You need to cross the catch-water on the left of the waterfall, cross the waterfall, and climb-up on the right to bypass it. There's a visible footpath at the top. Then hop back in the stream

You'll reach this nice waterfall (石室瀑) and pool. Most likely will be dry-ish if it has not rained a lot.
Bypass is on the left as pictured. There's a yellow ribbon marking the bypass

The last, big waterfall is the Stone Dragon Waterfall (石龍飛瀑). Bypass is on the right.
The stream section is no more than 500m long

At the top of the bypass, you can go left to reach the top of the waterfall, snap a few pictures and come back. Head right to go back to town
Just follow the path which should be mostly visible throughout, until you reach this concrete catch water...

... which leads you to these stairs which you must take

Back on the service road. Head right and it will get you back to where you started

Head-left and take one of the numerous buses/mini-buses that will take you back to Tsuen Wan


Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Wong Chuck Tsuen to Luk Keng via ancient trail

Duration: 
3.5 hours, 10km
Difficulty:
6/10. 335m elevation during the first hour, down and flat afterwards


Cel phone coverage: Mostly everywhere

Water needs: 1.5 liter

Appreciation: 8/10. Abandoned villages, shaded trail with nice streams.

Transportation:
Bus 75k or 275R (holidays) from Tai Po Market MTR station. Return to Fanling MTR via green minibus 56K.


Why it's worth it:
---------------------
At Tai Po Market MTR, get out of the station and follow the underpass to bus 275R or 75K.
There's signage in the tunnel

Terminus is at Tai Mei Tuk. Go towards Ting Kok Rd and head left.
You will follow Ting Kok Rd for about 0.75km

Nice pond

After 10 minutes walk on Ting Kok Rd, you'll arrive here, at the Plover Cove Visitor Centre. Go up on the road that's goes around the centre, and back...

You'll see the Pat Sin Leng trail signage and map. That's where you start.

20 minutes walk later (1km), you'll reach this cross-road. Head left.

Go straight

Pwetty...

About 1:15min into your hike (4.1km), you'll reach this spot.
Go left (second left), staying on Wilson Trail Section 10.

Abandoned village (Wang Shan Keuk - 橫山脚)

You are 6.5km into your hike and you'll get to this 3 way branch. Go towards Nam Chung (straight).

Then it's easy-peasy; you just follow the directions for Luk Keng

Still...

Still...

Mostly there, just walk straight through village

And there you go. The 56K green minibus stop is right there.
And there's a small restaurant where you can get some snacks while you wait. 56K will get you to Fanling MTR station


Saturday, July 15, 2017

Qiu Feng stream trek (秋楓石澗 )

Duration: 
3 hours (more if you are going to take swimming breaks), 4km
Difficulty:
7/10. The waterfalls can be by-passed.


Cel phone coverage: Mostly everywhere

Water needs: 1 liter

Appreciation: 8/10. Best after rainfall. Nice large pools for a swim

Transportation:
96R from Diamond Hill MTR right to Lady MacLehose Holiday Village stop (holidays only). Or get to Sai Kung, then take bus 94 and get off at  Lady MacLehose Holiday Village stop. Return the same way.


Why it's worth it:
-------------------------------

Lady MacLehose Holiday Village stop. About 20 minutes on bus from Sai Kung

Right off the bus, keep going on the road for maybe 50m, just before the curb (there's also a trail going up that you will see in the distance), cross the road and go down to the stream, right over the railing. Go down to the stream and head left in the water. There are 2 streams merging more or less at the entry point, QiuFeng is the leftmost one.
The first 200-300 meters in the stream is flat. No worries, it gets nicer afterwards!
About 30 minutes in (500m), you'll reach the first large waterfall which can be bypassed on the left (or climbed right up in the falls as I did). But, the water is so nice, take a few minutes for a dip! Don't litter! I'm watching you!
Bypass on the left again. Nice pool with clean water
You'll then arrive at the One-line-fall (一線瀑), about 1.2km into the stream. Quite beautiful when full but it does look a bit scary. Never fear, you have an option to bypass it on the right as there's a path getting you to the top of the falls. Or, if you feel adventurous, climb the falls as pictured above, on the left
Another nice waterfall and pool after. Last chance for a dip.
Can be bypassed on the left but trivial climb in the waterfall itself

Coming close to the end of the stream now. You can miss the rock formation with the stream gently dropping in the middle. Just climb the rocks on the right as pictured. 

Then, about 5-10m after that climb is the exit of the stream, on the left. It is marked with a ribbon. However, if you can't find the ribbon, no worries as the path is no more than 5m away so you can pretty much exit anywhere around that area and find the path. Head left on the path, back towards where you started.

You get on a paved road and you'll eventually see the trail signage on your left with stairs going down.
That's where you want to go
Next fork is here. Go left so you can reach Pak Tam road close to the 'Lady MacLehose' stop.
Pak Tam Au will also work but is going to be a bit more bus-ing
There you go, back on Pak Tam Rd where you head left and get take Bus 96R back to Diamond Hill MTR on holidays, or 94 back to Sai Kung

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Please, don't litter!

Hiking is about communion with nature. So please pickup after yourself. There's no excuse to leave plastic bags, water bottles or any rubbish on or around the trails; if you managed to bring it, you can manage to bring it back!