From Summit to Surf

Hong Kong's hiking trails reward those who climb with beautiful sweeping views

Hong Kong's extensive hiking trails are well marked and maintained

My stepdaughter Lindsey visited us for a week in October.  She and her husband Sean enjoy being outdoors and hiking with their dogs near their northern California home.  When Lindsey arrived in Hong Kong, she had done her research and knew where she wanted to go and the sites she wanted to see.  Not surprisingly, her top priority was exploring Hong Kong's hiking trails.

Colleagues from my office invited us to hike the Dragon's Back trail

Hong Kong normally evokes images of a densely-populated concrete jungle, dominated by towering skyscrapers.  But this depiction, while accurate, ignores the large areas of green space across the Hong Kong territory.  Indeed, nearly three-fourths of Hong Kong's 426 square miles is countryside, and over 171 square miles of space has been designated as country parks for outdoor recreation or special areas for conservation.  The country parks have extensive trails for hiking that are marked and well-maintained.  Hong Kong's topographical features are a natural fit for hiking. Wooded hillsides provide trails of varying difficulty, rewarding those who climb with sweeping views of the rocky coastline, the South China Sea and many of the 200 plus islands that make up Hong Kong.  The government maintains a website called "Enjoy Hiking" that lists over 60 different trails, and there are a number of other sites and blogs maintained by enthusiasts providing tips about different trails.

The Dragon's Back trail gets its name from the up-and-down
path that links the Wan Cham Shan ridge and the Shek O Peak

The Dragon's Back trail, on the southeastern corner of of Hong Kong Island, is well-known among hiking enthusiasts both in and outside of Hong Kong, and it was one of the items on Lindsey's list of places to see when she arrived for her visit.  Dragon's Back is a five mile section of the Hong Kong trail, which stretches over thirty miles in length.  It gets its name from the up-and-down path the trail takes connecting the Wan Cham Shan ridge and Shek O Peak, which are 740 and 930 feet high, respectively.

Shek O Peak is the top of Dragon's Back trail

Although we weren't able to accompany Lindsey when she trekked the Dragon's Back on a work day, the following weekend, some colleagues from my office organized an outing to hike the same trail.  We signed up eagerly, ready to take on the challenge in the company of friends.  The first section of the hike was the most challenging as it involved a lot of climbing to get to the ridge, but the amazing views at the top were worth the effort, and the rest of the hike was fairly easy.  As we descended, we encountered a Bamboo snake coiled up on the trail.  Our group responded in fear, as one would imagine a bunch of PC-bound office workers would, and we tried throwing rocks at it to encourage it to move along.  The snake did not appreciate our efforts, refusing to move and ultimately requiring Jeff's intervention with a large, sharp-edged rock.  The rest of the hikers were grateful to Jeff to enabling our hike to continue.  We found out later that Bamboo snakes are venomous, with a "painful bite that rarely causes death in healthy people."

Lindsey spent an afternoon surfing at Big Wave Bay

Our hike concluded at Big Wave Bay, home to a prehistoric rock carving that was discovered by a police officer in 1970.  It is also one of the most pristine beaches in Hong Kong, popular among surfers and windsurfers.  The village is truly a beach town, scattered with shops that cater to tourists by offering lessons and rental gear for surfing and windsurfing.  On the last day of her visit, Jeff accompanied Lindsey when she took advantage of the nice weather and spent an afternoon riding the waves on a surfboard rented from one of the local shops.

Lindsey's pre-trip research taught Jeff and me how much Hong Kong has to offer in outdoor activities, and we're now inspired to make the most of those opportunities.

I confess to having checked my email while hiking!