Hiking - Grassy Hill

The weather during Chinese New Year was excellent, so we went hiking again.   Hannah readily agreed to another trip on the same terms as before.  

The plan was to complete section 7 of the MacLehose Trail, resuming from where we exited last time, climb Grassy Hill (647m),  and walk out via Lead Mine Pass to Tai Po Road just behind Hannah's school.

To make it a bit easier, we took a taxi  to Wong Chuck Yuen village (about 200m up).  We arrived at 9:30am, just as the residents were letting off new-year fire-crackers, which rather surprised me.  In the interests of public safety Hong Kong has banned the use of real fire-crackers, along with the use of real lions in lion dances.

Photo above:  Fom our apartment looking south towards the Grassy Hill ridge in the far distance (summit is out of sight to the right).  Wong Chuck Yuen village is the white dots up the left-hand-side valley, about the same height as the top of the tower blocks.  The MacLehose runs along the far ridge and we join it via a trail up the ridge to the left of the village.

New Year fire-crackers at Wong Chuck Yueng

Video:  fire-crackers

Steps up from Wong Chuck Yuen to the main ridge and MacLehose Trail.  This was a bit tough with Hannah on my back, but we were on the ridge by 10:00am.

The approach to Grassy Hill was a pleasant walk up a forestry road, mainly in the shade, with nice views over the valley.

Looking east to Fo Tan and Royal Ascot from the approach to Grassy Hill.  a hill fire occurred around her a few days later (see below)

Looking south to the Sing Mun reservoir and Needle Hill

We reached the summit of Grassy Hill at around 11:am, and had a very pleasant lunch for 30min enjoying the view.

Looking north to Tai Po from summit of Grassy Hill (647m)

Selfie on Grassy Hill

Fo Tan from Grassy Hill

Video:   Grassy Hill view 1.  Panning from Tai Po town in the north, west to Tai Mo Shan then south.

Video:  Grassy Hill view 2:   panning north, east and south

After lunch we descended the steep path to Lead Mine Pass (around 400m).   Hannah cheerfully walked down the steps with me hand-in-hand for safety.  We arrived at the pass about 12:15m, and followed the exit route out to the north along the forest road through the Tai Po Kau nature reserve for about 6km.

Hannah was a bit bored by the forest trail and didn't want to do her share of walking down the hill.   We had a small argument during which I promised to put this photo on the blog, but our mood improved again when we met a monkey eating berries by the side of the road.

Hannah's school is nearby and she told me that the children are forbidden from eating outside in case this attracts monkeys who might mug the kids for their lunches!

We reached at the Tai Po Road around 2pm, and got a bus back home.   In total about 4.5hrs.  

Postscript:   Hill Fires

From the top of Grassy Hill we could see a hill fire burning in the hills on the other side of Tai Po.  I pointed it out to Hannah and we talked about fires.

It turned out there had been a hill fire had been burning for 2 days which took 130 firefighters to put out (scmp link).

Then on Tuesday night around 12:30am looking out from our apartment, saw a hill fire burning near Grassy Hill.   To me it looked like the flames were about 20ft high and burning on a front of about 100m.

Hill Fire on Grassy Hill , 3-Feb.

I called 999 just in case none had already reported it (they had).

The next morning the hill was covered in fog.  I couldn't find any report of this fire on the web.

Hiking - Needle Hill

Winter in Hong Kong is a wonderful season with beautiful mild weather which is perfect for hiking.
In contrast Spring tends to be changeable and wet, and Summer is overly hot and humid.  

Last year I took it the weather for granted, naively assuming spring would also be nice like Japan, only to be be rained out almost every weekend (last aprils post).  So this year I am detrained to make the most of the season and do as much hiking as I can.

Previously I had not been very successful convincing Hannah or Rika to join me.   Frankly Hannah doesn't like to walk much.  But she does like to be carried and she really wanted to ride in the Deuter again, like she did as a baby.  

So I changed approach this year, leaving Rika at home, and negotiating with Hannah:   I will carry her in the Deuter on the flat and uphill, except for the really steep places, and she will walk downhill.

Hannah being carried in the Deuter

My plan was to take Hannah along the first half of section 7 of the MacLehose trail on Sunday morning while Rika slept in.   We'd get a taxi to the start at the Shing Mun reservoir (M125), climb over Needle Hill, and along the ridge to M131, then take the feeder path to the right down to Wong Chuk Yeung village, and then down to road to FoTan and home.  About 6km which I expected to take 4hrs.

Source:  Digital maps for HK hikes (link)

It pretty much went to plan, although I was horrified how heavy the Deuter was once it was loaded with Hannah (21kg), lunch, safety clothes and plenty of water (3kg- far too much).   In all, not much under 30kg and hard work to carry even on the flat.  After Christmas my own weight is back up to 99kg, so I had visions of my knees popping out under the strain!

We got Shing Mun at 9:30.  After a flat walk around the dam, the first hour was a rather brutal climb from the reservoir (200m) up a series of concrete steps to the base of Needle Hill at about 430m.   It was tough but fortunately my knees held up nicely.

10:30am  Looking west from around M127 towards Tsuen Wan

Hannah sitting in the Deuter at our first break.  Looking south you can just see the rectangle of the ICC poking up, and Honk Kong Island in the distance.

Looking south from M128 (about 430m).   The ridge in the right foreground is Smugglers Ridge which we walked with Rika in October (section 6 of the MacLehose trail).  Behind that on the left is Beacon Hill (section 5) which I walked with Mat on Wednesday, and in the far distance Hong Kong Island.

From here the route was a steep climb up to the top of Needle Hill.  It was too difficult and dangerous  for me to carry Hannah so she had to walk.  Fortunately she did this with enthusiasm.

11:30   Hannah on the summit of Needle Hill (532m), looking south.  

Looking west over the Shing Mun Reservoir and Tsuen Wan.   

Looking north from Needle Hill towards Grassy Hill with Lead Mine Pass on the left.   We had a nice early lunch on the summit.

Hannah cheerfully walked down the steep descent from Needle Hill and along the flat part of the ridge before exercising her right to be carried in the Deuter for the ascent from M130 to M131.

Looking south-east across Tai Wai towards Lion Rock.  We could really see the lion shape.

Lion rock - can you see the Lion's head, shoulders and back?

12:30pm  On the side-trail down from the MacLehose trail (main ridge) towards Fo Tan.   Looking west with Wong Chuk Yeung village in the bottom left, and Royal Ascot in middle right.  Ma On Shan mountain in the distance.

It was downhill all the way from here, although Hannah was getting tired and wanted me to keep carrying her (and let gher play with my IPhone).  But I really needed her to walk down to save my knees.  So we compromised again and she walked most of the steep descents encouraged by promises of ice creams and iPhone time at home.  We arrived in FoTan around 13:30.

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