Our hike at Tai Tam Scenic Trail

For more information on this trail, please visit https://chanbernard1005.wixsite.com/ttst-hihk

It was October 25th 2020, Thursday, a sunny day, but with cool weather too! Just right for hiking. We decided to hike the Tai Tam Scenic Trail, since my sister was busy, and seldom do my parents took leave together, so we decided to hike something more difficult, taking advantage of my sister's absence. We needed to hike this trail anyways, to finish the whole of Hong Kong Trail. So, in the morning at about 10 a.m., we set off to Red Hill plaza, before boarding a taxi to the starting point, at Wong Nai Chung Gap Road.

We were dropped off at the starting point of Wilson Trail Sec.2, so this saved us from having to walk up the exhausting slope. And without wasting any time, we immediately started our hike, following the Hong Kong Trail Sec.5, and started our hard hike up Jardine's Lookout.

The climb was hard, but proven to be not difficult when we reached the Jacob's Ladder of Mount Butler later on. But for now, we passed the Osborn Memorial along the path in the shade, before coming into the direct glare of the sun as we climbed up the slope of Jardine's Lookout.

The climb wasn't particularly long, compared to the climb later on, but for now, my mother was having some difficulty keeping up to me and my father, and lagged behind as she needed a gasp of breath after every few stairs. But slowly and surely, we soon arrived at the peak of Jardine's Lookout, standing at 433 metres, looking down at the prosperous city of Hong Kong below.

At the signpost directing us to continue straight towards Mount Butler, we turned left, seeing a few people standing there looking out to a view we still can't see yet. But as they decided to move on and gave space for us to stand there, what we saw was a view we seldom see on hikes.

Below us was the urban areas of Hong Kong Island, where you could see skyscrapers towering over Victoria Harbour. (Of course, they don't look like skyscrapers from up here) And far to the horizon, you could distinguish Lion Rock Hill if the sky is clear like that day, and Mei Foo, the edge of the Kowloon Peninsula. And speaking of the Kowloon Peninsula, you could gaze at the whole of Kowloon, with West Kowloon right in front of you, and the busy urban areas of Tsim Sha Tsui and Kwun Tong towards the right. It certainly is a great hotspot for photographers.

After a few minutes of silence as we appreciate the view, we decided it was time to move on, since we might not arrive at Windy Gap on time for lunch. And move on it was, as we descended Jardine's Pass, we descended quickly, as the ugly minefield in front of us glared at us as we slowly walked towards it. What a pity it was, that a minefield has to stand amongst the greenery of the beautiful natural landscape! It was just like a monster, a scar to the beautiful country parks we have.

Wait... did you notice? There is a narrow path ascending next to the minefield and goes over the hill where the minefield is sitting on! And that path is exactly the path we're going to take! The path is actually a frightening flight of stairs, ascending steeply, and it seems to take forever to scale the hill at first!

After we had a rest between the downslope of Jardine's Lookout and the upslope to Siu Ma Shan, we finally started our long journey of climbing. My mother almost got scared to fainting when she looked to the right while we were climbing: the very edge of the cliff. So she never could take any photos towards the right while we were climbing.

We all thought that the hardest part of the climb was no shade. It was directly under the sunlight, making the stairs seem harder. There were only thin clouds to be seen, so sunlight could easily penetrate through. (Though we all agreed it was a good thing since if the sky wasn't clear, good photos would be impossible.)

In the end, the climb was not as dreadful as we thought at first. Sooner than we thought (about 45 mins), we reached the top and then walked along the side of the main hill. And from here, we saw our main target: Mount Butler, standing right in front of us, with a relatively pointy peak.

We continued hiking towards it, pass the intersection of Wilson Trail and Hong Kong Trail, and very soon, my mother consumed her last bit of orange juice (for sugar) and we started our climb up to the peak. But this climb was the easiest climb, even though it wasn't the flattest. The shade was good enough that it felt quite cool in the forest despite the fact that we were climbing. And very soon, we arrived at the peak, with an elevation of a whopping 436 metres, higher than we had ever hiked before.

The view was spectacular. You could see a 360 degree view if it was not for the trees. But we stood on a tall enough rock and could see past those trees and what we saw was amazing. Including everything we saw before at Jardine's Lookout, now you could also savour the views of Tai Tam Reservoirs and also Tai Tam Harbour in the distance. Several mountains are also there to decorate and make the scenery more natural. To add on, the skies were extraordinary clear, and the view was certainly one of the best we had ever seen before.

After fully savouring the fantastic views, we started our relaxing descent towards Windy Gap. We were exhausted at this point, but the effort was definitely worth it. And at Windy Gap, we sat down for a well-deserved lunch, before continuing on to Section 6 of the Hong Kong Trail.

After a lunch break, we continued on Hong Kong Trail, turning right at Windy Gap, and descending down a main road. This part was the easiest, and our speed picked up, (even though my mother had a leg cramp) and we soon arrived at the Tai Tam Reservoirs. The dams were probably the main character of this part, but because we had seen so many reservoirs in the past months, we quickly decided to continue on, without much stopping for photos. But I believe that these reservoirs do deserve much more!

As we continued down Mount Parker Road, we soon turned left to a shady narrow path, to end of our hike today. This part was way longer than I thought, and as there were occasionally ups and downs, my mother, after her long day of stairs, soon was too tired and had a bit of a headache, so we soon stopped on the side of the path to rest, while we finished the remains of the lunch we had at Windy Gap. But after the small break, she was well enough to continue, and we continued going up and down, a surprisingly exhausting part of the hike, taking into account of the stairs we climbed before this. But finally, as we crossed yet another stream, we heard faint car noises, and before we knew it, we were out of Tai Tam Country Park, finishing a memorable, challenging, though not long, hike.