Tai Mo Shan hike for me is very interesting for 4 reasons. First, because it is the highest peak in Hong Kong. Second, according to my research Tai Mo Shan is an inactive volcano dating back to the Jurassic period. Third, it houses the Hong Kong Observatory’s weather radar station. And lastly my favourite, because you get to see four beautiful cascading waterfalls on the trail with one at 35M high and is considered the highest waterfall in Hong Kong.

Being the highest peak at 957M above sea level, Tai Mo Shan is the coldest and wettest part in Hong Kong with minus 6 degrees celcius as the lowest temperature recorded in 2016. Some would hike up just to see winter frost. In spring if you are lucky you could witness a sea of clouds at the mountaintop, no wonder it is a photographer’s dream location. In the summer months you’ll be treated with colourful blooms.

There are several ways to do this hike and many options where to start. You may even drive halfway, but where is the fun to that? Our hike started at the Tai Mo Shan Country Park, even this saved us some time of walking up already. The initial climb was a gentle ascent on a paved path then on an uphill road. The moment you’ll see a gigantic sphere from afar, you know that you’re almost there. The hike in my opinion is more impressive than the destination itself. Along the way, you will be mesmerized by the views of the hillside and plains. At the lookout on a clear day you can see as far away as China.

Our hike going down was a different story thou. We went deeper into the forest and took the path that leads to Ng Tung Chai waterfalls. The trail was rocky but easy to navigate. This part of the hike was more exciting. The louder you hear the rush and roar of the waterfalls, the more eager you want to get there. What a treat! I particularly love the 4th waterfall, the Bottom Fall, because it is enclosed in a small area which makes it secluded and more serene. On a hot summer day I would have given in to the temptation to go for a quick dip.

After emerging from the forest there was a nice temple with benches outside. Here you can catch your breath before walking for another 30 minutes to get to the road where you can take a bus back to Tai Po MTR station. For this Tai Mo Shan hike our total elevation gain was 695M and took us 8.5 hours after several photo ops at the waterfalls to complete the 12.2KM trail that we chose.

Thumbnail photo provided by Raynard from his website
https://flyingmonyet.com/tai-mo-shan-to-ng-tung-chai-waterfalls/

We were inspired by the movie “14 Peaks” in Netflix and thought that perhaps we could do the same here in Hong Kong. So in the coming 14 weeks, we will gather some of our friends and colleagues from the aviation industry in an attempt to do something different. We has been through so many challenges in the last 2 years and we are hoping this would inspire some positivity in our current situation and to show we can come out stronger than before.