If you are in search for new challenges and adventures, why not try extreme hiking at Kau Nga Ling? Dubbed as the hardest hike and one of the 5 most extreme hiking trails in Hong Kong. Kau Nga Ling literally means Dog’s Teeth Ridge because of it’s razor-sharp rugged peaks resembling a dog’s teeth. Dog’s Teeth Ridge is made up of three ridgelines, the Middle Dog Teeth Range, East Dog Teeth Range and West Dog Teeth Range, the latter being the hardest and more popular to those thrill seekers.

All three are for advanced hikers only with good level of fitness and not for the faint-hearted as you would need to walk on steep and narrow path at times. As the hike involves a lot of scrambling and walking on loose gravel, proper hiking shoes is essential and gloves will be helpful too. One has to be mentally prepared for the challenge. Focus and concentration are vital on each step you take especially when scrambling up the rocks. There is no room for mistake because loosing your balance can be fatal. But don’t let it and the vertigo-inducing height intimidate you.

The breathtaking views of the sea and mountain range awaits you at the summit and it’s more than enough reward for all the challenges you have to overcome to get there. An overwhelming sense of euphoria will engulf you when you stand there and look back at the path that you have just conquered.

On our particular hike, we chose to climb Middle Dog’s Teeth and down East Dog’s Teeth to end at Shui Hau Village. Some would choose to continue on to Lantau Peak to further push their limits while others prefer to end at the nearby Ngong Ping Village for more gentle descend. Our chosen path took us 6 hours to complete and our total elevation gain was 539M.

We gathered at Tung Chung and took the bus No.11 to Shek Pik Reservoir. From there we walk back towards the direction where the bus came from until the trail entrance. It was a long shaded steep stairways right away then a more even trail.

A red warning sign to our right marks the beginning of the Middle Dog’s Teeth Ridge. Continuing on with the climb, we emerged from the forest and was immediately rewarded with a picturesque view of the Shek Pik Reservoir where we started. Now the trail is completely exposed and as we climbed higher the view becomes even more spectacular. We got a glimpse of the Big Buddha, the treacherous West Dog Teeth Ridge was on our left and the East Dog Teeth Ridge on our right.

Getting to our first peak entails scrambling and sometimes the gap between rocks are too wide. It was nice to be able to get a few minutes rest here, taking more photos, looking back at the ridge that we hiked up and just taking in the gorgeous views.

Then we decided to go farther to the next peak which involves even tougher scrambling. Here we have an amazing view of Lantau Peak towering far above us. If you continue with the hike from this peak you will reach the meeting point of all three ridges.

Sticking to our plan we went back down to take East Dog’s Teeth Ridge to Shui Hau Village to end the hike.
If you think that the challenging part is over, you are mistaken. Going on a steep downhill slope of scree is even tougher. The loose gravel made it too slippery to even attempt to walk so we decided to sit and go down on all fours. It put more strain on our bodies as we struggle in this position. The only consolation to this is that we were surrounded with amazing view of the undulating ridges.

At the end of this chalk-white trail it became manageable to walk while grabbing on to any tree trunks, branches or even bushes to help stabilize ourselves because it was still ridiculously slippery. Then we came to a huge boulder but easy to climb over and from there we could already see Shui Hau Village. Descending down to just another forest with a proper trail this time, we emerged at South Lantau Road. That marks the end of our hike and we took the bus
back to Tung Chung.

With a few gentle slips here and there on our way down, minor scratches, weak knees and sore bodies we all went home with a smile on our faces, jubilant and exhilarated.