A Taste of Trail Run - Sham Shui Po to Tai Po via Mac Trail

Kenneth went to Lantau Island early in the morning to have the M&M (2 Mountains) training with his friends. Therefore, lazy Siulek only started her run in the afternoon.

Living in Sham Shui Po, an old district with high population density, the only choice to breathe fresh air is to run up to the countryside parks nearby! Starting from Tai Po Road, I can run up to the Sha Tin direction and reach Kam Shan Country Park.

Turned left into the Kam Shan Road, it catch up with the Maclehose Trail section 6. From here it's a paved road with up and down, along the Kowloon reservoir and then finally direct to Shing Mun reservoir. This is a scenic trail no matter in what kinds of weather.

Although it's cloudy today, the reservoir view was still looked good.  From here, you can feel the nature and enjoy the slience beauty of Hong Kong.

 

Kam Shan also has an alternative name "Monkey Hill". To symbol this characteristic, there is signage with "Monkey" design. It has the highest population of monkeys in Hong Kong. As many monkeys live here, and many Hong Kong people came to feed them illegally, they become fiercer and may even attrack humans. Therefore, make sure your food store properly inside your bag, don't intake any food when you walk along this section, and avoid bring plastic bags! 

 

I had an experience that a monkey jumped onto my back because an apple was at the top of my racksack and the clever monkey saw it!

 

In another occasion, a silly man walking in front of me was eating banana. When the monkeys roared to him, he dropped his banana in the middle of the road. Soon many monkeys from both sides of the road rushed to get the small banana, then making my group and him in a very dangerous position.

None of us could get through the road after that.



Therefore, be aware of the monkeys when you run alone, especially at night time!

Luckily, today I could follow some male biker or hikers on the way and I could pass through the Kam Shan road successfully. In addition, it's the first time I saw country park-keeper from Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) was patrolling there. I felt much safer than before!
By the way, a hiker taught me that monkeys would be scared when you tried to take photos for them. I tried that, it works!!!

When you reach the top, that's Smgglers' Pass. It is the check point 6 of Trailwalker Hong Kong. Fewer monkeys there and you're safe. This afternoon I met Siu Wan, a friend from Hebe hiking assocation whom I knew for over 20 years. She's also an experienced mountaineering instructor!

 Today she practiced the route for Wilson Trail, which is partly overlapped with Maclehose Trail. That's why I could saw her.  Then we turned right and went upstairs to another trail path. And started to rain heavily. 

As Siu Wan ended her journey in Shing Mun, I lefter her and ran a bit faster to reach the Shing Mun BBQ site.

 

I got a bottle of sports drink from the vending machine and considering continue or not. As I only completed about 10km, I decided to continue.

Passed along the pineapple dam, I met Kin Hang hiking club's friends, Amy and her partner. They started their hike in Sai Kung early in the morning and planned to ended up with the Needle Hill.

Needle Hill is the same as its name, sharp and steep. Together with the other two consective hills in Mac Trail section 7 & 8, Grass Hill and Tai Mo Shan, they're the toughest sections for Trailwalker Hong Kong.


However, she is still beautiful and attractive to trail runners. After the rain, I could see the foggy Needle Hill.

Amy is a fast trail runner but she got injuiries at her chest and she was a bit exhausted after a whole day's hike. Anyway, after around 40 minutes all of reached the top!

From the top we can see the buildings on Kowloon side as well as Lion Rock. Another famous mountain in Hong Kong.

Then I carried on my journey on my own. Although it's raining and the sky came dark, I could see a few hikers on the way. This shows how Hong Kong people love hiking!

After going down Needle Hill, I reached the tail of Grass Hill. It's a lovely trail part and you can see the primitive part of countryside.

The grass hill part is a bit dull and long, but in the summer you will like it, since it covers with enough vegetation and tall trees that you will never feel the sun heat. Lastly, I reached the path junction at the top of Grass Hill.

 It's time to go down to Lead Mine Pass, the end of section 7 of Mac Trail. It's a bit slippery on the way, which I think is a good training for me. Due to lack of training recently, I was less skillful. Nevermind, I still have 3 months and practice makes perfect!

Finally, I arrived Lead Mine Pass and saw the gate at the foot of Tai Mo Shan. The left side will direct you back to Shing Mun. On the other hand, there is a small path on the right hand side is going to Tai Po. It's already 6 o'clock, therefore, I didn't have enough time to go up Tai Mo Shan or run around the long path to Shing Mun. Hence my only choice is go downstairs to small path on the right.

Thanks to the previous heavy rain. I've got chance to practice my stream passing skill, as the path turned into small stream after the rain! Well, it was not that difficult and I got passed.

I haven't walk to this path for a long time, therefore, I really forget where is the end of the path. I thought it was Tai Po Road, but in fact I saw some villages such as Sheung Wun Yiu and Ha Wun Yiu in the New Territories!



It took me some time to indentify the direction to the Tai Po Market station. The first thing to do was to bought some drinks from the 7-11.
The whole journey was about 20km and it recalls my old memory of trail running.