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Get Out: Stage 4 & 5 MacLehose Trail
Kei Ling Ha to Tai Po Road, Stage 4 & 5 MacLehose Trail
23.3km, 8+ hrs, Very Difficult
Two great reasons to do this hike: 1) It's possibly the best in Hong Kong; 2) You can impress friends by telling them you hiked from Sai Kung to Sham Shui Po (be warned though, it ain't easy). If you only want to do Stage 4, it's best to do it backwards (ie, start at Gilwell Camp Site) because there’s no transportation at Tate's Cairn.
As is the norm for Hong Kong, you start on a paved road up from Kei Ling Ha. Follow the road until the signs direct you off into the woods. This is where the going gets good. Forests, real hiking trails, and stone steps up. And up.
At the top of Ma On Shan, you can either veer right and lug it up to the very top (a great spot for lunch with a view) or go left and continue on past the Hunchbacks. The trail is pretty flat at this point, and winds around boulders littering the trail through these fantastic uplands. Barking deer, feral cows, porcupines, and wild boar are allegedly spotted in the park, but most likely you'll only see (and hear) roving packs of wild families out to turn the trail into a bus stop.
If you're a fiend for the geomorphic, this is the place to get your rocks off. Pyramid Hill is unique and tempting to get yourself up and over, but it might be worth conserving energy for the rest of the trail. When the winds are up, watch for paragliders buzzing by the hills.
The final leg of Stage 4 to Tate's Cairn heads into the forest, up and around Buffalo Hill and ends at Gilwell Camp Site.
Stage 5 is a long haul and involves an overdose of asphalt – it starts just down the road from the camp site and heads up and over Tate's Cairn (Tai Lo Shan), passing plenty of military relics, complete with British trail markers and Japanese trenches. Once over the hill, it's all road on the ridge behind Diamond Hill until you hit Sha Tin Pass.
Here, there's a small restaurant selling water and beer (oh, and food). A few sidetracks offer a shorter way out, but if you want to pull off the full distance continue on past Lion Rock – and masses of families – and up over Beacon Hill. From the top it's a long, long way down cement steps, out to Tai Po Road. Taxis pass by regularly, and there's a bus stop ready to deliver your exhausted, sorry self back to civilisation.
Andrew James
View Maclehose Trail, Stage 4 & 5 in a larger map
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