San Uk Ka (Tai Po) to Shing Mun Reservoir (Tsuen Wan) via Lead Mine Pass and Needle Hill (針山)

Duration: 

11km (4 hours)

Difficulty: 

6.5/10. Elevation gain is 620m 

Cel phone coverage: Full.

Water needs: 1.5 liter. Mostly shaded except for the Needle Hill ascent part

Appreciation: 8/10

Map & Details: https://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/3891012157/

Exercise Area: No

Transportation: Tai Po Market MTR exit 'B'. Green minibus 23K. Return via Green Minibus 82M to Tsuen Wan MTR.

Why it's worth it: 

---------------------------------

Take the MTR all the way to Tai Po Market station. Get out at Exit 'B', you will see the bus terminus on the right, right off the MTR station. Take the 23K which comes by quite frequently.

You will get out at the terminus (the minibus will actually backtrack, and return on Wun Yiu road). Easy to know you have arrived because everybody's getting off, and there's these children play structures on the left of the terminus.

Keep going on Wun Yiu road.

About 7 minutes and 300m into the hike, head right. Path on the left just goes to the river.

Another 100m farther  and you'll get to this fork, follow Lead Mine Pass on the left. This is still Wun Yiu road.

Left again at the Wilson Trail map (you are on the Wilson trail at this point BTW)

Head right

At Wilson trail W087 marker, 850m into your hike, you'll see stairs on the right which you must take. You will see quite a few paths on the left and right over the next few hundred meters. These go to burial sites. Just keep straight on the path

Left

You'll go by a waterfall, on your right

About 1 hour and 2.7km into your hike, you'll reach the toilets and gazebo at Lead Mine Pass.

Go left at the gazebo, towards Tai Po Kau

You are now on Maclehose trail

Follow Needle Hill/Grassy Hill

Lots of signage, can't really get lost

About 1h45min and 5.6km into your hike, you'll reach this fork with a view of Needle Hill ahead. Head left

Head right

Head left toward Needle Hill

Needle Hill, ever larger in front of you... Quite a few steps but nothing too hard

At the top! Then go down the other side

You've reached the road, with the dam in front of you. You can take the path on the left, or go straight as there's a flight of stairs providing a shortcut. Cross the dam. Then, just follow the paved road all the way

Keep following the road until you reach the Pineapple dam which will be on your right. That is where Green Minibus 82M's terminus is (right in front of the stairs). 82M will get you back to Tsuen Wan. 

Ng Tung Chai (梧桐寨) to Shing Mun reservoir (城門水塘) via Tai Mo Shan (大帽山)

Duration: 

10k, 4 hours

Difficulty: 

7/10. 635m elevation gain. 

Cel phone coverage: Very sparse.

Water needs: 1.5 liter.

Appreciation: 10/10. Nice forested hike, tons of waterfalls, views from Tai Mo Shan. 

Map & Details: http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/2756942713/

Exercise Area: No.

Transportation: MTR to Tai Wo, exit A. Bus 64K. Return to Tsuan Wan MTR via minibus 82

Why it's worth it: 

--------------------------------

Take Exit 'A' (Tai Wo Plaza) out of the Tai Wo MTR station. Head left.

There will be a set of escalators on your right, leading to the bus stops.

The KMB 64k stop is on the other side of the first road lane. Don't go all the way on the other side because you'd take the 64k to Tai Po Market.

Yeah, that one...

The bus stops just in front of the Ng Tung Chai road (the stop is actually called Ng Tung Chai so, you can't miss it)

Keep following the road, don't be tempted to stray. You'll be walking on that road to Ng Tung Chai for about 10-15 minutes.

When you are in the vicinity of Ng Tung Chai, you will see a path heading up (to the right). Take it.

Go by the front of the house of barky dogs.

Go straight to the rock-paved path. This will lead you to the temple. About 20 minutes walk there.

At the temple, keep going straight. The trail officially starts there.

Don't take the Scatter Fall path. There signage announcing the falls so you can't miss them.

The bottom fall is about 35-40 minutes in.

Bottom fall

Middle fall

Main fall. The tallest in Hong Kong at 35m. Once done contemplating, take the path up and to the left of the falls.
After some scrambling, you'll come to Scatter falls. 

About 4.3km into your hike, you'll reach this fork. On the right, you would loop back to temple.

Take left towards Tai Mo Shan where the fun is!

Bamboo forest... nice!

Walk another 200m, you'll reach another fork. Take the path on the left

You have reached the highest point of your hike.

Not quite the top of Tai Mo Shan, which you can see on your right, but still..

Once rested, find the unmarked path down the mountain, pretty much across from the path you came from. It may be a bit overgrown but don't worry, that's the right way. There should be some colored ribbons along the way

Right at the fork. You'll cross a stream just a few tens of meters farther. Head left after the stream.

I won't point them out here because they are not super obvious and don't want you to get lost, but there are quite a few more waterfalls that can be reached from that path (refer to the Tai Shing stream trek)

Head right at the gate. Left will also get you there but my hiking party was a bit tired at this point.

Down, around, and right

Down left, and then through the picnic area.

Down the stairs, head right. Over the bridge, then right again

That's it, minibus stop which will bring you back to Tsuen Wan