A wonderful summer stream hike, with clean water and several pools to dip into. One of the main canyoning spots in Hong Kong.
- Beauty/fun: 7.5/10 Clean water, several waterfalls, pools to dip into. It can be a little bit crowded in the best weather days.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 5/10. Good grip rocks, several entry and exits, little rock scrambling required, if any.
- The map
Another option that you can download to your phone to check it offline.
See full screen and the Garmin track.
Tai Shui Hang MTR station exit B. Just head to Chevalier Garden and you will see the very end of the stream that you will be hiking in.
Just continue left through Tai Shui Hang N street and you will finally arrive to these stairs up to the little path.
If using any offline GPS app with access to opencyclemaps you can see the dotted path to the stream.
In a couple of minutes you will be in the stream!
Up we go. From this point onwards you just will be moving right and left of the stream. Most of the times the side to choose will be obvious. Ribbons all around helping too.
After crossing under those rocks on the left of the stream
you have one of those little places where you might be using your hands. The grip of the rocks is very good though, so quite safe.
After 30-40 minutes you will arrive at the first pool to enjoy.
Nice big pool.
With a little waterfall where to take a rest and cool down.
Once ready. You can go up next to the closest tree here (find the ribbon) and avoid walking with your backpack in the water.
Or once you are already wet, you can just cross with everything on and dry and put your shoes on in the other side. Your choice.
The stream from here up is similar. Up and down the rocks, several pools, small waterfalls.
Till you arrive to this dam. On the right you will find some concrete stones to go up cross the structure and down again on the right side of the stream. A shorter version of the stream hike could start here.
From this point onwards the falls start to be bigger. Be careful crossing side to side.
Right to left and continue on the left side.
Down the rope (no need to use it, check that it is safe if you do).
And there you go the biggest waterfalls to be seeing.
Just into the jungle and couple of minutes later with a big pool where to swim into and cool down for the second time. Hero Waterfall.
Here you can find quite some people. Canyoning or just relaxing around.
You can even climb (if good enough skills/shoes) on its right side for a nice cliff jump.
I repeat, do these things only if you are really experienced or with expert supervision: hkoutsider or Ben Woo for example.
Swim, relax, eat and up again. You can do it through the very same wall where the guys in the previous pic were rappelling or in a bit safer way through a path just 10 meters left of the stream, here.
You will be arriving at the very same spot.
Throughout the path you will find several blue crystal clear pools
You can continue trying to keep your feet dry
or do it the simple way: get your shoes wet and enjoy the coolness.
Slope decreases here onwards and therefore water is calmer and waterfalls smaller.
The only bad thing about this hike: rubbish! 🙁 First time here I tried to collect some in the lower parts, but after the main waterfall there is too much in several spots.
After going up for a while you will find a fork. Both streams are similar. In this case, we went up the left one.
Walking in the stream again is going to be the easiest way.
And once you see a farm around.
You are next to the exit. The bridge up there is part of the Ma On Shan Tsuen Road.
From here you can go down directly through the concrete up to MacLehose, down to the city or in our case we decided to bush walk a bit more.
Can be dense in several points.
And you can see, in the distance, the gorge hiked before.
Down through the catch-water.
and the road to Tai Shui Hang.
Everything you should know before stream hiking.
Any feedback, please, leave a comment below. Your contribution with the latest update can be relevant for other readers. If any information seems wrong we will try to check the route and update the information as soon as possible.
May 24, 2019 at 12:34 am
Detail and good photos. Keep it up
October 5, 2022 at 4:53 pm
The tributary that you followed to the bridge at Ma On Shan Tsuen Road is called 西馬肚石澗 (West Horse Belly Stream) now. A few weeks ago I followed it ~500 meters further to the east until we reached the tributary 下吊手岩南坑 (Tiu Shau Ngam South Stream). Waterflow was getting less and less on the way. After a while there was no water any more at all! Tiu Shau Ngam South Stream was also completely dry, and overgrown. Though I could hear that even further east there must have been a little waterflow again. To me it is very surprising and disappointing that the magnificent mountain range surrounding that valley (Tiu Shau Ngam 589 m, The Hunch Backs 678 m, Ma On Shan 702 m), which must have a massive capacity to gather, store and eventually spill rain water, does not produce much more water concentrated in that stream. The paths shown on the maps in that area are no longer visible in reality IMO, can’t recommend them either…
December 7, 2022 at 6:31 pm
Opsss… I did not see this comment till now, blocked in the spam folder… Too many to moderate 😅
I agree with you regarding the water flow. In both East and West side there are tons of very low flow streams. They need tons of rain in the previous days to be at their best, like Tung Ma To.
Actually one of the tributaries up Ma Dai is almost always dry but it became more well-known as the way to go up to the Triangular rock river. I will eventually write about all the dry, rocky areas around. Pending to bring friends there.