Continuing with the Tai Mo Shan streams, this small one. Only two significant waterfalls, not much flow, but interesting paddy structures.
- Beauty/fun: 4/10 there are tons of more interesting streams in the area. Slightly thorny atop. OK la waterfall and pool to end up the downstream. Some of the biggest open paddy structures seen in the area.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 4/10 if doing it uphill. Very simple navigation. Steady slope with very few scrambling areas and easy side paths around the falls. Full coverage is recommended if you are going to stay close to the stream on the upmost section.
- The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
See full screen & the Garmin track (going Tai Shing NW first).
One of the hottest Septembers in memory, polluted, no rain. We decided to go up Tai Shing NW tributary. Once atop we walked down for a while on the road and found our way to the Right tributary of Tai Lui stream. I had checked this Sankala post beforehand. So I knew that I was not bringing Simon to a downstream dead trap 😅 a la Tai Shek, which is almost parallel to it.
Just in case you did not realize (captain obvious here) all the mentioned streams and also the recently written about Tai Yuen Left and Right, etc. have that Tai (大) on the beginning of their name. This is due to the usual naming standards in Hong Kong. Unless the stream is clearly in certain named area, has a clear feature or an original old name, the streams are named by where they start (upper source) and where they end. Tai Yuen, goes from Tai Mo Shan (大帽山) and ends next to Yuen Yuen institute. Tai Shing starts in Tai Mo Shan and ends in Shing Mun reservoir. In this case, stars in Tai Mo Shan again and ends in Lui Kung Tin village.
The entry, or exit if you are doing this upstream, is here.
Surprisingly we found water almost from the very beginning. Just a trickle atop. But enough to be certain that we were on the correct way. Tons of insects swarming around us. Not biting, but uncomfortable around our faces.
I set up the rope only once. Exactly there it was a bit thorny, slippery and with loose rocks. Going up, it should be easier to find the way, separating a bit from the stream and going back in just after a few meters.
If you look around you will see that big sections around the stream are man made. Big rock structures in some areas to protect lower paddies. I did not get any decent pic with a sudden storm approaching and with no much light…
Interesting trees and roots, tons of loose rocks in some areas. Arriving at the first significant waterfall.
4m high were Simon was cooling down + another 3/4m above, that you can not see in the pic, in a slider-like slope. We passed it on the left side (always looking upstream) and on the Openstreetmaps I see that there is also a proper side path on the right too.
We continued down with several small falls until we arrived at the only really interesting spot of the route. A two step waterfall. You can pass it on its right.
Just a few meters down a big man made pool which looks not used for water gathering any more.
And the road in sight as soon as you walk a bit more.
The stream continues down but the next section ends very next to PLA barracks… So we did not even try to check if there was anything interesting there. Directly head down the road to the bus stop. Not the nicest road for pedestrians. Motorbikes speeding here frequently and with little space. We jog part of it to do it as fast as possible.
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