Needle Hill is an iconic spot for hikers & trail runners, who like to discuss which way up (West, East) is better. Here several less conventional routes.

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End of 2021 and unable to travel out of Hong Kong due to quarantine requirements I had tons of annual leave days to burn. So instead of my regular training, I decided to try short exploration half days of this hill. There are tons of streams and as many dry paths heading up from both North and South. It would be great if people wouldn’t create any further. The erosion is very high already and there is no need for any more paths.

The Southern side is more interesting, feature-wise and also for logistics. As you can easily get to public transportation under it. Tai Wai Station is my main option. A brief summary of each “main” path for your easier reference, in case you want to go up Needle Hill in a bit less conventional way or back down to the city after checking any of the streams around (later posts). I’ll explain them West to East, South face first, North Face last.

South Face

· 香粉寮左脊 – Heung Fan Liu left ridge. Most of these paths have been named according to the stream they are next to. So in this case, it is the path on the left side (always looking uphill) of Heung Fan Liu stream. This path doesn’t offer anything interesting. Just a convenient way to exit the aforementioned stream. Not especially steep and mainly sandy. The erosion in some parts is such that you can see the path clearly on the satellite images.

As mentioned before, please check the GPS if needed and try to keep in those main tracks to avoid further deterioration of the area.

· 香粉寮右脊 – Heung Fan Liu right ridge. Less features/views/clear. Between the two I prefer the previous.

· 神秀左脊 – Shen Xiu Left ridge. If I would need to choose one path for the pleasure of hiking it, this would be it. The start is not very promising, with tons of garbage next to a road and around the stream. But soon you get into small clean woods. Clear path and atop a very peculiar rock formation easy scrambling with all the city views below. Ending on the very top of Needle Hill.

· 神秀右脊 – Shen Xiu Right ridge. Similar views, as steep but more sandy and slippery if hiking it downhill.

· 七弦琴左徑 – Seven chords Left path. The most “civilized” of all the mentioned in this post. The concrete goes highest and then the path is very clear. A rocky platform lookout. Small bamboo section. The second best option hike wise and what I would take back down if in a rush.

· 七弦琴右徑 – Seven chords Right path. This was not named when I checked Openstreetmap. But considering the convention added by me. As you might have realized, seen the pics before or the map above, quite some of these paths connect electricity pylons with MacLehose and the road below. I guess as the maintenance people started hiking on them long ago. This path on its upper part crosses directly under the pylon.

Again. Mainly sandy and not specially interesting but to connect with the stream. In this case crossing it.

North face

· 肥佬脊 – Fat Guy ridge. No idea why it is named that way 🤷‍♂️ and so far I could not find the name of the stream next to it either. But I guess it should be 肥Fei (=Fat) + something, considering how its parallel ridge is called. Lower entry is on the concrete path next to the Shing Mun picnic site #15.

Hard bush, not thorny, some bamboo in the lower part. Nice views of Tai Mo Sha.

· 肥婆脊 – Fat Lady ridge. I couldn’t find it even if I was supposedly on it, as per the GPS. That’s why in red on the map. As per further reading in this post it seems that the openstreetmap path was marked a bit too South. Which matches my experience. Starting from below it should be easier to find it.

· 蝦公坑右徑 – Ha Kung Hang Right path. Again, I have named it according to the stream it is next to. The lower entry is next to the picnic site #14.

It looked way more hiked than the previous on the North Face. Even with some small sections with ropes.

OK path.

The Garmin tracks, mainly for me to retrieve easier for buddies/reader’s questions (partly done running/jogging, partly in slower exploration mode; so the timings might not be good references for most):

· 7/11/2021: Ehhh… the Garmin did not record it correctly. Up Heung Fan Liu stream, then Heung Fan Liu left path up to MacLehose

· 11/11/2021: Up Shen Xiu stream, down starting from Seven chords Right path and then down the stream itself

· 27/11/2021: Up Needle Mountain South pit (針山南坑), down Heung Fan Liu right ridge, up Shen Xiu Left ridge, down Seven chords Right path.

· 28/11/2021: Up Seven Chords Left path, down Shrimp stream right path, up the stream, down Shen Xiu Right ridge

· 5/12/2021: Up Fei Lou/Po stream, unsuccessfully trying to connect with Fei Po (Fat lady) ridge, down Fei Lou (Fat guy) ridge