Checking further the far West. The end of the badlands with Instagramy spots, a cute stream, fun mini caves, and rocks to enjoy through/in.

See full screen & the Garmin track (blue line) & another day on my own (magenta line).

There is no public transportation to 龍鼓上灘 Lung Kwu Sheung Tan. The closest is the Lung Kwu Tan Terminus. But the 20+ minute walk on the road after is not nice. Very dusty with tons of lorries heading back and forth from the cement factories, the landfill, and others. So usually we take a taxi up there from Tuen Mun.

You could go down to the stream here

but that implies jumping into a water channeling structure before

you get into the real stream. A week later on my own (magenta line) I checked the alternative entry a bit further North. Concrete path for a while and then a sandy bushy small section to connect with the stream. The only benefit: you can keep your shoes dry. The green line is my recommended full route for most, starting as we did the first time.

Even in February (2023), there was some minimal water flow. There are small waterfalls (below I think the highest) and I guess decent pools in the summertime. But the main fun in this stream is the big boulders and the

mini caves under them. Enjoying the tiny caving and scrambling.

Eventually, the stream got bushier and we exited, the first time, in the wrong direction. I didn’t spend time enough checking possible exits on the right side and instead, we went up a relatively clear path on the left side. But this requires going up for a long while before starting the (sometimes sandy slippery) downhill towards the Piglet and Star Rock.

The latter is just under the former. If you want your Instagram pics you can get there way faster through the green and brown lines. The brown line includes the 貓爪石室 Cat’s Claw Stone Chamber.

Interesting but the connection seems less used and therefore even bushier and with a few slowly-slide-down-the-sandy-slope sections. Eventually, we connected with the green line again, and up we went 潤腸石室 stone chamber.

No idea how to transl(iter)ate the name. So I will call it Intestine Chamber. This structure is short but fun. Including a tight corridor and an easier-than-it-looks chimney climb. You can skip the latter two with a side path on the right. The first time there was a big group of hikers and we just tried to pass them fast that way. Therefore pics from another day on our way to the Great Boulder forest (next post). You could do it all in one day but it would be a long one, if first time in the area. Instead, on the first day we went down to the starting point.

Video where you can see most of the previous.

10min50sec onwards, the last dry stream and 酒埕石室 chamber are not on the map. Not sure where it is. Still checking further the area.

The magenta line includes some side small tributaries on the North side of the stream. For those who want to see it all. A few nice big boulders with minuscule caves. A few high scrambles. Very bushy path with complex navigation. There were red ribbons, but frequently I needed to stop to find machete-cut branches and other previous hiker traces till I could find one. I could see almost continuously the basketball rim-looking structure. Atop a sandy clear path. The downhill tributary was complex and even less interesting.

I don’t think I’ll bring friends there. On the South side, the aforementioned Great Boulder forest is significantly more intriguing.

Everything you should know before stream hiking