Navigation

Do you know how to read a map? What contour lines mean? Do you trust your GPS or ribbons? Do you know how to navigate without them?

You have a post with all the information about GPS watches and apps that I use. You can be all the time checking the screen following the breadcrumbs or blue arrow. This posts tries to explain you a lot more, so that both you can be a bit more tech independent and also can understand better what those maps are showing you.

Sometimes I take for granted that everyone knows the navigation basics and get surprised with buddies that invariably take the wrong turn in almost every fork, or don’t see the “clear” paths in front of them. Post dedicated for all of you 😉 For a big chunk I will copy and paste a post written by Colin long years ago. He had a web that was hacked. I was able to recover part of it at the web.archive. Head there if you want even more information, including exercises for you to practice and others. He is the teacher by profession.

Cardinal directions – Contour lines – Trail & hillsides – Stream features – Coastal features – App carto symbols – Ribbons – Tracking/trailing

Cardinal Directions

How the four main compass directions are called: North, East, South & West. The Germanic origin of the names was quite descriptive. East was the sunrise. West the evening. South was the region of the Sun. My own anecdote: The first time down under I was very confused. Hiking in the Blue Mountains (Sydney) my instincts were continuously saying that I was heading in the wrong direction, even if I was following the online map. Eventually, I realized why 😅 The sun position. In both hemispheres the sun rises on the East and sets on the West, but in the Northern hemispheres it does so passing through the South, that’s why the aforementioned name. So around noon time I was heading North but my brain was detecting that the sun was in front of me, not behind, creating the confusion. It is not something that I had ever studied, but that I had interiorized just by hiking.

If you are not good with directions naturally and/or you are new to hiking, work on it. Try to think consciously where the sun is, the time, approx. location of the North. Use a physical compass or the one on your watch or telephone. Eventually, your sense of direction will improve. Hong Kong is tiny. In no time you should be able to recognize relevant landmarks: Shenzhen on the North, Tai Mo Shan and all the other Observatories, the chimneys of Lamma, Lion Rock, Sharp Peak and a lot more come to mind that are easy to spot. Try to find where the sea is and highest peaks around you.

Contour lines

Contour lines are the thin squiggly lines you see when looking at hilly or mountainous areas on maps. Contour lines show the differences in height and steepness of the landscape. On the Countryside Series maps of Hong Kong contour lines are thin or thick pink lines.
As you can see in the simplified graphic below, thin pink contour lines represent 20 metres of height difference and thick pink lines show a height difference of 100 metres. Note that the elevation of the thick pink line is written on the thick pink contour lines. In this example, the thick contour line shows us the elevation is 100 metres. Peaks and spot heights are shown as little triangles or black dots with the height in metres written next to them. In this example, the peak is 146 metres high.

The amount of height between contour lines differs widely on maps produced for different countries and different publications. Even the various applications or maps available within a single application. On the right side thin lines represent 10 meters of height gain while thick lines represent 50 meters of height gain.

Colouring, shading & relief

If you look at the map of Tai Mo Shan below you will see there is also a colour variation to further illustrate height changes. On Countryside Series maps sea-level to 100 metres is light green, 100 metres to 300 metres is light yellow, 300 metres to 600 metres is light purple and 600 metres and more is darker purple.
You can also see that the maps are shaded with North West faces lighter than South East faces. This gives the map a three dimensional quality which further helps the hiker visualize the shape of the landscape.

How to measure elevation with contour lines? If you want to find the altitude of a certain point on a map, find the nearest thick contour line and then count the thin contour lines up to that point.

In the graphic above, point A lies on the first thin contour line above and the 100m thick contour line. Therefore, point A’s elevation is 120 metres.
Point B lies roughly three quarters of the way between the first and the second thin contour lines above the 200m thick line. Therefore, point B’s elevation is approximately 215 metres.
Point C lies roughly half way between third and fourth contour line above the 200 metre thick contour line. Therefore, point C’s elevation is approximately 270 metres.

When you count contour lines to find elevation, count from zero. For example, the first contour line counted should be zero metres, the second is 20 metres, the third is 40 metres and so on. If you start from a thick contour line marked 200, then the next thin contour line above it will be 220 metres and so forth.

How to visualise the general shape of the landscape

If you look at the contour lines in the graphic below, you will see that some are spaced far apart while others are spaced close together. Basically, this tells us about slope steepness: that is how flat or steep the land is.

The basic rule is that the further apart the contour lines are then the flatter the land; the closer together the contour lines then the steeper it is. Where contour lines are so close together they merge then you have a vertical or overhanging cliff.
Using this basic knowledge it then becomes possible to visualize the topography of the landscape from the map.

An important point to keep in mind is that the appearance of the landscape depends on where we stand. Compare the graphic looking South to North above with the graphics looking West to East and East to West.

Looking South to North we can see two peaks with the higher peak on our right and the lower peak on our left.

But when we look from East to West (shown below) we can only see one peak as the higher peak hides the lower peak whereas when looking West to East we can see the higher peak behind the lower peak.

Note too that when we look from East to West, the sides of the higher peak do not appear as steep as they appear when seen from South to North and, furthermore, that the shape of the peaks change depending on where we view them from.

Visualizing the landscape in this way is an essential navigation skill since it allows you to work out where you are by what you can see and also work out the best routes through a landscape which fit the aims and ability of the hiking party.

Admittedly, the example above are highly simplified. You will rarely find yourself standing in such a direct line at a level point. You may even be looking down on those peaks from a higher point or you may be between those peaks looking directly up at them. With time and practice though you will be able to walk through a landscape in your mind’s eye just by looking at a map.

Common problems with interpreting contour lines

No matter how accurate or detailed a map is, never forget the hiker’s axiom: ‘the map is not the land’. The graphic here shows that the same contour outline of a hilly structure can have at least two interpretations (shown as a red and green line).

In the real world, slopes are not usually uniform.The gap between thin contour lines on the Countryside Series Maps represents 20m of elevation or the height of a five storey house. This means your walk could be a relatively easy ramble across smooth slopes as shown by the green line or an exhausting series of ups and downs as shown by the red line.

As well as the possibility of a smooth or rough landscape, the following contour line patterns often cause confusion. When interpreting such patterns try to understand how the shape fits into the surrounding landscape and chose the interpretation which is most likely to fit.

Rise or depression?

As the graphic above shows, if a contour shape has outer contour lines higher than the inside contour lines then you will have a dip or a depression in the landscape. This could be river valley, a gorge or a plateau. If the reverse is the case the outer contour lines are higher than the contour lines inside – then you have a rise in the landscape. This could be a hill, knoll or a peak.

Up sloping or down sloping? In certain cases where the height of contour lines is unknown, evenly spaced contour lines could represent a uniform slope in either direction as shown below.

Trail & hillsides

Cliffs, rock bands and rock outcrops

In Hong Kong these are a steep, vertical or overhanging band of rock from several meters high and wide to nearly a hundred of meters high and upto a kilometre long.
Contour line & map icon signature
Several long contour lines running close to and parallel to each other. Often boulder or cliff symbols are placed where the band of rock is exposed or forms tors. (This is not always consistently represented on maps however, especially where bands of rock are hidden by forest.)
On the map you will see that Major and Named Trails tend to steer clear of cliffs whereas difficult trails will get right in amongst them.

Cliffs can offer exhilarating scrambles and rock climbs. Some, however, are impassable and can take along time to skirt around. Beware of falling rocks when hiking under a cliff. Wear a helmet!
Large cliff areas tend to be criss-crossed with trails many of which are not marked on the map.
Some cliff areas have been bolted by rock climbers and may be busy at weekends and on holidays.

Cols and passes

Cols or Passes are the gaps between two hill or mountain peaks and are usually quite flat.
Contour line & map icon signature
If you follow the contour lines coming down from two peaks they will meet. Usually there is a gap with no contour lines where they meet. In Hong Kong hill passes such as these are called “Au” and are usually given a name on maps. One of the best known is Pak Kung Au on Lantau Island, which is the pass between Lantau Peak and Sunset Peak on the Tung Chung Road.

Since cols and passes are usually relatively flat they are the easiest way for a trail or road to cut through hilly terrain. Therefore, you are likely to find either a road or a good trail in those places.
Many trekkable stream courses end at a col.

Peaks, sub-peaks, ridges and saddles

Peaks are the highest point in a landscape are are often prominent and distinctive in shape. Sub peaks are lower than the highest peak on a hill formation. In Hong Kong most of the highest peaks have a concrete column on them called trigonometrical station or “trig point”, which were used in the making of maps.
A ridge is the point along which two faces of a hill or mountain meet. Ridges often link sub peaks. Some ridges have several sub peaks such as the Pat Sin Leng ridge near Tai Po in the North East New Territories. Ridges can be quite steep or very steep, sharp or rounded, narrow or wide, and low or high.
Where two major peaks of a similar height are linked by a ridge is called a saddle. The most famous saddle in Hong Kong is Ma On Shan which is Cantonese for “Horse Saddle Hill”.

Peaks or sub-peaks can be seen as several concentric contour shapes which get smaller and smaller until they are marked by a small triangle (the trig point) or a dot (called a “spotheight”). Both will have a number next to them indicating the height in metres.
Ridges are shown on maps where several “V” or “U” shaped contour lines lie close together in a line.

Peaks and sub-peaks are useful landmarks for working out your location because they rise above all other landscape features and often have distinctive shapes. Standing on a peak or sub peak on a clear day will give excellent views of the surrounding landscape. “Trig Points” have a black & white base. The white part of the base is an arrow pointing north, useful if you are hiking in poor visibility.
Ridges are usually less thickly vegetated and good for views too. Most ridges will have some kind of trail running along them. Some “knife-ridges” (very narrow ridges lines with very steep sides) can be dangerous to walk on in windy or wet weather but make for excellent scrambling in good weather. There is only really one knife ridge in Hong Kong “the Dog’s Tooth” on Lantau Peak. Often, difficult side trails (dotted brown lines) will follow features such as ridges, because they make for the most exhilarating hikes.

Plateaus, flat areas and swamps

This is a sizeable piece of flat ground from several square meters to a few square kilometers.
Large areas of flat or swampy ground are found mostly at lower elevations at the bottom of river or stream valleys though there are a few well-known hill plateaus such as Sha Lo Tung in the North East New Territories and Ngong Ping in the Ma On Shan hill range.
Very often these areas were used or are still being used for agriculture, and are the favoured roaming grounds of cow herds and wild boars.

A large contour shape with no other contour shapes inside it or a sizeable area on the map surrounded by contour lines but no contour lines within it. Where green cells are marked indicates abandoned or presently-in-use agricultural land.

Such flat areas in Hong Kong tend to be thickly vegetated or, if surrounded by streams, swampy.
Often such places are abandoned paddy fields or rice terraces and are best avoided unless a well-maintained / major trail passes through them. It is likely you will come across abandoned villages / houses in such areas. Be careful of hidden dumps, holes and sharp objects hidden among the undergrowth. That said, there is often a lot of wildlife in such areas.

Stream valleys and spurs

Streams indent the landscape. Some valleys are wide and shallow while others are deep and narrow.
Large streams will have several tributaries with each tributary making its own smaller stream valley.
Stream valleys tend to be forested or thickly vegetated.

The stream course is shown as a blue line crossing perpendicular to the contour line. Each contour line bends into “U” or “V” shape along the blue line. Generally speaking, the deeper the bend of the contour lines the more distinct the stream course will be.
On each side of the blue line the contour lines also bend into U or V shapes but in the opposite direction to the U or V shape of the stream course. These are the spurs which make the sides of the stream valley.

Generally speaking, the deeper and more bent the contour lines along the stream course, then the more distinct the stream course will be and thus the better it will be for stream trekking.
Trails running parallel with a contour line often dip in and out of stream valleys adding considerable length to a walk. However, stream crossings are good places to stop and cool off on hot days. Occasionally, on days of very heavy rain, stream crossings can flood and be very dangerous to cross.
Spurs tend to be less vegetated than the stream course and thus good spots for getting a fix on your position. Spurs are useful exits from streams and often have trails (marked or unmarked on the map) along them.

Stream features

In Hong Kong stream courses come in two main types: boulder/sediment beds or rock beds. Obviously, these are not geological terms but descriptive of the hiking experience. Boulder beds have an earthy, sandy or sediment floor and are strewn with rounded boulders varying in size from hand-sized to house-sized whereas rock beds are streams with a solid rock floor, where the stream seems to cut through bed rock. They may also be strewn with small or large rounded boulders.
Distinct stream courses can be “canopied” (tree foliage roofs the stream bed) or “open” (the stream bed is open to the sky i.e. no canopy) varying in width between 1 metre to 10 metres and in terms of steepness ranging from flat to vertical.

The stream’s blue line crosses several elongated U or V shaped contour lines. Some contour lines have a deep notch under the blue line. The more elongated and deep the U and V shape the more distinctive the stream course will be; the more densely packed the contour lines, then the steeper it will be. Very wide stream courses or river beds are shown as a thick blue lines with thin dark blue edges and will likely have several tributaries feeding into them. If there are green splotches and dashes indicating woodland over the stream bed then it is more likely to be canopied (but not always). The biggest and most popular stream courses are named in blue letters in Chinese Characters and English on the Countryside Series Maps.

Distinct stream courses are the mainstay of stream trekking. They are easy to follow and navigate in.
However, distinct stream courses can flood suddenly and lethally in heavy rain and should be avoided in such weather.

False tributaries

In the stream course a false tributary seems to be a small/dry but distinct tributary.

One of more contour lines indented or elongated like that of a distinct stream course signature but there is no blue line running across them. False tributaries often lie parallel to other stream courses. You will need to look very closely to spot them on your map.

False tributaries seem distinct but after a few tens of metres disappear into the hillside. They can make navigation more difficult because they may be confused for a target tributary or a tributary used as a way marker.

Gorges

This is where the stream cuts deeply into the bed rock of the landscape leaving vertical and rocky sides. In Hong Kong gorges vary in size and length from several metres deep and tens of meters long to nearly a hundred metres deep and several hundreds of meters long. They are likely to have long deep pools and high waterfalls along their course. Gorges in Hong Kong are likely to have one or more tributaries above feeding into them. As a rule of thumb, the more tributaries, the deeper and longer the gorge will be.

Very elongated contour lines where on opposite sides of the stream’s blue line the contour lines run parallel to and facing each other. Sometimes the contour lines will twist and merge indicating cliffs.

Gorges make for the hardest but most rewarding type of stream trekking. Usually they will have deep pools for swimming in and impressive waterfalls. Some gorges are impassable and require hiking up and down steep difficult trails to get in and out of. Impassable gorges can be abseiled coming downstream but this requires considerable expertise and experience in rope work.
WARNING: Avoid gorges during or immediately after heavy rain. They are notoriously lethal.

Indistinct stream courses

Indistinct stream courses tend to be narrow and/or flat and are usually what I term “boulder/sediment” beds. They are thickly vegetated and disappear into the hillside or surrounding landscape. Indistinct stream courses are usually found along upper tributaries of larger streams or are small streams in flat areas and plateaus.

A thin blue line running along several slightly bent or straight contour lines. The wider apart and the less bent the contour lines are then the more indistinct the stream is likely to be.

This is the point the stream trekker leaves the stream and starts bushwhacking to the nearest trail.
Indistinct stream courses are hard to navigate and hard to hike in because thick vegetation and thorns block the way.

Man-made stream courses and flatland rivers

Almost all of the rivers in the low lying areas of Hong Kong have been concreted (called Channelizing). They are not places that make for pleasant walking.

Rivers that have been channelized (i.e. concreted) can be inferred if the river bed is very straight and has a road running along both or one of its banks.

River or stream courses that meander through flat lands below an elevation of 20 metres can not usually be hiked because the stream bed is underwater (and likely very polluted). The banks are also inaccessible to due thick vegetation or because the land is private, channelised or fenced off.

Waterfalls

Hong Kong has been blessed with hundreds of waterfalls of many different kinds; they range in height from a few metres high to nearly a hundred meters high. They may be thin trickling ribbons or roaring torrents several meters in width. Many waterfalls are seasonal; that is they only flow in the wet spring and summer months but are dry in winter.

Although it is impossible to tell the type of waterfall from the map, there are clues to where you may find a waterfall. One is what I call “the classic kink”. The stream’s blue line elongates and twists the surrounding contour lines (much like the signature of a gorge) and then suddenly bends up to 90 degrees. However, this can be confused with a tight bend in the stream course.
High waterfalls can be seen by a stream’s blue line crossing tightly packed contour lines (basically a stream crossing a cliff signature) and in some cases forming a deep tight notch in each contour line.
To estimate the height of the waterfall, count how many contour lines the stream’s blue line crosses.
Tellingly, almost none of Hong Kong’s waterfalls are named on the Countryside Series maps.

There are many different kinds of waterfalls, each of which offers a unique kind of scrambling and aesthetic experience. Some waterfalls lie close to trails and roads and are easy to get to. Most can be reached by scrambling. However, there are a few that require rock climbs or tricky abseils to reach or bypass.

Waterfalls after heavy rains are an awesome spectacle but should be viewed from a distance.

Coastal features

For those of you interested in coasteering the following features should be learned.

The coastline of Hong Kong is made up of sand, sediment, land soils, mud, pebbles, boulders (from fist-sized to house-sized), swamp and solid bands of rock. Sections may be a combination of all these. Where the sea meets solid bands of rock then features such as arches, caves, cliffs and zawns can be found.
The difficulty and nature of a section of coastline is harder to predict than hillsides and streams using a map. If planning a coastal traverse you will need either a detailed description of the section from other traversers or take a boat trip and follow the section you want to do taking lots of photos as you go.
The most impressive coastlines tend to be on the Eastern side of the HK SAR Territory from Sai Kung East down through Clearwater Bay and Hong Kong Island. There are also some spectacular sections among the outlying islands off Sai Kung such as The Nine Pins and the Eastern islands off Hong Kong Island such as Tung Lung Chau and Po Toi.

Bays and beaches

Bays are formed between the protruding headlands and the beaches found in these bays are made up either sand or pebbles.

Bays are shown as a long gentle inward curve on the coastline. Note that sea contour lines are usually shallow (5m) and quite far from the land contour lines.
Most of the larger bays in Hong Kong are named Wan at the end (“Wan” is Cantonese for “bay”) and the best known and larger sandy beaches will be clearly marked by a small flag (blue = supervised; white = unsupervised).

Bays with sand and pebble beaches are easy to walk across provided they are not submerged during high tide. Bays are usually the beginnings and endings of a coastal traverse as bays usually connect to trails, roads or ferry piers.

Rocky, bouldery coastline & sea cliffs

Rocky coastline is where the coast is a solid band of rock that is angled but not vertical. The rock band may extend up to 50 metres in height. Some rocky coastline is rough and jumbled but in other places is a smooth slab of rock.
Bouldery coastline is made up of large boulders some bigger than a house.
A cliff is an exposed band of rock that is nearly vertical, vertical or overhanging. In Hong Kong sea cliffs vary in height from a few metres high to over fifty meters. The quality of the rock varies from solid, firm and strong to loose, fractured and crumbly.

Rocky sections can be inferred from land contour lines lying close to or touching deep sea contour lines (10 or 20m). Rocky sections of coast line might be jagged and will have sea caves marked either by icons or by notches.
Bouldery coastline is likely to be marked by the boulder icon and tends to occur where sea contour lines are quite close but shallow (5m). However, the use of boulder icons is not always consistent.
High cliffs are seen as several tightly packed land contour lines. In some cases a series of slope /cliff or quarry symbols are given but this is not always consistent.
If the cliff symbols lie right next to the sea, that section is more likely to be impassable by scrambling.

Rocky and bouldery coastline offer top notch scrambling for the coastal traverser.
Smooth slabs of rocky coastline can be tricky to traverse as there are few holds.
Some bouldery coastline will flood during high tide and may become impassable.
Some of Hong Kong’s finest rock climbs are to be found on sea cliffs and will be fitted with bolts and anchors.
Many sea cliffs have rocky platforms beneath them which can easily be traversed at low tide. The tops of sea cliffs are often comprised of loose boulders and debris that can come crashing down especially during rainy weather.

Sea caves, arches and zawns

Sea caves are rocky hollows tunneled out of sea cliffs or headlands by wave erosion. Sometimes a stream may flow over the roof of the cave. Most of the sea caves in Hong Kong are quite shallow going in only a few metres.
In some places the sea punches through a thin neck of headland forming a rocky tunnel or an elegant arch of rock.
Zawns or rocky inlets are places where two sea cliffs face each other and may end in a sea cave.

Many of the best sea caves and arches have a clear “cave/arch” symbol on the map and are named.
Some large sea caves are not marked on maps. There are perhaps hundreds of unmarked sea caves. They can be inferred by deep notches that take a bite out of a contour line – especially in sections marked with cliff symbols.
Zawns can be seen as rectangular notches in the coastline or, in the case of smaller zawns, a straight short blue line.
At least one blow hole is marked on the Sai Kung Map (East), on a NW islet of Wang Chau Island (Grid square KK2972)

Well known sea caves are likely to trails all over them (not all of them marked on the map) and can be used as exits and entrance trails to a coastal traverse.
As a rule of thumb, sea caves are impassable to the hiker and either need to be swum past or traversed over. This could mean very long detours and some horribly and dangerously tough bushwhacking.
If a zawn does not end in a sea cave it is possible to scramble round the top of them. Narrow ones can even be stepped across. However, larger zawns will probably require a committing swim or a tough bushwhack to bypass.

Coves & aretes

A cove is a small sheltered bay with a narrow entrance. In Hong Kong the inner shoreline area is often ringed by steep slopes or sea cliffs. The shore of the cove may be pebbly or sandy.
Aretes are small sharp rocky headlands that poke out into the sea. They often occur sides of coves.
Contour line & map icon signature
Coves tend to look like small ovals or half/three quarter circles cut out of the coastline. Coves may have a “sand” symbol indicating a small beach within them.
Aretes are short thin slithers of land poking out into the sea. Very small aretes may only be seen as little sharp triangles. Some aretes have small rocky islets dotted about them.

The entrances to many coves may be impassable by scrambling and will need to be swum around.
The back of the cove is likely to be very steep or a wall of cliff. Coves tend to amplify waves and swimming into them in should be avoided during big sea swells.
Aretes can provide excellent scrambling but many are impassable by scrambling. Swimming around them requires great care as currents tend to push you into the arete. Some aretes are also surrounded by small rocky islets or submerged rocks which further make swimming around them dangerous. Bushwhacking above an arete can be very tricky because the ground tends to be steep and crumbly.

Headlands and points

Headlands are lengths of land that stick out prominently from the surrounding coastline. They may be wide or thin varying in length from a few hundred metres to several kilometers. The largest headlands are called peninsulas.As headlands are more exposed to the force of the sea, they tend to be rocky and lined with cliffs and sea caves.
Points are the tip of a headland and very exposed to the force of the sea. Here overhanging cliffs or sea caves and sea arches can form.
Contour line & map icon signature
Headlands are seen as shapes protruding from the coastline. They often have names ending with the Cantonese words Kok (cape or point); Tau (head) or Tsui (spit of land).

Large headlands usually have trails running their length. However, to follow a headland along its coastline may be very committing as headlands are made up of cliffs and caves and there is no protection from rough seas. The trickiest part of a headland is likely to be a point which may require a very committing swim to bypass or a tough bushwhack out.

Coastal waterfall and stream mouth

All stream systems are trying to make their way to the sea, but usually enter a larger river system or disappear into our city’s storm drains. Fortunately, in somes cases, the stream succeeds.
Streams in some places flow into a tidal swamp, in others they cut channels in sandy bays. More spectacularly they can furrow out a tidal gorge or suddenly drop off a cliff or over a sea cave.
The best examples are to be found along the eastern coastline of Sai Kung.
Contour line & map icon signature
For swampy areas, the stream’s blue line meanders across a flat area marked with green cells then enters the sea.
Tidal Gorges and coastal waterfalls cross one or more tightly spaced contour lines which can indicate how high the waterfall is. The contour line is often notched or elongated.
The larger waterfalls will have several tributaries feeding into them.

Coastal waterfalls and gorges can give access to and exit from a coastal traverse if the scrambling is not too difficult. However, make sure the stream gets you to a trail! They are also useful way markers for navigating.
Some coastal waterfalls are impassable by scrambling and will a require a committing swim to bypass.
The most easily accessible example of a coastal waterfall is Waterfall Bay below the Wah Fu Estate on Hong Kong Island. Sadly, this once beautiful waterfall is in a miserable state and the feeding stream essentially serves as an open sewer and a construction waste dump.
Crossing a stream mouth usually means a wade particularly after heavy rains. Streams mouths can be very swampy and thick with mangrove, thorns and rubbish. This can make them an unpleasant hiking experience. However, small streams may be little more than a trickle along the beach and easily stepped over.

Mudflats, mangrove & swamp

Flat areas lying next to the sea where beaches have not formed will most likely be flat areas of mud or sediment or thick and tangled shrubbery.

Swampy or muddy sections of coastline tend to occur at places where land contour lines are widely spaced and where sea contours are shallow (5m) and far back from the land. They are marked with “swamp, mangrove, mudflat” icons but not always consistently.

Mudflats, Mangrove and Swamp make the worst kinds of hiking. A tip is to avoid the coastlines in the North East and North West New Territories for coastal traversing. Mangrove swamps can be so tangled and thorny that you may want to find the nearest trail to bypass it. Swampy areas may become passable at low tide but will likely be very muddy. Check the tides before you begin your traverse. Many swampy areas are flooded at high tide.

App Carto Lines & Symbols

Each app or online resource can have different symbols. Most apps I use end up presenting variants of Openstreetmaps. You can find the full definition of their lines, symbols and several others in their support wiki.

Remember that you can can right click or press on the phone while in openstreetmaps to get further information of each location.

Including what the symbols mean, last time that the features were updated and others.

Ribbons

Not all ribbons are made equal. Fifteen years ago I used to see just red fabric ribbons. They used to be out of the main paths (MacLehose, Lantau trail, etc), but in relatively known alternative ones or usually taking you to interesting spots, routes or exits. Most of the nature was not ribboned yet. You could find quite some streams without them, for example.

It is not the case now with ribbons growing in number all around Hong Kong. Anyone can go up a hill and set up their own ribbons. Some really like to leave their mark with named ones. Some put too many of them. The “Blue Lemmings” group comes to mind. Their real name is something else in Chinese, but I call them that way because of their behavior.

It is a huge group of local people, quite some in their fifties and sixties. Their leader is very experienced. He goes in front and puts blue plastic ribbons every 5 to 10 meters, so that his 50+ people group can follow him even very spread, each hiker at their own pace. It seems that they follow him wherever he goes, like the lemmings. Once I found their ribbons in a remote ancient trail. Eventually I realized that they had taken the wrong turn. I followed the ribbons and a bit later… They had found a dense vegetation section and instead of going back they just machete open their way through 🤦‍♂️ unnecessary new path.

Later I found copycat groups. Orange plastic group, also putting them every 5 to 10 meters, even in or crossing main paths. I was able to meet these guys in action and we had a serious discussion in Ma On Shan. The leaders had a ribbon dispenser on their waist. Similar to a ticket dispenser in a shop. I told them to stop trashing nature. They tried to explain me that they are biodegradable and I told them that that was not true. Basically those ribbons do degrade, but only into mini plastics that fall into the ground and pollute it… I had seen it trying to pick up the blue ones before…

So now you can find ribbons taking you anywhere. Interesting or not. Even to unnecessarily bushy or dangerous places. The former examples would include the aforementioned lemmings’ or obscure/more remote streams that can have ribbons below and be a mess atop. The latter for example set by groups going to climbing walls, more perilous scrambles, or old routes that have suffered landslides or typhoon damages. Do not take for granted that you will have ribbons all the stream/route through.

Throughout the years I have started to associate some groups ribbons with the type of routes they hike. The first one that comes to mind are the “Healthy hikers” green ribbons. Quite some streams have them. If you see these ribbons most likely the route will be classified here max at 6/10 difficulty. Most of the times easier. If they leave half way the stream (Diamond Hill main stream for example) it is usually a good sign that the difficulty increases further up. Their ribbons in various formats below. With Chinese characters, in English, more vivid (new) or faded (old) green.

If instead you find this orange ones from the Crepuscular hikers,

you are most surely in a little hiked stream or path. This group is trying to check every single stream. So don’t be surprised if upper the stream is tiny, or bushy, or complicated to navigate.

There are tons of named ribbons.

I guess I have seen 50+ in the last year. Lately groups from mainland including QR codes with the group information too 🤷‍♂️

I am not against ribbons. Sometimes I have happily found one and confirmed that I was back in the good track. But I would greatly appreciate if hikers would follow a bit more “leave no trace” principles. Ribbons are starting to become nature trashing. Closer to a graffiti than to an aid for future hikers. Therefore my two cents. To the Lemmings and alike groups I would recommend temporary marking: mainly chalk arrows and if a few ribbons are needed for better visibility the last person in the group could remove them. In general, I would ask not putting new ribbons just to mark “we did this” with the named ones and if you put new ones remove old ones. For groups that put ribbons in dangerous or tricky routes it would be great to have some kind of marking saying so (both in Chinese & English).

Tracking/Trailing

Eventually, if you start going to remote routes, obscure streams, etc you will end up somewhere were the GPS will not show you any path and there are no ribbons. Time to track your way out.

Most of the times, the easiest way will be to Backtrack. For that when stream hiking or scrambling I bring a rope so that I can help myself downclimbing. It is also a good habit to look backwards: frequently turn around to see what the trail looks like from behind. I also check the recording in my GPS watch. Although when surrounded by walls the accuracy is not the best.

Let’s say that eventually you are not able or don’t want to bactrack. Either it is too dangerous to climb down (sudden drizzle making it slippery) or you have lost completely the sense of where you came from. I take for granted that you are experienced enough to not panic. Remember, Hong Kong is really small. Getting lost, for real, is really complicated. Even without a GPS or a map.

When I am in that situation the first thing I do is to look for hiker marks. The best are cuts in the vegetation and branches. A perfect flat cut usually means a group that passed through the area with a machete or pruners.

Eventually you will be able to guess how old the marks are. The newer the more likely that the thorny vegetation has not grown too much back, which makes finding your way easier. No matter how old they are, continue trying to find similar marks. It does not need to be just cuts. Broken branches at arm level, above all when in slope, are good signs. A previous hiker trying to pull themselves up and breaking the branch. Plastic bottles and other trash sometimes means that there were hikers before. But not always. Heavy rain can be throwing down the slope trash left atop.

You can also look for subtle changes in vegetation. Old paths often have different vegetation than the surrounding. For example in Pak Shek stream there are several almost completely hidden paths. At 2:04 I needed to hike really low to find the way.

Be aware of animal trails though. Animals, particularly the few big ones in Hong Kong (wild-boars & deers), often use the same, most efficient routes as humans. While they can get steeper than human trails, they often follow the path of least resistance. I have found quite a few around streams. I guess their way down to drink at night or when with no hiker traffic. A while ago a buddy took one of them accidentally in Wong Lung Hang. Just above the main waterfall… He got lost in the woods in no time and took me a while to direct him in the correct direction by shouting and eventually find him. If you get into something that looks like a path but a little later it gets faint and or you need to go really really low to pass, you might want to backtrack a bit and try another route.

Eventually you will be able to trust your instincts. When a a path feels too hard (my tolerance is high), I give up and try other direction. Unless I see clearly in the satellite images (downloaded before heading to the outing) that I am getting close to a clear path or whatever. Then it can be pruning time. As I already explained in the stream hiking 101 post when exploring I bring quite some gear with me. Including full clothe cover, extra gloves, pruners, etc.

Nevertheless, be aware that, even with full gear, advancing through pure jungle will take you really long time and require a great effort. Last example that comes to mind is Sheung Yiu Hang. It took me easy 10 minutes to cross 15 meters of pure jungle. But it has not been the worse. In Dai Sek Joan had a sudden vertigo issue and he “forced” me to go up through an old path on the East side of the stream.

Almost completely closed. Without proper clothe cover and fighting continuously with the vegetation, the effort for him was too much and as soon as we arrived atop, once the adrenaline subsided, he collapsed. I set him in the shade under the trees, water, sugary snack, start to feel better and he fully recovered once under a nearby waterfall.

If you are abroad, in significantly bigger land… Obviously… Be way more cautious. Already in Taiwan things can get tricky faster. Not mentioning in the desert in Utah or similar. Backtrack, have plenty of battery in your gadgets, try to be extra conservative.