Team Hong Kong: Needle Point

This past Monday, Ben and I went on a hike. There’s a very tall mountain that we can see from the church. The first time Ben saw it, he thought "I want to climb it and see the view from there." Well, he finally got to try it. We didn’t really know where to begin so early in the morning we packed our bags and headed off in the direction of our objective. I wasn’t sure that we’d be able to do it, because I wasn’t sure we’d find a trail -- even if there was one -- until we were very close to the top.

Our objective, as seen from Agape

So we walked through Tai Wai village proper and began walking along the range of hills of which our goal was part. We saw a path headed up. It seemed a little early, but we wanted to check all possible routes so up we went. The path led us to a highrise under construction that we could see from the roof at Agape, but also revealed a little village in the hills. Unfortunately, the path ended with a fence and a gate, so we went back down and continued on along the base of the hills. As we drew nearer to the base of the mountain, it became apparent that it was actually a series of 3 peaks, with each one getting larger as you went. Our objective was of course the tallest one, much taller than the other two.

We found a road leading through a valley along the base of the mountain and followed it back in. But then the path veered off to the right, in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go. We were about to turn around again, when we spotted a staircase over to our left. Staircases like this are quite common and used for maintaining the drainage systems built into the steep hillsides in order to prevent landslides. Usually they go as far as necessary and then end abruptly, but we wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a trail so we went up to have a look. The stairs led us up right along the highway and were indeed used for maintenance. However, where the concrete stairs ended, a dirt trail began. The shacks of several squatters dotted the area and the path was probably used by them. As we continued on, the trail faded away. Fortunately, one of the drainage canals ran along side the remnants of the path, so we walked along this and continued up the hill. Then we ran into some more stairs used for maintenance and walked up to a small road.

We looked up and down the road, but both directions seemed to be going down. But we saw another path leading up. Where the path started, there were signs informing us that there was some kind of station (for water or power or something) up the path. I was afraid it would be another dead end with a gate a fence, but we walked up just to make sure. We found some more squatter shacks and again the concrete stairs ended and again a path began.

By this time we were quite close to the top of the first peak and commanded a good view of the Tai Wai area, but the tallest peak -- our objective -- still seemed just as far away as it had previously. As we continued on, the path meandered around and along a ditch that rainwater had formed flowing down the mountain. At times the path seemed to disappear, swallowed by the tall grasses and shrubs that bordered both sides, but then we were always able to find it again.

The view from the first peak.

The next 2 peaks, as seen from the first one.

We pressed on until we reached the second peak. I guess maybe I should explain at this point that what I call peaks were really not peaks. We never traveled down, but only up. The "peaks" are really just points that stick out from the main hill and were good vantage points. However, the view from this second peak was not really any better than that from the first one. So I began to doubt the wisdom of continuing on to the third -- but since to stop now would be giving up, we kept hiking.

The trail got steeper and steeper. Looking up ahead and back behind, it looked almost impossibly steep (although we were never in any real danger of falling. It wasn’t quite that steep, but it did feel like it). Eventually, very close to the top, our little trail took us to a main hiking trail, wide and well-maintained. We traveled up this last part quite quickly the short distance to the top. Here a sign informed us that we had reached the top of Needle Point, about 1,745 feet above sea level. From this vantage point we commanded a 360-degree view of the surrounding area -- so we could see parts of Sha Tin, Tai Wai, and even Tsuen Wan. It was spectacular, even though the air wasn’t clear enough to see anything real well or get any good panoramic pictures. We gratefully dropped our bags and enjoyed the view, as well as our lunch.