Tuesday, February 12, 2013

From Long Ke to High Island Reservoir (Photo-essay)

Before moving on to the photos taken on the part of the hike following that which took three friends and I from Sai Wan Pavilion towards Long Ke one beautiful November day, here's recounting our having come across -- while descending from Sai Wan -- a party of people on a hiking tour that's part of the Hong Kong Tourism Board's annual Great Outdoors promotion and being shocked to find that a fair few of the participants looked way more exhausted than comfortable, with at least one of them looking like she was clinging to a tree in a bid to prevent herself from collapsing. 

One problem is that many of these people were clad much more warmly than should have been the case on the warm-for-November day.  (As a comparison, while some of them had thick corduroy trousers on, three of my party were wearing cotton shorts and the one who wasn't was wearing thin cotton trousers.)

Since I didn't read any news reports of hikers needing to be rescued that day, I will surmise that those tourists ended up being okay after all.  Still, for people reading this, here's making clear that the trek from Sai Wan Pavilion to Pak Tam Chung -- or the other way around, like those tourists went -- really isn't all that easy!  Put another way: it's one which I really did get a sense of achievement upon completing it!

 As we approached Long Ke, we came across a sign 
that I strongly suspect was actually meant to read "beach" :D

The Maclehose Trail closely skirts the beautiful beach at Long Ke 
that I could easily have spent an afternoon hanging out at

I find it amusing the lengths some people will go
to make sure they have cool graduation photos :)

A photo that gives a better idea of how few people
were actually on the beach at Long Ke that afternoon! :)

It was hard to tear myself away from Long Ke
and the spendid views of it one gets along the trail

 I found the rocky edges of Long Ke Wan
to be interesting to look at too

also yields eye-catching sights

The East Dam of High Island Reservoir and nearby
natural scenery makes for a glorious view

To be continued... because I really do reckon I took a whole bunch of pretty good photos on this 14 kilometer hike through a truly beautiful part of Hong Kong! :)

8 comments:

peppylady (Dora) said...

People in our area must like to hike. Usual those who choose to hike in November is going out in snow shoes or cross country skies.
Anyhow not many lakes around here...we do have mountain lake that one need to hike in to....Coffee is on.

peppylady (Dora) said...

opps I mean your area

sarah bailey knight said...

hi ytsl,

Beautiful scenes on this part of your hike! I think people can underestimate the need for proper attire when hiking or even just being outdoors. Occasionally I see women wearing high heels in rural Vermont in winter.

YTSL said...

Hi peppylady --

Oh, I thought from your first comment that you meant that people in both our areas like to hike. :)

Re Hong Kong: yes, indeedy re people liking to hike. Also, we don't have many mountain lakes but we do seem to have lots of reservoirs. :)

Hi sbk --

I think this hike had beautiful scenes throughout. That's why I think it merits 3 photo-essays! (Did you check out my first photo-essay for this hike? Hope so!)

Re proper attire: the lack of that -- and water with them -- is what gets me raising my eyebrows re some "hikers" here in Hong Kong!

Goodbye HK, Hello YVR said...

Maybe that "bitch" sign was meant to be a clue for something?!

Nice pics and funny caption about the graduation photos. You're right some people take them in the weirdest places!

YTSL said...

Hi The Fragrant Harbour --

Along with the "bitch" sign, we also saw a lot of other signs that had numbers on them. I think they were markers for a trail that a group of people were supposed to follow to the beach!

And glad you like the pics and enjoyed what I wrote for that pic of the gowned graduates. :)

baroness radon said...

At first glance, I thought the graduation picture was really Taoist priests on the bitch.

YTSL said...

Hi baroness radon --

Bwahahahahaha! Thanks for putting a laugh early into my day! :)