Hiking the Dragon's Back, Hong Kong

It's funny how sometimes living can get in the way of life.  Other Half and I love hiking, and we are fortunate enough to live a quick 45 minutes from Hong Kong which is abundant with trails and islands to explore. But we have been there to go hiking exactly once, and it was just last weekend.

The hiking actually came around by happenstance. Friends of ours had planned to show us their favourite Indian restaurant tucked away in the bowels of the Chungking Mansions and since we were headed that way we decided we should also head over early enough in the day for a Dim Sum brunch. With those two food-centric goals in mind we needed to do something to while away the hours in between, and so the idea of hiking was born!

We chose to hike the Dragon's Back trail based on the recommendation of another friend, who is a hiking aficionado - and we're glad we did.  This was a picturesque hike that took us out of the hustle and bustle of downtown HK, but still kept us on the main island and took us through a variety of environments from the heavily wooded to the heavily exposed ridge top. 

This hike starts along the side of Old Shek-O road, winds you up and through Shek-O Country Park and finally finishes down at Shek-O beach.  It was a terrific hike, with a lot of beauty to take in.  If you're going to be in Hong Kong this comes highly recommended!

Along the way we were lucky enough to come across a paraglider just as he was preparing to take off. It was the most graceful process! The paraglider basically just shook the lines of his chute to get the wind in it and then sat back and off the cliff side, floating away in the breeze. A real treat.

And as if that wasn't enough, some lucky fellow named Jonah was having a birthday party on the trail that day and we took in a scavenger hunt along the way. Such a cool idea!

I think this hike really helped us realize we need to get out there more often, there is just so much to discover.  Here's to hoping that the living doesn't get in the way of the life too much!

Practical Info:

This is a moderate level hike and is easily accessible on Hong Kong's public transit system.  This website has good directions and a printable map. It takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete dependent on speed. We took it slow and stopped to chat a lot along the way and completed the trail in about 3 hours.  The first section of the trail was steeply uphill and then opened up on the ridgeline and the main reason it's called Dragon's Back.  The last half of the hike was through dense forest and provided some welcome shade.