The MacLehose trail is a 100km long hiking trail that's runs through the northern part of Hong Kong. I never thought that there would exist such a long hiking path in Hong Kong. HK is usually associated with skyscrapers and huge amount of people. But stepping just outside of the big buzzing city, lies some wonderful hiking paths. The MacLehose trail is divided into 10 sections with varying length. What is kind of nice is that there is a marker every 500 m, so you know where you are at any time.



We hiked the trail during 6 days on 9-14th Nov 2016. Our initial plan was to hike it in 5 days, but as we got a late start on the first day, we had to do it in 6 days instead. Just before hiking the trail, we spend some time in Taiwan and actually just flew to Hong Kong for 7 days to hike the trail. Luckily, we were able to leave most of our stuff that we did not need on the trail (including laptops, extra clothing, extra shoes, etc) in the hotel we stayed in for 6 days in Taiwan. It was so nice of the people to keep an eye on our belongings while being away. We picked up the stuff 7 days later and were heading back to the airport as we were leaving Taiwan.

HOW TO GET THERE?

Getting to the trail head is fairly easy and accessible by public transport.

WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING?

If you plan on hiking the full 100km in one sitting (usually 5-7 days), then you should definitely bring a tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag and food. We bought all of our food needed for all 6 days in a super market in advance and put everything in our bags for us to carry. Water is accessible along the trail at restrooms or specific spots, but make sure to filter it before drinking. There are no streams where you can get water from. There is cell phone reception for most of the trail. This is kind of uncommon, usually we hike so far away from civilization that reception is gone by the time you hit the trail head. We bought a sim card for the duration of the time we were in Hong Kong for the trail and had data connection most of the time.

Our food for 2 people for 5 hiking days. Ramen, ramen and snickers :-)



WHERE CAN I SLEEP?

There are a lot of camping spots along the trail that are free to use! Yes, free, that's amazing. You can not reserve them in advance, as they are first come first serve. When we hiked the trail, it was usually very quiet and some spots we had for ourselves. As the trail is fairly close to the city and connected to public transport, most people opt for sleeping at home instead of camping out.