Mount Parker Road Green Trail

It was during a fairly routine day of being a tourist in Quarry Bay that my sister and I came across the signposts for Mount Parker. Specifically, the Mount Parker Road Green Trail just off King’s Road. I had not been on a hike in Hong Kong yet and since I now knew exactly how to access this one, I looked at my sister and suggested we do it. Thankfully she agreed.

So, a few days later, on a rather warm, humidity filled mid-December morning we set out from our apartment in Tsuen Wan. Firstly, we arrived at Tsuen Wan MTR station and took the Tsuen Wan line to Admiralty Station. From there we hopped over to the blue Island line and after six stops we were at Quarry Bay. From the station we (myself, my sister and a friend of hers) made the short walk (about 400m) to the entrance of Tai Tam Country Park and our walk began.

The road was rather busy which was hardly surprising given it was a Sunday. It was also hot, almost uncomfortably hot. Luckily, however, there was some cooling cloud cover which was well received by all. The road was quite steep to begin with and I definitely felt the burn in my legs as this was my first hike/walk in quite some time at that point. Eventually we hit a brisk pace and were making fairly good time. There aren’t many good views on this first section of road, mostly due to the thick, lush green surroundings as well as the tall apartment blocks so we did not do much in the form of sightseeing here. After about 15 minutes of walking, we came across a sight I genuinely did not expect but was elated to see: wild pigs. These two majestic creatures were almost tame, walking alongside the many people using the road and even knew to walk to the side of the road when cars approached. I was able to get up very close to them but did not want to touch them because these are still wild animals and who knows what may happen.

Eventually, as we passed the Woodside Biodiversity Education Centre, I suddenly became rather tired of the swarms of people along the road and suggested we go off the tarred surface and onto a more, shall we say “classical” hiking trail. This took us into more bushy, jungle type surrounds which is far more what we are used to. This trail took us over a few rocky steps, was quite windy and even more of a steep ascent but it eventually evened out after about 200m. We eventually came to a clearing and noticed some steady rock formations about 50m off the path so we took a slight detour and headed in their direction. This was our first great, “worth it” view of the day. The rocks overlooked the Aldrich Bay area with a hazy view of Ma Wan Village in the distance. One thing that I have noticed about Hong Kong is the air quality is not the greatest in the world and so do not expect to be able to see a considerable distance, even from higher altitudes.

After walking through a small garden, a lovely stream with clear, cool water we took another detour onto a far smaller path used mainly for slope maintenance. It was here we got our best view of the day. Overlooking Quarry Bay, it is very easy to forget that you have just walked through a small jungle to get to where you are. On one side of us was thick bush and vegetation, while in front of us was a thick, densely populated concrete jungle of gigantic proportions. There are no small buildings in Hong Kong, and if there were, they would be considered large by South African standards. It really is quite mesmerising seeing nothing but concrete for many a mile, wondering what goes on in the buildings, how many people live in each one, among other things.

Carrying on we came to the end of our walk near the top of the road, not too far from the peak of Mount Parker itself. In order to get to this point we needed to walk up some seriously steep steps and paths which were not kind on the calves but definitely worth the pain!

If we had left earlier, we may have gone on to the peak, but light was fading so we took a few worthwhile snaps of the view. From this point there was a 360-degree view of Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Chai Wan which was utterly gorgeous and is one of the finest views I have ever encountered. Afterwards we headed down along the main path back to the starting point, stopping every now and again to take in the view and give our trembling knees some deserved rest. I would highly recommend this walk as it is highly accessible, quite easy and one of the more rewarding hikes in Hong Kong. The total distance walked was just under eight km’s and the elevation gain just under 400m. The whole walk took us just over two and a half hours to complete. Will be visiting again soon!