July 26, 2022
I never thought this community, The Outdoors & More existed until Galenkp posted something that caught my attention, the lubed and slippery. It reminded me of the days our father taught us self-defense. He taught us some basic stunts to defend ourselves in case of circumstances, and one is to hold a gun. At a young age, I was able to hold a gun and shoot it straight into the river water behind our house, of course, with the help of my father assisting at my back. It was the first and last. But every time I see him cleaning and lubricating his gun, I always wanted to try it again. I wanted to learn how to properly fire a gun now that I'm already at the right age. Maybe when I get back home, I'll enroll myself in a facility that offers lessons for proper gun shooting. That would be fun!
However, the purpose of this post is not about gun shootings, but about the Community contest. You can check the link to know more about it. Outdoor lovers and travelers would enjoy this community.
One of the topics is hiking and trekking, the good and bad experiences.
If you will invite me to go hiking or trekking, I would definitely go, unless it's Summer and it's too freaking hot outside, I would decline the invitation. I never experienced trekking though, but that is something I want to try someday.
The seasons that I prefer to go hiking are during Autumn, late Winter, and early Spring. As long as it's not too cold and not too hot, I would go to the mountains or wherever places I could unwind.
My first and official hiking experience was here abroad as I never hiked tall mountains in our country before. Hiking or trekking is certainly the best way to experience outdoor excitement and adventure, or simply escape from this bustling world and get fresher air in the middle of nature. When my travel buddy had a chance to travel, it gave me the opportunity to hike and travel to different places too.
Of all those trips of ours, we always end our journey with beautiful memories and some lessons to learn from our bad experiences.
THE HALF-DAY HIKE AND VILLAGE DOGS
The mountain below was our first trip together. Have you tried hiking a mountain in the afternoon? Yes, it was afternoon when we reached the starting trail to this mountain due to unforeseen circumstances.
We thought we couldn't make it since it was already three in the afternoon. Yet, we continued and challenged ourselves to reach the summit at dawn because it would be another beauty to behold. In fact, it was my first time staying on a summit quite late in the afternoon. It was a worthy hike when we witnessed the beautiful dawn up on the mountain.
Yes, it was my first-time experience and it was fun and thrilling. It was thrilling to go back to the base as the paths got darker and darker because we left the summit at past five in the afternoon. What we only had were our phones that served as our flashlights. I was worried and my heart was beating anxiously while descending the stairs as images of venomous creatures that might pop out from the dark were in my mind. My friend was even calling all saints to give us protection 🤣. It was funny, yet scary.
We got lost in direction too when we successfully reached the village. We know how to trace back the paths where we started. However, the group of barking dogs diverted our direction as we were worried that they might attack us. I got a phobia of big dogs when I was a kid due to a terrible incident, and every bark of those dogs got me reminded of that worst day in my childhood life.
Luckily, a concerned villager helped us get through the group of barking dogs and we heaved a sigh of relief when we reached the bus stop safe and unharmed.
You can check our complete journey to this mountain here:
Escaping From Covid And Bustling HK City (Our Journey To Lung Kwu Tan)
The Middle East Of Hong Kong (Lung Kwu Tan Adventure)
TWO TRAILS IN ONE DAY AND OUR SNAKE ENCOUNTER
Another good and bad hiking experience was when we hiked two of the most arduous trails in Hong Kong, the Violet Hill and Terrible Twin Peak in just one day.
The first stage of our hike was already challenging, as we have to conquered stairs with hundreds of steps in a row. And in the middle of it, my friend unawarely stepped on a snake. She frantically jumped and screamed at the top of her lungs which startled me as well and made my heart beat so loud. I don't easily get scared, but only because of her.
Fortunately, she was wearing good shoes that protected her from being bitten by the snake. And I felt relieved when I searched about the snake online and found out that it wasn't venomous. But the thought of it still made us worried, so we avoided going to secluded areas as there might be more snakes or other venomous creatures.
It wasn't just the snake that made our hike challenging and arduous, but the other set of thousands of stairs while hiking the terrible twin. It was after surpassing the hundreds of stairs in a row on the first hike.
Both Violet Hill and Twin Peak have arduous stairs that are needed to pass through to reach vantage points of the hills. And that day was the most exhausting hike we ever experienced. There were points where we wanted to give up due to exhaustion, yet our determination to get through trails helped us finish our hike before the day ended.
We somehow managed to deal with the pain set upon our legs and became accustomed to it after several hiking experiences. Besides, the stunning scenery along our journey helped us ignore the pain in our muscles and not worry about having a lack of water on that day to quench our thirst. That was a lesson to learn and something to add to our backpack if we plan to hike an arduous trail again.
At least, we ended our hike successfully without getting any injury. This was also the longest hike we had, from morning until dawn, and it was indeed a great hiking achievement.
You can check our travel journey to these hills here:
Endless Stairs To Violet Hill And Tai Tam Reservoir Hong Kong
Seemingly Endless Stairs To The Twin Peak a.k.a. Terrible Twin
LOST TRAILS UNDER THE SCORCHING SUN
One thing to consider before going to hike an arduous trail is the weather. But our excitement to visit this beautiful place made us forget about things that should be taken into account.
We never thought the weather would be as hot as hell that day, as it was fine in the early morning. But as we started the trail, we seemed to be walking on the fire and being grilled under the sun. Moreover, the lack of information about the place made us lost in the middle of the trail that robbed our time that was supposed to be spent visiting other beautiful spots in the mountain.
Albeit, it was a worthy hike as we reached the beautiful summit. A place that I never thought existed and only I can see in movies and travel magazines. After the arduous hike and successfully climbing the top of the enormous toad stone, I felt like I received a trophy and another achievement was added to our travel diary.
You can check our travel blog to this stunning spot in Hong Kong here:
Travel Hong Kong: The Kam Sui Shek Teng of High Island Reservoir
Of those hiking trips are lessons to be learned as well.
Adventuring with only a few in the backpack would somehow make me realize that life is simple and we don't need to add unnecessary baggage to our journey. We just need to choose the vital ones to make our journey less hassle and more enjoyable.
We shouldn't push ourselves in the mountains, and so things in our life as well. A mountain is truly beautiful and one would definitely want to reach its summit. But some points are too difficult to get through. We shouldn't push ourselves to prove that we can make something to be proud of and that we are strong and risk-takers. It is much better to enjoy the hike than to get injured just to prove something new.
And traversing those undulating ridges, bumps, and lows is like passing through the ups and downs of life. Some days are stones and sometimes, we would fall, get hurt, or injured. But as long as the day doesn't end yet, as long as we are capable to stand again, challenges can be surpassed with the determination to get through arduous hikes and storms of life.
Walking in beautiful landscapes of nature is definitely a great escape and at the top of the mountain is a beautiful refuge. And conquering an arduous trail is the best achievement, and reaching back to the base safe is a sense of success. And it is worth noting that good memories are worth keeping more than bad ones.
These were just some of my good and bad experiences in hiking. The Outdoor & more community is definitely a good place to drop my thrilling and unforgettable outdoor experiences.
