Green Power!

Before we left for Thailand, I had one small activity planned on Saturday…the 18th Annual Hong Kong Green Power Hike. It’s a 50k hike/run that crosses all of Hong Kong Island over the mountains and through valleys, only crossing one major roadway the entire route.

My good friend, Donna, and I both agree that the best part of living in Hong Kong is the access to great hiking – so we decided that we’d give the Green Power a try this year. We thought it would be a great goal to accomplish, but if we didn’t finish it wasn’t like peace in the Middle East was riding on it. Besides that, the proceeds of the event go toward supporting local environmental improvement initiatives…and we all know HK needs help with that!!


Donna and I trained the best we could in a pretty short amount of time…then we went for it!
Green Power started at the Peak bright and early on Saturday morning. We weren’t the only crazy ones to do the hike – a couple thousand other people were out for the adventure as well. It was a remarkably clear day for Hong Kong and by the middle of the day the sun (not seen for a week) came out. A beautiful day to be out on the trails!

Here’s a recap of our journey (Note: these pics were taken from an iPhone while in motion...so not the best quality! But, you get the idea!):

At the starting line with Donna and Meri, another friend who was hiking that day (and it was her 40th birthday!):

A blurry pic, but this shows the crowd at the start. The path was really narrow, so we were like cattle running through a chute!


A view of the city from the Peak:


The Aberdeen area, a place where boat aficionados keep their boats (and yachts):

There were many terrain changes throughout the hike - some places were lush and green:


Others weren't:

This is the Parkview apartment compound – the 25k point! Donna and I ran over to Parkview's grocery store to reload on Gatorade, since the stuff the event organizers gave out was awful. Didn't do much to help our time, but it was worth it!

The beautiful Tai Tam Reservoir, looking down from Mt. Butler - the second highest peak on HK Island:

The catchwater part of the path. It was flat and incredibly boring - even though the scenery was nice:

The catchwater seemed to go on forever though it was only 7k. We were actually excited to see the long, steep concrete steps that led up, up, up to the final segment known as the Dragon’s Back.

They saved the best for last - the Dragon’s Back is long, but it has some of the prettiest views in Hong Kong:
Hooray! The finish line!! Even though we look a bit bedraggled, we felt great (other than slightly sore knees from the downhill portions):

Donna and I weren’t the fastest participants, but we ended solidly in the middle of the pack. Our finish time was just over eight hours – a full hour faster than we’d expected! The fastest finisher completed the event in less than four hours (simply amazing!); the slowest finisher came in at 35 hours (not sure if that person slept in the mountains or what!!).

After taking some long, hot showers, we celebrated our finish and Meri’s birthday with a huge dinner and a really fun evening with friends and family.

The enormous, delicious feast:

Lydia & friend, Sarah:

The cleaned up hikers – me, Donna, and Meri:

It was a bit of work, but I have to say it was one of the most fun days I’ve had in Hong Kong!

And that was the kick-off to our CNY holiday – up next, Thailand!