The Day I almost died in Hong Kong.

Halfway up sunset peak, looking down at Mui Wo. Hong Kong city in the far background.

On Sept 19 2014 I tried to do a pretty massive 10 mile hike on Hong Kong's second largest mountain. Lantau Peak on Lantau Island.

I didn't do the math ahead of time, but this was a much bigger than I thought. In fact, the hardest, most difficult physical undertaking I've ever faced.

First off, the trail I chose would be a total of 4,800 feet elevation gain, not to mention the miles of downhill hiking thats so hard on the knees.  This is more than the other two huge mountains I've climbed; mount Fuji and Long's Peak.
Secondly, it was 95 degrees out, with 95% humidity.

The plan was to take the subway to Central station in Hong Kong and take a Ferry to Mui Wo where Lantau Trail section 1 begins. Lantau Trail is a long trail that goes over many parts of Lantau Island, but the hardest section goes right over the peaks in the center of the island.

 Trail part 1 takes you about 1 mile up a major road out west out of Mui Wo and then you see a little bathroom and some vending machines. At this point I was smart enough to buy a couple of water bottles to supplement the two i had already brought. If I had not done this, I think my day could have gone a lot worse.

Part two plunges into the humid tropical forest of Lantau for a couple miles, this part is not that interesting with not much view, but before long, you burst above the treeline into grassy mountainside with fantastic views all around. I could see Mui Wo far below me and in the tiny distance across the bay, I could see Hong Kong.  It was morning and when I emerged into that sunlight I felt great! I passed a few streams, on the way and dunked my head into the cold water.

Soon I had reached the first peak, I had to divert off the main path a little to reach it, but it had probably the best views of the entire hike. The peak was Lin Fa Shan (I think).

I continued along the main path after taking a few minutes to soak in the view on Lin Fa Shan, It took me to the north side of Lantau where I could see the airport In the far distance. At this point, I could tell that my water was running low, but I was quickly approaching Sunset peak, so I was not worried yet.
Unfortunately, when I reached sunset peak, clouds had rolled in and there was not really any view to be seen. Just foggy grey. I was getting tired, and I had found a few British guys to hike alongside, so I didn't stop on sunset for long, and i just kept going. After Sunset peak was when i realized the biggest flaw in my plan....

There is a massive valley between Sunset Peak, and Lantau Peak, one that dips more than 1000 feet.
I had expected to hike from sealevel to 2800 feet at sunset, and then a few more hundred feet to Lantau peak at 3100 feet. Instead, I hiked to 2800, then dipped down like 2000 ft, and then BACK up to 3100. The total would be about 4800. (2000 more than anticipated).

Hiked down to the valley where there is a road and a bus stop. I was determined so I Trudged on and just kept climing. It was extremely slow going, the trail was steep and hot. I was exhausted, but I knew that Lantau was only about 2 miles from the bus stop, so I kept going.  What kept me going was that I knew there is a town on the other side of the peak, it is a big touristy spot and a famous Giant Buddha. I knew I could get water and a meal.... Whereas if I turned around and went back to the bus stop, it would mean a long bus ride to Mui Wo, and It would still be a long time til i could get water.

 I had to take a break about every  15 steps. Every five minutes I felt like i had sprinted a mile and was going to collapse from exhaustion. Then I had to sit down or lay down for 10 minutes. Walk five minutes to exhaustion, then rest 10 minutes. I probably did this for an hour. Finally I laid down on the trail and contemplated how bad I felt.

Even when i was laying still for 30 minutes, my heart was racing. I felt so terrible. I was severely dehydrated, and only after I returned did I realize that I had heatstroke. I had all the symptoms short of unconsciousness.

• Throbbing headache -CHECK
• Dizziness and light-headedness -CHECK
• Lack of sweating despite the heat- CHECK
• Red, hot, and dry skin -CHECK
• Muscle weakness or cramps- CHECK
• Nausea and vomiting - CHECK (nausea, not vomiting, but almost!)
• Rapid heartbeat, which may be either strong or weak -DOUBLE CHECK... heartrate was CRAZY
• Rapid, shallow breathing -CHECK
• Behavioral changes such as confusion, disorientation, or staggering -CHECK
• Seizures -NO
• Unconsciousness -NO

At this point i had two options; Try to make it up the last insanely steep section to the peak and then down again to the town with the Buddha, or go 2.5 miles back to the bus stop. I laid there thinking for a long time. Some people passed me and I asked them for water, but none of them had water, or had so little that it was barely enough for themselves. I just laid there. I felt so horrible that I started thinking about those TV shows where people go out and over exhaust themselves and die out in the wilderness. My story felt like it would fit one of those tv shows exactly... great happy fun beginning, and horrible unexpected death ending.

Finally another British guy came along and asked me if I was OK. I replied "NO." and it was like God had heard my prayers, he opens up his back pack and has an enormous two liter bottle of water, He fills one of my empty bottles to the top and still had plenty for himself. He stayed with me for a few minutes and he himself couldn't tell me what the best option was. He said I was really really close to the peak and the Buddha.. but it was incredibly steep. And back down would take a long while as well. I told him thankyou and assured him that I would be OK.

Finally some british dude came along and stopped to ask if i was ok... And i said "no"... I didnt know what to do because i didnt think i could make it to the buddha OR the bus stop... after he left, I laid there for another twenty minutes.

I tried to move onward up  to the peak, but after only about 60 seconds of upward movement, my legs hurt beyond any pain I had felt so far. It was dehydration cramping. So after such a long break, if I hurt this badly, I didn't see how I would make it to the top. I gave up. Right about this time, coincidentally, my GPS watch died.  You can see on my map, how close I was to the peak. It was much easier to go down than up, but it was still slow and painful.






I think it took me two hours to get back to the bus stop, but even then, it wasn't the end of my adventure. I sat there at the bus stop and waited. About 15 busses went past and had a giant sign on the door that said "Full". Every bus stopped, but then no one got off thus leaving no room for me or the other 5 hikers that were desperate to get back to the town and buy water. Each bus that went by was filled with laughing teenagers wearing their fashionable clothes and looking NOT SWEATY... They all seemed to be laughing at me as they drove on.



By this point I noticed that even though i had been sitting still for like a half hour my heart rate was going CRAZY.... Super fast... And I felt really uncomfortable... I thought I was having one of those minor heart attacks that people supposedly get.  The ones that people don't go to the hospital for... But it's still a heart attack. I suppose my body was pumping blood faster... To try to cool it? Or maybe i was so dehydrated that my blood got thicker and my heart had to pump twice as fast to move the sludgey blood through it?

I don't know but I was so happy when a bus finally let us board. Although it was still a full bus and we had to stand in the aisle all packed together for a half hour. Finally an old lady got off the bus at one of the stops before mine, so I quickly pushed some lady out of the way to sit in the handicapped seat.

While I was sitting there muddling though my painful weird symptoms... I realized that my stench was beyond horrendous. I started laughing, almost uncontrollably because I was making all those unsweaty rich lookin hong kong teenagers uncomfortable. HA! Laugh at me!? Ill make your nostrils turn inside out! I think my dehydration sickness was making me a little delusional.

Finally we made it to Mui Wo. Where they had water. I bought four bottles and drank them all within 30 minutes and didn't even have to pee... I mean, these were BIG bottles... I probably drank a gallon!

I had to sit on a ferry for the next 45 minutes back to the area of hong kong where my hotel was... By the time we finally arrived I felt so much better.



One of the craziest parts of the story is my weight... I always weigh myself when I'm in hotels. I guess it's a curiosity habit since I don't have a scale in my house. When I left that morning, I was 202. When I returned to the hotel that afternoon, I weighed 190. That was after I had drank about 5 bottles of water. I think when I was sitting on that mountain, with no water, I must have weighed 180....


By that night after I had gobbled up an enormous meal, i was back up to 200.

All in all, it was an amazing trail with amazing views and I'm glad I did it. Actually, I'm glad I had the experience, because I feel like I'm smarter now and have a better idea of the warning signs of dehydration.

I highly recommend climbing Lantau... I also highly recommend bringing two gallons of water and doing it on a day that isn't 95 degrees.

This is the route. Pink is subway, Green is ferry, and Yellow is the trail.

This is one of the ferrys at Central Station. They go all over Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the Islands.

Hong Kong at Sunrise

Cool boat in the Bay

Me on the Boat

The official start of the trail

The first part of the trail, under the treeline. It was hot, but at least there was shade.

The view started to open up as the treeline receeded.

The first peak, Lin Fa Shan. To the right you can see Mui Wo, the town where the trail started.

Looking out from the Lin Fa Shan, you can see my ultimate destination in the background. i wanted to reach Po Lin.

 

The trail up the side of Sunset peak. This was right before the clouds rolled over the peaks.

This is Looking out from Sunset peak. Lantau peak lies right in front, with the clouds surrounding it.

Sunset peak has all these little huts. Apparently you can rent these out if you go through the right people. They all looked vacant the day I was there, but I talked to several people who said they had stayed there before.

This is the actual peak of Sunset peak. This is a famous spot for hanggliders to hike to and then fly off the peak. I didn't see anyone doing that the day I was there, but people were talking about it.

Halfway up Lantau Peak, and Looking back toward the valley between Sunset peak and Lantau peak.

This was the last picture I took before I stopped caring because i felt so terrible.  Shortly after this, I stopped and turned around.

This graph was generated from my GPS watch. You can see the route and the ups and downs of the peaks and valleys Also take a look at how close i was to the peak. probably only an 8th of a mile, but it was 500 more feet to the top, WAY TO STEEP.