Wutong Mountain
I’ve been in Shenzhen for a couple of years but in my time here I’ve noticed that I don’t often do things…in Shenzhen. I’ll hear about something in another city and think to myself that I need to go there to see it, all while I ignore the things in the city I’m already in. I think it’s because I figure if I live here I have plenty of time to see everything so there’s no rush. I still haven’t been to Happy Valley, Splendid China, or Window of the World. I’ve yet to make the trek out to OCT East. I went to one of the beaches shortly after arriving, but then it was over a year before I checked out any more. And it took me more than two years to get to Wutong Mountain.
You can’t see the city but I’m pretty sure those little islands out there are part of Hong Kong
Although technically a part of Shenzhen, Wutong Mountain lies outside the part of Shenzhen considered the city, between Luohu District and Yantian District. Even though it’s a little farther than most things I do here it’s a great escape from the city and a pretty popular spot for hiking. Being a little away from the city everything seems a little more relaxed. There’s also a much bigger dose of nature than you can find in the city. Taken together it’s easy to see why it’s such a popular weekend and holiday destination. Covered in trees, criss-crossed by streams, bordering a reservoir on one side, and with views out towards Hong Kong going to Wutong is a day well spent.
Unfortunately going there is one of the hardest parts of the trip. The mountain is currently out of range of the subway so you need to either drive or take a bus and while the subway is very easy to navigate, even by a foreigner with limited Chinese, the bus system is much more difficult. A lack of English websites coupled with no metro made the pre-planning of the trip more difficult than I had expected. As far as I could tell the mountain could be entered from different areas, and my friend and I ended up taking a bus to the north of the mountain and entering from there1. We took the metro to Huangbeiling on Line 2, then just outside hopped on the M445 bus to Wutong Mountain (I believe the stop was called Wutongshan Shichang). This dropped us in a little village near the mountain and to find the entrance we just walked in a direction that seemed up and towards the mountain. Pretty quickly we stumbled on a lot of buses and an outdoors store selling all sorts of hiking and camping equipment. Near that was the entrance to the mountain.
Our trek up the mountain began easily enough, going over a small lake before starting to slope upward. For the most part the hike never got too steep however and wasn’t too difficult, but it was just enough o make you work. The main part of the trip was very nice. Everything was wooded, the paths were easy to make out, and there were plenty of signs (although the signs were all in Chinese). I had been worried it would be a little too developed but my fears were put to rest for a while when I realized that beyond making sure there were paths and railings for safety the mountain had mostly been left alone. Once we had to ask someone if we were going in the right direction but I’m pretty sure that if we had just made sure to walk up we would have eventually arrived at the top. When my friend and I hiked the trip was very peaceful. There were other people on the mountain but until the end never that many so we could enjoy the trees and sounds of nature.
And theres plenty of nature to see. I mentioned the small lake we saw at the beginning. It was dammed and maybe man made but still very pretty. There were plenty of small streams trickling down the mountain interspersed with some larger ones that you cool off by walking through. Some of them even had little waterfalls. On the way up there was also a big impressive waterfall. A path had been built running up next to the waterfall so anyone hiking up could get a great view of it. We didn’t see too much wildlife other than small insects but a highlight for me was finding a big rhinoceros beetle. There’s probably more to see but only when you’re lucky.
This is the only picture I got with any of the road
While I enjoyed the majority of the hike there were some bits near the end that I enjoyed a lot less. The end of the hike starts with a ton of stairs that lead to a landing with an incredible view towards part of Hong Kong, and then begins the ascent to the peak. The ascent from the landing after the stairs was enjoyable, even though the weather didn’t agree, but the stairs that led there were not. On top of that there was a lot of paved road leading up to those stairs. After spending most of the hike in the forest we came out onto a road that we had to follow up to a big open area which was also paved. The area had nice views and some stores and would probably be good for taking pictures with groups or something, but the getting their via road was a letdown. I do understand that some people may not be able to hike up, either physically or due to time constraints. So I see the appeal of the road going to near the top, but as a hiker I wish I had been able to avoid it. Plus it could be that the path we took went through the road but another path, or coming from a different part of the mountain would avoid the road altogether. If I go back and take a different bus I’ll also try taking a different path up.
1If I have the chance to go back I’ll try to take a bus to a different entrance and update this post accordingly.
Despite the stretch of road and the weather getting terrible at the top, blocking what would have otherwise probably been an unbelievable view, the hike was great. Not too far from the city it’s a great escape from the malls and skyscrapers of Shenzhen.
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