maclehose stages 6 & 7

At the risk of overloading you, dear reader, here's my fourth post of the day! Below are some shots from the hike I went on yesterday -- Stages 6 and 7 of the Maclehose. It was a beautiful day -- comparatively low in smog -- and the trail provided some great views, as well as a veritable abundance of wildlife. I also got to do Stage 5 of the Maclehose this afternoon, but the weather wasn't as agreeable, so no photos of that.

Monkeys at the start of Stage 6. We probably saw a couple hundred monkeys in total... and thankfully there were no attacks this time.
This is a familiar sight if you've done much hiking on the Maclehose. It's one of the many markers assuring you that you're still on the trail.

A view of Needle Hill (which we had just climbed over) from Grassy Hill. I guess it was still pretty smoggy, but nothing compared to last week's air pollution.

A sign post on our way to Lead Mine Pass.

A little plug for my favorite sports drink. It tastes great, and who wouldn't want to drink something with the word "sweat" in it?

My fellow hikers.

Cows! This sighting explained the existence of the many dung piles along the trail...

More wildlife: huge black horned beetle! This thing was about 2-3 inches long. I think they sell them as pets in Mong Kok (at least, I know one 2nd grader who bought one there...), but it was nice to see it in it's natural habitat (albeit, this asphalt road probably isn't it's natural habitat...).

A lovely babbling brook at the end of our hike. This was actually part of the Wilson trail, not the Maclehose... it was the easiest way to get back to civilization from the end of Stage 7.