wilson trail -- cloudy hill and the eight fairies

I'd done minimal hiking since the Trail Walker in November, and with the Green Power 50k coming up soon, it was time to get some training in. So yesterday, I followed my dad and Dave (who I will hereafter affectionately refer to as "the Daves") on the last couple stages of the Wilson Trail, which ended up being about 24k, with some pretty intense climbs over Cloudy Hill and the Eight Fairies (Pat Sin Leng). I'd hiked the Eight Fairies last September with my dad (and had had an interesting time with my grass allergy), but had never climbed Cloudy Hill before. It was nice to be out on a relatively unfamiliar trail, and the weather was absolutely perfect for hiking!

The Daves at the top of our first summit, with Cloudy Hill [surprisingly] visible in the background. Apparently, Cloudy Hill is usually, well, cloudy. But not yesterday.
Stairs, stairs, and more stairs going up to Cloudy Hill.

Looking down from Cloudy hill at the path that we'd just come up.

There were more markers along this portion of the Wilson than other stages we'd hiked before. It's a trail that has become notorious (among us at least) for being poorly marked.

Making our way to the Eight Fairies.

The view from the 8th and tallest of the Eight Fairies, with the seven other fairies ahead of us.

An abandoned village near the end of the trail, near Bride's Pool.

Another abandoned building. I'd like to go back to this village and explore further...

More evidence of human habitation.

We passed a number of streams. Flash flood warnings are common, but I'd never seen one of these signs before. Scary.

Giant ferns everywhere.

The Wilson Trail ends at a small village called Nam Chung. Here are some of the village houses next to a mangrove swamp.

Next Saturday we'll be doing another practice hike, this time on the good ol' Maclehose trail.