“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees,” American essayist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau is quoted as having said. Given that this year in Hong Kong has been remarkable for too many of the wrong reasons, we could no doubt all do with some of that magic. Happily, there are hiking, paths that are near the city along which you can hug a tree, while listening to streams cascade over rocks, cicadas buzz and birds call from dense cover. Here are five places to try. The Peak to Pok Fu Lam An easy wooded walk starts close by the bus terminus on the Peak and follows Pok Fu Lam Reservoir Road downhill. A couple of minutes beyond the traffic barrier, you’re descending a tree-covered slope, the rest of the world lost from view. From the occasional open area can be seen hillsides that may seem surprisingly green given you’re on Hong Kong Island. A stream tumbles over small waterfalls on the right before joining a larger stream, which flows through a ravine below the road, and can become a torrent after summer rains, surging over a weir before pouring into Pok Fu Lam Reservoir. Getting there: The many options for getting to the Peak include minibus No 1 from Central; and from below Pok Fu Lam Reservoir, you can catch a bus to the city. Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve The walk into this reserve follows a narrow, mostly car-free road that starts at Tai Po Road and leads into a valley carved by the Tai Po Kau Stream. After perhaps 20 minutes, the road arrives at a small dam, where much of the stream’s flow is diverted towards Plover Cove Reservoir. Four signposted trails start by the dam. All follow circular routes and are marked by coloured posts. Discover Hong Kong parks on foot – where to go in Kowloon The yellow and brown trails head higher and cover up to 10km while the shorter blue and red trails stay closer to the stream and pass through the best forest. A variety of tree species was planted here after the second world war, with the aim of making it home to a wide range of flora and fauna. Today, it is the best area in Hong Kong in which to seek forest birds and other wildlife. Getting there: By taxi or bus (70, 72, 73A or 74A) from Tai Po Market Station. Shing Mun Reservoir This reservoir is in a splendid setting – a deep valley to the south of Tai Mo Shan. From the road by Pineapple Dam, you can walk up a flight of steps then follow an easy trail that skirts the wooded west shore of the reservoir. This trail leads up to a restricted-access road, which you can follow northwards, further into the valley. The road crosses a couple of picturesque streams that flow into the nearby reservoir. At a road junction by the north of the reservoir, you could head left and up towards Leadmine Pass before dropping down through the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve. Alternatively, make a circuit of the reservoir, but be aware that Pineapple Dam lies around 4km away, via the reservoir’s eastern shore, more than twice the distance of returning the way you came. Getting there: taxi, or minibus No 82 from near the Tsuen Wan MTR Station. Plover Cove Reservoir and Bride’s Pool From Chung Mei, to the north of Plover Cove Reservoir, a trail leads through a forested ravine, crosses a footbridge, climbs, then runs almost level along the steep slope above the Wang Chung stream. It passes a clearing with a barbecue site and, just after a footbridge of granite slabs, there’s a junction with a side trail to the right. Follow this and you enter another, steeper ravine, where the trail ends abruptly, at a vantage overlooking the magnificent Mirror Pool waterfall. Also from the junction a path continues up the main valley of the Wang Chung stream. Look for a left turn and you can keep following the stream. On the left, another footbridge leads towards a car park and bus stop. Before crossing it, follow the path until it reaches the stream, which you may be able to scramble up if there’s little flow, to the Bride’s Pool waterfall. Getting there: On Sundays and public holidays, bus No 275R runs from Tai Po Market Station to Bride’s Pool, with stops near Chung Mei. Pak Tam Chung and Sheung Yiu The Pak Tam Chung Family Walk makes for a leisurely stroll through woodland. It heads north past a couple of barbecue sites then angles southeast to meet Pak Tam Road. As you walk back alongside this road towards Tai Mong Tsai Road, look for a footbridge on your left, over the stream. Cross this, and you’ll find a footpath, the Pak Tam Chung Nature Trail, shaded by trees and mangroves growing in the muddy banks of a tidal stretch of stream. This path soon arrives beside the Sheung Yiu Folk Museum, which was once a short row of houses accessed through a watchtower (the museum is currently closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, but still interesting to view from outside). Getting there: Several buses stop at Pak Tam Chung, including the No 7 and No 9 minibuses and No 94 bus from Sai Kung town.