MacRitchie Trail

The MacRitchie Trail is a trail that goes around MacRitchie Reservoir. It can be access from a few places. The one I have chosen is at the Junction of Lonie Road and Thomson Road. The available bus service are 52, 74, 93, 130, 122, 156, 157,162, 165, 166, 167, 852,855, and 980. The nearest MRT is Caldecott.

On entry you will see a drain where the reservoir releases the water. Today happened to be when the water is released due to heavy rain last night.

Just follow along the left side of the drain to access to the trail. The 0KM marker is actually further down the trail. Note the color marking. It is actually indicating the train distance by specific trails. I chose the trail that is marked yellow. Along the way you will see markers indicating the distance travelled. Just keep looking for the yellow color marker.

The trail around this area has a lot of pebbles but is quite dry even after yesterday's rain. Just further down you will see two junctions. Don't turn into the side trails.

Keep going along the trail till you hit Island Club Rd. Here you will need to go on the road for a short distance before the trail begins again

The next trail entrance is on the left hand side of the road. Go into the trail and you will reach the Ranger Station where the HSBC Tree Top walk is. Since it is not part of the yellow trail, we will miss it this time.

There are toilets available at the Ranger Station. Make sure you use it as it will be the only available toilet in the trail till we reach back the starting point.

A few of the pictures does not have Exif data and is not accessible from Blogger. It is probably due to me using Wikiloc to take waypoint pictures. However, the pictures can be seen in Picasa Web. I will provide the link later.

There is a trail junction after Ranger Stn. Be careful not to end up on the trail to Riffle Range Trail. Keep to the left trail.

The next point of interest is the Jerutong Tower. If you are not careful you will miss it. The iron tower is painted green and is surrounded by shrubs. The trail will actually go around it. The top of the tower is actually above the tree canopy. You can have a clear view of the Reserve. I took a picture on top of it looking down at the trail. It is a bit wavy right at the top of the tower. You can actually feel the sway as you move around. If you are afraid of heights, you might want to give it a miss.

After the tower, you will be walking on wooden bridges that goes slightly above the ground. It will go all the way till the golf course. Along the way there was a fallen branch that blocked almost entirely bridge. On the left is a pool of water, on the right is the branch. I had to squeeze between the two by doing the crab walk while almost squatting down.

Further down the bridge there is a decayed bridge leg. The bridge end up becoming wavy when you walk on it. I guess the part of the bridge will break if nothing is done to it. I have reported to NParks and hope they will solve the two issue immediately.

Walking along the Island Country Club (golf course) is hot as there is no shade. It is a welcoming relief when wooden bridges are again available after the golf course.

Further down the bridge, the authority purposely leave a tree branch hanging over the bridge by lowering the bridge itself to go under it. Good idea, otherwise it become monotonous.

Near the end of the trail there is a performance pavilion and a wading trail. The wading trail is actually a bridge that goes slightly underwater so that you can get your feet wet. It is for cooling down after a long and hot walk I presume.

Here are the links to Wikiloc and Picasa web.

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=4046473

https://picasaweb.google.com/106611639464075912591/MacRitchieTrail