Venus Drive to Hill VIew PC

I was restless after last week's Round Island cycling. Today took up another longer hiking trip into the reserves. Unlike previous posts, I am going to just describe it as my trip.

I started by getting to the MRT and took a train to Yishun. From there I took Bus service 855 to Upper Thomson Rd near Venus Dr. From there I walked into Venus Dr Carpark. I have hiked this part of the route before thus there is no difficulty in getting started.

It will be a bit boring to just take the path. Thus I look for things to take pictures on. Well, it is quite disappointing effort. Only managed to take two flower pictures.

These are small flowers along the route.

On previous trip, I took the longer route to the Ranger Station. This time round I tried the shorter one.  It follows along a fence beside Kallang Service Reservoir.

Unfortunately, the toilet at the Ranger Station is under cleaning. Look like I am going to endure till I am back to Woodlands.

Turning off from Sime track, I entered the Riffle Range Link. There is a small rock bearing the track name near the turning point.

Along the track I chanced upon a small building structure right in the middle of a stream. Don't know why it is there and its purpose of it being there.

I am surprised that I had to cross a stream without bridge on this track. Probably in dry seasons it is not a stream. Managed to cross it without getting wet (via the sand strip, stone and the branch in the picture).

Although the name is Riffle Range Rd, it is nothing that looks like a road in this picture.

Only after this point then there is a real road and it is still called Riffle Range Rd. Obviously, you won't be able to know where exactly is this point. My pictures are all geotagged. If you go to my WikiLoc or Picasa Web (Venus Dr to Hill View album) you can see the exact location of the pictures where I took it.

After the above point, the path is on road. Unlike newer roads, there isn't any pedestrian path all the way down. I had to walk on the road most of the time. On the way met a few uncles and unties of my age walking in opposite direction.

Along the road you can still see road markers for hikers. The color band is actually red but due to its reflective nature, it is white in the picture.

Since I dislike walking on the road, I actually planned to hike in a trail besides the road at this point. It follows along the road but is actually a walking and mountain bike trail. At a certain point further down, it cuts across the Riffle Range Rd.

There is a stone lined path near the road but it is so corroded that trekkers bypass it.

Once near the road you can see a sign board telling you that the trail is "Kampong Trail".

Across the road, there is a barrier at the entrance to the trail.  It looks like a road and is actually a road with a name. There is actually a road name post on the right hand side of the picture. I can't remember the road name as the Android auto correct feature change it to some funny name. After doing a bit of searching. I think it is Senapang Road.

Along the road, took two flower pictures. The first one is a tiny flower.

Took the very first turn into another track. Along the way found a small water spring.

This path leads to Hindhede Rd. According to the plotted path, I took the PCN towards Bukit Drive. When I reached the end of the road that leads into a condominium then I realize the Google map error. OpenStreetMap shows that the correct path to take is to go on second turn on Senapang Rd. It does not show the first path. If you take the first path then turn left into Hindhede Road and then turn left into a path before a carpark.

Any how, discovered a tiny path besides the Bukit Drive near the condo fence. Walked into it and the actual  track is just a short distance away. Below is the picture of the path entrance. Notice how small it is. It is almost unrecognizable as a path.

There is a junction which is not marked in Google Map. I turned left walked along a almost covered path and found myself walking into a road. Checking the OSM, it leads to the query. I did not plan to go to the query thus backtracked to continue right at the junction. This is where I found a tunnel under the road.

Before that, I took a colorful picture of a flower or a fruit. Not sure which is which.

Further down, there is a sign board saying that I am in Chestnut Mountain bike trail. OSM actually marks it as one way trail.

Both Google map and OSM seems to miss this junction. Or may be this is GPS error.  I have an unidentified junction further down the trail.

Turning left in the unidentified junction, and there is a road after a short trail. At the end of which is another trail that leads to another road. The latter leads into the Hill View PC. That is the end of the trail for me.

Took Bus Service 961 back to Woodlands after that.

The trail distance according to WikiLoc is 11.6KM but Endomondo indicates it as 14KM. I guess the latter takes into consideration the elevation distance as well.

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=4487623
http://sg.mapometer.com/walking/route_3103345.html