The country trail begins at Wisdom Path, Ngong Ping, a landscaped installation of 38 massive wooden pillars inscribed with world-renowned sinologist Professor Jao Tsung-I’s Heart Sutra.  Stepping into it instantly helps you leave the busy city life behind.  The descending slope on the west side of Lantau Peak overlooks the entire Shek Pik Reservoir and the precipitous path of Kau Nga Ling, a branch range of Lantau Peak on the east.  Given its risk, hikers are advised not to go there.  Enlivened by the white, red and pink Hong Kong Hawthorn and Rhododendron everywhere in spring. In early summer, Wild Cherry, Cochin-china Homalium and Lance-leaved Sterculia are in full blossom, creating a vibrant display of colors and unfolding a different scenery along the trail. At the end of the Country Trail, there is a Slash Pine forest stood by the reservoir for decades, silently protecting the reservoir by preventing soil erosion. The well-shaded path is not far away from the Shek Pik Catchment, a wide catchwater that directs water into the reservoir, thereby reducing the dependence on underground water by residents of outlying islands.  Shek Pik Reservoir, the finishing point,  was completed in 1963, This reservoir is surrounded by Kau Nga Ling, Keung Shan, Muk Yue Shan, and Sze Tse Tau Shan.  It is fed by many streams and therefore has the third largest storage capacity after High Island Reservoir and Plover Cove Reservoir.