'Like:' enjoy something on one particular occasion

A) For choices and habits, like is followed by to-infinitive.

• I like the children to go to bed early during the week.

Not like to can mean ‘think it better not to’:

• Why didn't you tell me before? ~I didn't like to disturb you.

B) For the enjoyment of activities in general, + -ing (especially in BrE) or + to-infinitive, but to talk about enjoying something on one occasion, only + -ing can be used:

• I don't like people phoning / to phone me in the middle of the night.
• I liked climbing that mountain yesterday.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Talk:like#Usage_note:+-ing_vs_to-infinitive

1. Is this the general pattern for "liking" verbs (enjoy, hate, prefer, etc.)

2. Why does the -ing verbal form refer to particular occasions?

1. Yes, I think it's a general pattern.

2. That's just the way it is. Note that you can also use "would like" + infinitive for single occasions in the future:

I would like to climb that mountain next year.