It's been two weeks since my trip to Gunung Rajah. Although the knees still pains when I wake up in the mornings, I felt like going into the mountains again. A check with the KL HIking website didn't help either because there's only the Gunung Nuang trip. Being a slow trekker and compounded by the time frame, it's not my cup of tea.
Just as I was pondering, I got a call from Chin and he was asking if I have any plans for the Saturday. It just hit me on the instant! "Yes", I replied. I am hiking Gunung Ulu Semangkok near Frasier's Hill. He said he will join in together with his friends. " OK, good", I said. Now I have a hike coming and the venue was something that I have always wanted to try. Somewhere not many hikers go.
One Friday while browsing through Evergreen Adventures I met Bella and I told her of the trip. She was interested. I said I will pick her up Saturday morning. Our appointed time was 8.00am at the foothills of Frasier's Hill. When I was in KKB for breakfast, I got a call from Chin saying he was a bit late and he is in KKB. I told him I was there too and so we met for breakfast at the Hainanese coffeeshop.
Our meeting point
During breakfast we decided to go in Chin's car so off we went after breakfast, all five of us. we reach the old colonial rest house after 45 minutes of twisting and turning roads. Bella almost barf because of the high center of gravity of Chin's 4WD. Maybe she needs getting used to. LOL!
We park at the dilapidated car park just below the colonial building and then off to the trail head. None of us has tried this trail but a check through blogs and 'youtube', I knew the trail head was a slight slope just beside the road. we located the slope and then clambered up. It was quite steep and slippery. All of us managed un-assisted though and we then encountered bamboo forest. A lot of them are falling and we have to hike underneath the bamboos which is painful for my sore knees.
The trail head.
The air was cool and crisp, a much awaited bonus of hiking. It was quite steep but very pleasant trail. It was raining last night, judging from the three landslides that we saw on the way from KKB. The trail was wet, making us quite cautious on the slippery trail. The fresh fallen leaves did not make it easier at all. As usual me the 'au naturel sweeper' was at the back. I had a leech stuck on my ankle but it was soon taken out with a spray of 'Mozziegard'. They made it to the first peak after an hour and I took another 7 minutes. We took a breather there and Chin's watch recorded the altitude at 1130 meters and 22 degrees Celsius. It was cooling and it was windy that day.
Bella telling Mr.Chin, "It's this way".
Into the bamboo forest.
After a rest we proceeded on to Ulu Semangkok. From here onwards the trail got steeper and harder but the trail was well marked and clear. From the info from blogs, I estimated that we will reach by noon. We hiked down into the valley and up back to the ridge and then down again into another valley and then up again to another ridge. This went on and on without ending. I, at the back was getting really tired and knees was getting from sore to pain. At one clearing we took five and Bella gave me a bottle of 'Revive'. It really revived me a bit and we hiked on.
The sign saying, " Ulu Tranum Forest Reserve ". The same reserve where Pine Tree Hill is, according to some, there is a trail all the way to Gunung Kutu from here.
I will be there again after the Meteor watching trip in Gunong Rajah.
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