Hike up to Mt Tahan - Highest peak in Peninsular Malaysia

Another adventure after Sundown Marathon 2008!

Elevation 2,187 m (7,175 ft)

Location Pahang, Taman Negara National Park

Range Tahan Range

Coordinates 4°38′N, 102°14′E

Got back from Singapore on the 3rd June. I had 3 days to rest and pack before I embark on another 4 days of adventure. I was a bit worried on the hike due to the fact that I haven't been doing any hiking since my last hiking trip like 3 months ago and it was just a 1 day hike. I missed all the trainings the group had organized lining up to climbing Mt Tahan. I was training for Sundown Marathon.

Volunteered to drive for this trip. We were suppose to hike up from Merapoh which was situated in Pahang.

Participants :
1. Lucy
2. Dan
3. Ken
4. CS
5. Andrew
6. Lynn
7. Doreen
8. Uncle Yong
9. Khai Chern
10. Wan Lin

7th June 2008
Left Penang at around 8pm. Head over to Cameron Highlands in 3 cars ( Drivers: Kean, CS and myself ). Arrived around 11pm. Was a little stressed driving up on the winding road heading to Cameron Highlands. *sweat*. Stopped by at a nearby coffee sop for supper before heading over to Guan Di Temple to spend a night. . Decided just to drink a cup of hot Milo. "Freezing"...brrr...

Day 1 - 8th June 2008
Woke up at 5.30am. Washed up and changed into hiking outfit. Went over to a nearby coffee shop for breakfast. Had oat with my Milo (again ) . Decided not to have too heavy meal. The rest noodle or rice and packed food for lunch. Left the place around 7.30am. Decided to ask Dan to drive as I was still a little uncomfortable on driving on the winding road. My car started to give problem approaching Gua Musang. Suddenly lost it momentum. Dan managed to stop the car by the side of the road. The car came to a complete stop. F****! What a luck. I felt totally bad to hold back everyone. CS drove to the town. No mechanic is opened on Saturday in that town. Bummer. Managed to get the tow truck number. Called the tow truck man and waited for another 40 mins. I hated myself... if only I didn't volunteer to drive...*Sigh*. Finally the tow truck man arrived. Took my details and I gave my dad's number to him so he could contact him for follow up as I will be out of network coverage for the next 4 days. Doreen and myself went into Kean's car while Dan went over to CS's car. We moved on...still feel bad... Arrived at the National Park rangers's post in Sg Relau around 12pm. Proceeded with registration. Finished up with signing up and declaring of items. Left for Kuala Juram in a 4WD. Took about 30 mins to reach Kuala Juram. Ready to set off our trek. Estimated 5 hours to arrive at campsite! EXCITED!


Final Check....

Our 4WD

Started the first river crossing about 20 minutes into the hike. Started to see the sign of leeches. Ewww! 2 went in between my toes. The road was muddy. Met the other group of university students who will be camping at the same campsite as us at Kuala Luis. There were about 30 of them. Rested for a while before heading to Lata Luis.


Crossed a total of 5 rivers before finally arriving at Kem Kor. Uncle Yong, Khai Chern and myself arrived first at the campsite at 4pm. Others slowly arrived. Started to clean up and set up tent for the night. Started preparing dinner as well.

Finally at Kem Kor


First love bite from leeches...*grin*

CS upon arrival at Kem Kor

Uncle Yong preparing dinner for us - he cooked us yam rice and curry chicken. We had sweet potato soup as dessert.

Our dinner served...

Day 2 - 9th June 2008

Set off around 9.30am. Running a bit late. Left the Day 4 food at the campsite. Those who were ready left the campsite first. Expected 10 hours of hike! First stop - Permatang followed by Kem Kubang


Uncle Yong, Kean and KC - experience sharing

CS and Me @ Permatang

View from Bonsai Hill

15 mins walk before reaching Botak Hill..

After around 8 hours of hike, we reached Botak Hill...

Me at a higher level ground. Behind where the tents are located is Botak Hill

Dinner time preparation... It rained later in the night... Wet wet!

Day 3 - 6th June 2008
Approaching near to the peak! Wee! Plan for today is to reach the peak and then to G. Gedung and back to Botak Hill. Set off at 8.30am. Hike up to the peak required roughly around 1 hour. Reached the peak around 9.30am plus. Totally got swept away by the view...Totally worth all the long hike we had for the pass 2 days.





Andrew, Doreen, Me and Kean

Spend about 30 mins on the peak. Proceed to G. Gedung next. The guide didn't seem to be very positive that we will reach G. Gedung peak. Lucy set a time that if we don't reached G. Gedung by 3pm we should head back to Botak Hill. Suprisingly the hike up to G. Gedung was not long. We managed to reach there around 2pm if I could remember it correctly. Spent about 30 mins there and had our lunch there as well.

The surrounding area was filled with small monkey cup plants.

Scenery from the peak of G. Gedung.

Started to make out way back to Botak Hill around 3pm. Reached back at around 5.30pm. Uncle Yong and Wan Lin who decided to stayed back ( both of them had been to G. Tahan twice already) were starting to prepare our dinner. Everyone cleaned up and had dinner around 6. 20pm. Rain started to pour as soon as we complicated our dinner. Didn't manage to wash our utensils. Rain was very heavy with winds. Our tent started to flood. Thunders roar loudly! Only after about an hour or so did the rain stop. We tried to shift our tent a little and made it a little dry before calling it another day....

Day 4- 6th June 2008

Packed our tent and repacked our bags. Left Botak Hill around 9.30am to head back to Kem Kor. Muddy trails again! Ewww... Took us about 4 hours to reach back Kem Kor. CS, Uncle Yong and myself were the first to arrive. I set up the girls' tent, cleaned up and start to help to prepare for dinner. Sky starts to become cloudy. When Doreen and Lucy arrived they said the current tent location might not be good as it was quite near the edge of the river bank. Shifted out tent to a higher ground. Rain started to pour not too soon. Did't manage to even finish cooking our dinner. Ran into our tent. Doreen was nice enough to do a drainage around our tent as it started to flood again not long after the rain pour. With the help of our guide, Zul they put up some rocks around the tent to make the water flows another direction instead of going straight to the tent. It works! Thanks Doreen!

Uncle Yong and I guessed Wan Lin and some others helped to prepare the dinner as the food was under their make shift tent. Dan called us for dinner around 8pm. Ran over to their tent to had dinner. For once I was really hungry. Dinner was with curry chicken, sardine and ABC soup. Bed time again...

Day 5 - 7th June 2008
I'm excited to go back to civilisation. :) Not that I'm complaining that I didn't enjoyed the past few days. I just missed everything out there. Got up around 6.30am. Washed up then helped Wan Lin to cleaned the utensils, pots, plates and cups we used previous night. Started to prepare breakfast after that. Mushroom soup and Tom Yam soup noodle were served for breakfast. Had the mushroom soup and just the noodle. Didn't dare to take the soup to avoid tummy upset. Helped to wash up and then started to pack our bags for depature. Took down the tent as well. Those who were ready left the campsite first. CS and me started moving. Andrew and Kean caught up with us about 20 mins later. All the rivers level were much higher than the 1st day due to the heavy rain the night before. The current were slightly stronger as well. Some of the rivers were waist length high...SCARY! Started to see sign of leeches again...YUCKS! Actually I didn't really care much.. :) Just wanted to reach back out soon *grin*. After 3 hours...HOORAY we finally reached Kuala Juram! Just can't wait to take off my sandals! Washed up and changed into clean clothings. Saw 3 punctured holes around my ankles. Leeches had feast again... BLARGH! The others arrived about 40 mins later. The 4WD came to pick us up around 2.30pm
Blood oozing out from the punctured hole.... bluek

The butterflies and bees (not in picture) seemed to be enjoying the sweat on our clothings, bags and socks...hmphhh...

8 of us went out to Kuala Juram first. Took a real shower there at the proper toilet. Never had I enjoyed bathing and water so much. Felt TOTALLY refreshed. The others arrived around 3pm.

Left the Taman Negara post around 3.30pm. Went to Gua Musang to pick up my car. Cost me RM530 ( arrrgghh ) The oil pump seemed to be the culprit. Headed over to the general hospital for outpatient treatment for Uncle Yong. He had a deep cut from the first day and the wound got infected. Waited for about an hour before heading over to Gua Musang old town for lunch/dinner. The food tasted delicous and it was cheap. Left Gua Musang to head home around 7pm. Dan and Doreen kept me entertained throughout the whole journey back to Penang (Thanks Guys! HUGZ! ). Reached home around 11pm after dropping Dan back home. Decided to immediately clean up my stuffs. I know that if I delay to tomorrow, I might not do it. By the time I finished cleaning the stuffs I can do that night, it was already 2am. Took a warm shower, changed into my sleeping clothings and jumped into my cozy bed....Zzzzz...

I totally enjoyed my 4 days of adventure in Mt Tahan. The friendship and companion from the other 9 people were awesome. Another hiking trip to remember.

-Lynn-