Gunung Angsi, a mountain with a height of 824m tall, not far behind Gunung Datuk can be done within a day. The hike is a trans-hike across the hill which mean you start from one point of the mountain and end the hike on the other side of the mountain. For Gunung Angsi, it is one of the better hike to do a trans-hike as going down on the Ulu Bendol side can be "challenging". It take rought 2-3 hours up and 1-1.5 hours down the other side. To do a trans-hike at Gunng Angsi, go to [2.7274921, 102.058325] where you will see a parking area with a monument in it. The parking area has no facility but as when walking to Ulu Bendol, they have everything except you have to pay 50sen for toilet.
Map to Parking Area, (2.7274921, 102.058325) from Monash Universiy Malaysia
A walk to Ulu Bendol to the foot of Ulu Bendol
After parking the car at Jalan Bukit Putus, one have to take a half an hour walk along the road to Ulu Bendul recreation park. As mention, there are a lot of facility here and recreational waterfall, but most facility won't be open till the late morning. Five minutes after walking from Ulu Bendul entrance alongside the river, there will be pavement road and on the right will be the guard house where you have to pay RM5 entrance fee for hiking Gunung Angsi. After that, the hike up to Gunung Angsi start.
The first hours of the hike, you will be walking alongside the river on your right and with piping along the trail. You will also walk pass two "checkpoint". You will also need to cross the knee deep river during the hike. After an hour hike, the gradient of the hike will start to steepen greatly and will take another an hour plus to reach the peak. Along the hike, there will be a almost 90 degree wall to climb with rope. There are two path here where the right one is easier but the later path is tougher, whereas the left path will be tougher but later path is easier. The path from the start to the end is simple and there was no major split road during the time which I was climbing.
After all that, you have reached the peak of the mountain! It is a nice place to rest here with shade around the place when it get too hot, though, the view isn't much (and yes, on the way up, there isn't much of the view too). To descend to the other side of the hill, take the path right opposite of where you initially came up from. It a simple trail down and there is more view side to see along the way. Just keep taking the main path down to avoid getting lost till you reach a "very-obvious" Y-junction, take left here. (Side note, I got shock when I saw this junction road since it was my first time here and this mountain trail by right is supposed to be clear and obvious, to make thing worst, on both trail, I remember seeing marker also... Trusted my instinct and guess I got lucky!)
Head left at this junction
On the way down, there is a "pondok" with a "stall" nearby. They serve food and drink. While I was there, they told me the food and drink are free but to wash all the culinary after you used. Do ask the keeper there to check first as I not a 100% sure of this. After that, it a steep way down and to the end of the hike. After reaching the end, you will have to walk a bit more down the road to where you park your car.
A small walk to the car after the end of the hike
Hiking route profile
Gunung Angsi (Ulu Bendul side) (Apps: Mapmyhike)
Gunung Angsi (Bukit Putus side) (Apps: Mapmyhike)
Picture of Gunung Angsi
Car Park area
Ulu Bendol rest stop / Gunung Angsi start point
Almost at the start of the hike. Walk till you see pavement road and turn left to pay for tix entry (RM5)
The ticket payment counter
The start of the hike
Hiking along some pipe system
River Crossing
The steep wall with rope
The peak
The peak
More Peak!!
One of the view while heading downward
Free food?? Do ask the keeper there first!
Entrance of Gunung Angsi from Jalan Bukit Putus (Entrance on the right, beginner hiker who want to hike this mountain can use this route)
Entrance of Gunung Angsi (Jalan Bukit Putus)
Overall, it is a good hike for hiker who want to experience what trans-hike feel like. Though, this kind of hike according to expert is not suitable for beginner hiker and I agree with it, unless you are able to hike mountain like Bukit Kutu or Nuang (Hulu Langat). For beginner hiker, you would still be able to hike this mountain using the road from Jalan Bukit Putus.
Bukit Kutu, a mountain of flee if direct translation from Malay. Of course, there is no flee on the mountain at all, but leech are plentiful during the raining season. Situated in between Fraser HIll and Kuala Kubu Bharu in Selangor with a height of 1090m+-, this mountain has a fantastic view on top of the peak, but it only can be access through a few ladder climbing and overcoming the fear of height. To get here, use the GPS coordinate [3°34'42.121"N 101°44'4.927"E] or turn right at toward Fraser Hill at Kuala Kubu Bharu. There is no public facilities prepared nearby the mountain entrance. (Note: There maybe surchage for entrance fee to the mountain)
A map to Bukit Kutu via Kampung Pertak from Monash University Malaysia
A zoom-in map
There two entrance up to Bukit Kutu, one is Kampung Pertak and another is Ampang Pecah. I have only attempted Kampung Pertak and have no idea the different in difficulty between these two trails. Nevertheless, it can be a challenging mountain where at a normal pace, it took around 3.5 to 4 hour to climb up to the top at average pace (At fast pace, it can be completed within 2 - 2.5 hours. The mountain has a gradient which constantly go up, mean for some, it can be a tiring hike.
Bukit Kutu hiking start with a bridge crossing. If you have time, walk off the bridge to the right to see the it stream of waterfall where one can also swim in it. There are two bridge crossing altogether but the second bridge has fallen, it take careful step to cross it (or just walk into the water) and one river crossing. Also, during your journey up the hill, you will come across various fork road along the way.
1st turn: turn right upon the first fork road (note: turning left here will lead you too more stream of waterfall)
During the first turn, if you turn left and left again after the second fork road, it will lead you to Lata Medang. Though, I did not reach Lata Medang in this case, I did reach one if Lata's which is Lata Jebus. The hike here take about 30minutes just to Lata Jebus, though Lata Medang site is definitely nicer and worth the trip up there.
Lata Jebus
Lata Jebus
Continue on Bukit Kutu...
2nd turn: more Right...
3rd turn: Yes, even more right!
Yes, you should realize by now that most of the fork road, right is always the right ways. Though, this is only appear to be true for the first hours of hiking or more precisely, after all the four wheel drive road. After that, it will be jungle route where it is inaccessible for vehicle and it is from here where fork road vary time after time. My hike on year 2014 and the hike on 2016, the jungle route has change a good amount where I don't recognize most of it route (Don't worry about the 4x4 route should not change anytime soon as this road is often use by orang asli). One way to make sure you are heading the right way is to always pick the path that is cleared or heading upward. If not sure, just ask around, there a good amount of hiker here (Well, on both time I visited here on the Sunday morning)
Roughly halfway through your journey (2 hours approximately << vary from person to person), you will come across a very beautiful rock formation. It one of it famous landmark on Bukit Kutu, you will surely not miss it unless you were walking at the wrong way the whole time!! After that, if you manage to reach the top early in the morning, you can climb "The Rock" to get a 360 degree view of the mountain view. Why early in the morning? Cause this "Rock" is small and can only fit 4 people max. Reaching there late mean you will have to line-up or worst....
Once you got bored of the peak, there one more thing Bukit Kutu that can offer and a lot of us will miss it. It a five minutes walk from the peak, there is a small beautiful ruin lying around it. To access it, once at the peak near "The Rock", walk down the path, upon reaching a fork road, turning left will lead you back to where you were originally from. Go straight, keep walking downhill for 5-10 minutes and you will reach it. Upon reaching the place, I do wish no one will vandalize this area as before hand, Bukit Kutu has a good amount of vandalism going on, just hope this ruin will stayed as it is for the next hundred years and so.
Spot the Orang Asli harvesting "Petai"
One of those moment where right is not the right way!
Beautiful rock formation
The view on top of "The Rock"
360 degree view of Bukit Kutu (well not shown in picture... Go there and experience yourself!!)
A ruin used to be a house, there a chimney still standing strong
The beautiful small ruin!
The beautiful small ruin!
Bukit Kutu has a lot to offer, clear clean water, amazing rock formation, 360 degree scenic view and a small beautiful ruin! A place worth a visit, camping is also recommended if you want to visit everything on the list!
Gunung Rinjani, a volcanic mountain standing at 3726m above sea level located at Lombok, Indonesia and unlike other mountain, this is the hike which I could have lost to the mountain. Gunung Kinabalu hike is a child play when it come to hiking Gunung Rinjani. To hike the mountain, all hiker required a mountain guide to guide them all the way to the top. One of the guide we followed was Odentick Trekking (misterogut@gmail.com & www.odenticktrekking.com) with Ahwal and Phuan, which really make our hiking experience a tremendous one. Before the day of hike, we get to prepared what to bring up the hike and what to be left behind (which are not important for the hike).
The first day of hike, we took the jeep to Sembalun, the starting point. After the entry registration, we started our hike to Mount Rinjani. First day hike was a six hours hikes with one hour lunch break in between and a few pit stop from Sembalun to Pelawangan camping point. The first day of the hike is just like hiking Broga Hill, 6 hours+ of Broga Hill with "lalang" landscape most of the way. Though the view during the hike was marvelous all the way, it was hot as the land was barren, just like Broga Hill.
After 6 hours, we reached the top of the volcanic crater and our first camp site, and boy, it was very windy, you can hear all the tent cloth flapping loudly and unsecured hat and plastic was flying around. At 2.6km high, the wind was also chilly, feel like being in Aussie during winter time. Though our guide was smart as they had already plan ahead, setting up our tent lower in the crater where there is far less wind. We settled down for the day and prepared our-self for the hike to the peak on the second day.
2am in the morning and it was time to wake up, breakfast was prepared and we get to enjoy the magnificent moonless night view, filled with star and the Milky Way was clearly visible. Once done, we started our hike to the peak. This time, the hike was really "sandy rocky" unlike any other of my hiking experience in Malaysia. Our guide mention 3 hours was required to hike to the peak but we took 6+ hours to reach the peak of the mountain.... It was tough, really broke my spirit, every two step up was a step down, sometime three to four if not careful. With the wind so strong and cold, it feel like you can fall over anytime. It was even cold to a point where a number of hiker will stop at the side to start a camp fire to warm themselves up. Nevertheless, we make it to the peak (with a few did not) and stay as long as we can to enjoy the view. We took as much photo as possible before heading down, which only took 1.5 - 2 hours to complete back to the camp site....
At 1p.m., we packed our bag and started heading out for camp site number 2, which is by the lake. The hike to the lake was fairly like hiking in New Zealand, the view was amazing the way down from the crater top to the lake. After 3 hours, we reached our camp site and enjoy the hot spring which is only situated a stone throw away. Though, we were at a lower altitude compare to the first camp site, it was pretty dam cold and damp compare to the first camp site which were only cold cause of the wind and less humid.
The next day, at 8.30a.m, we picked up our stuff, enjoy the last minute view of the lake and hot spring, we head back up to the crater top and toward our 3rd camp site in the forest. The view to the top of the crater was magnificent as at this point, you can see both the active volcano and the peak of the Mount Rinjani in one frame. After 3 and the half hours, we reached the top of the crater, overlooking the whole Mount Rinjani crater. After photo, we head down half an hour for a lunch break, then 3 hours down to the third camp site. Oh, did I also mention that the whole hiking period from the first day till the 3rd day, the land was barren with very little forestation over our head, it was definitely very easy to get dehydrated and it was also very dusty.
After the third day, we headed down and ended our hike. From camp site to the base camp of Senaru in 2 hours plus, this is the hike where we were very experience with, it was like hiking in Apek hill / Gunung Nuang (from Camp Pacat to Camp Lolo). Running down the hill to have ourselves a fresh bath in the waterfall in Serdeng Gile!
The total hike was 52km with the highest point of 3.7++ km with temperature ranging from 1 to 6oC till 30 to 34oC+. Starting point of 11++ km high with the ending point of 6++ m high. The view was magnificent all the way from the start of the hike till the 3rd days of the hike. It was always something to wake up to everyday of the hike (except the last day :P). This was definitely the toughest hike ever, it was much difficult compare to Gunung Tahan. Do note that there was a good amount of hiker gave up going to the peak during the hike, so bring extra mental strength cause you are definitely going to need a lot of those!
Overall Hiking Itinerary:
1st Day:
Sembalun to Camp Site Palawangan (6 hours)
2nd Day:
Camp Site Palawangan to Peak (6 hours+)
Peak to Palawangan (1.5-2 hours)
Palawangan to Lake Side camp (3 hours+)
3rd Day:
Lake Side Camp to Post 2 Camp Site (6.5 - 7 hours)
4th Day:
Post 2 Camp Site to Senaru (2-3 hours)
Thing we brought up: Thing we don't have to bring up (porter help):
A few cloths 4 days of foods and water
Sunscreen Tent and sleeping bag
Sunglasses
Walking sticky
Camera
Extra food snack
Toiletries, paper, plastic
Torch Light
Long Jones and Jacket and Glove
Video of the Rinjani Hike
Gunung Rinjani is situated in Lombok, Indonesia where Lombok is situated right beside the famous island, Bali
