Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Gunung Nuang Part 1


" Every time I return to you, I am cleansed;
    Only to be fouled, by the taint of city lights.
        How I wish, to linger in your sanctity, forever and ever. "

- Hajime: Returning to You


Last Sunday (15th July), I was called by my friend TeeHu to tackle 'Gunung Nuang'. Our team was supposed to consist of 5 climbers - me, TeeHu, Tiong and 2 'temporary player' AhMuk and CharGuo. Aigh, dun say already lah, at the day of climbing, only ended up with me and Tiong. All the other 3... went to 'KLIA' =P

Before the day of climbing, my friend TeeHu say got company business need to travel to Johor; then AhMuk sms'ed me at 2 a.m. and say he can't make it to the trip. Wahliu, I straight away tired diao (累掉). Then on the day of climbing, when I driving heading to MRR2, Tiong called me and say CharGuo overslept and won't make it. Kan! at that time I'm ready to U-turn back to my house and 'gaogao-jű' liao, but I thought wtf, just meet up with Tiong in Cheras first.

In the end, me and Tiong decided to go ahead. He got into my trusty ol Saga and we sped off to face-off with Gunung Nuang.

Gunung Naung Facts
Gunung Nuang is located in Hulu Langat and it's 1490 meters above sea level. Now Gunung Tahan is 2187 meters, so that makes Nuang roughly 70% of Tahan's height. Though Nuang is no where close to Tahan when it comes to difficulty level( Compare a 7/8 day trip in the Malaysian jungles of Tahan to the 1/2 day trip of Nuang).

There are actually 3 routes up to the Nuang summit. This time, we took the Kuala Pangsoon route. To reach the Kuala Pangsoon route, take the Cheras Highway heading to Kajang. After exiting the Cheras toll (Anyway, thanks, Samy Velu for raising the toll prices. Now my wallet is so much lighter. ), take the FIRST exit to the left with the sign "Hulu Langat" or something. Keep on driving until you reach the traffic lights (You will see the police station to your right hand side). Turn left at the traffic lights. After this just keep follow the road.

Along the road there are stalls that sell food, so if you forgot to pack, just stop by one of the shops and buy a packet of 'nasi lemak'. Now, keep on going until you reach the 'end' where you will enter a place with some TNB buildings. Find a small path to your left and keep follow the rugged path. You will reach the base soon.

There are plenty of car park there so find a sweet spot for your car. After registering with the warden there ( RM1 per person ) and gearing up, you can start to tackle Gunung Nuang.

nuang_ai
Rough map of Nuang (Not to scale).

Gunung Nuang can be divided into a few major sections:
1. Entrance/Parking
2. "The long gruesome walk"
3. Rest point
4. Dam
5. "Lolo" camp
6. "Hut" camp
7. Mid-mountain push
8. Mid-mountain campsite - "Pacat" camp
9. Summit push
10. The "fake summit"
11. "Nuang" summit

Gunung Nuang section details
1. Entrance/Parking
Where you park your car. There are NO stalls here, so buy your foods/drinks early. Gear up, lock up your car, and get ready for the offence. Be mentally prepared for the long gruesome walk.

2. "The long gruesome walk"
nuang11 For poor guys like me who cannot afford a 4 wheeler, we just gotta walk through this stretch of road. Imho, this section is equally challenging as the actual hike, especially for 'newbies'. In this section, you will encounter muddy roads, rocky roads, grassy roads and all types of roads you can find.

It gets even worse when returning to the parking AFTER the summit hike. Tired legs makes this stretch of road x10 more difficult. It took me and Tiong the same amount of time to walk this road as to reach the summit. Meaning it took us 5 friggin hours just on this road; and our summit push 'only' took 5 hours.


3. Rest point
Ahhh, so dam glad to see the 'pondok' after the gruesome walk. Here, you can take a rest. There is a staircase nearby the pondok that leads to the stream below. After refreshing, time to get into the 'actual' hike!

Follow the path into the forest cross a small stream and follow along the huge pipe.

4. Dam
After sometime trekking, you will climb a fleet of steep stairs to reach the Dam. Cross the stream to continue with the path.

5. "Lolo" camp
After a while, you will reach the Lolo camp site. Since me and Tiong are tackling the summit within the day, we skipped resting here and went straight on.

6. "Hut" camp
After crossing another small stream, you will reach the Hut camps. There were some people camped up there during our trip. Here is the last easily accesible water point before the summit. So fill those empty bottles!

7. Mid-mountain push
nuang15nuang13nuang12

After crossing yet another stream, pass the Hut camps, the mountain push begins! This stretch of hike is rather 'mundane' in a sense that it's all up and up. The scenary is so so imho.

8. Mid-mountain campsite - "Pacat" camp
nuang21
The guy 'asking for fishballs' is my trekking buddy that day - Tiong. The couple who set up tent there are frequent climbers of Gunung Nuang (Just kidding ah, please dun sue me, I takde duit =P).

After pushing yourself physically and mentally (Hehe, many thoughts will race through your mind during these times =p), you will reach a clearing known as Pacat camp. Me and Tiong took our rest here. Due to we have picked up the rhytm, we skipped lunch and just mingle around with the campers and climbers here.

9. Summit push
nuang16nuang14nuang17

After 'kepoh-ing' at Pacat camp, we pushed on to the summit trail. There are many sights along this trail, such as fallen trees which block your way, interesting plants and insects. If it ain't coz we are here for one day, I would've stopped every 5 minutes to shoot some photos. Alas, there's not enough time. Trust me, you won't want to find yourself in the jungle during nightfall... alone!

Nearing the summit, the weather starts to gets cold, and you will notice mist around you. It's kind of an eerie feeling but, you will be too occupied by your fatigue and frustrations anyway. =P

10. The "fake summit"
People call this the 'fake' summit because it's a connecting summmit along the way to the Nuang summit. Here, you can walk up to the fake summit for a view. Unfortunately, it was very misty the say we went, so I weren't able to get a good view. =(

11. "Nuang" summit
nuang20nuang18nuang19

Yay! After trudging through some muddy (damp) and rocky trail, we finally reached the Nuang summit. Dropped my bag and ploped down on the floor. Fuh! Feels grreeeaaattt to rest my feet!

Staring into the sky, albeit tired but yeah man, this moment is priceless.

There is a small pondok at the summit... made of metal... and a metallic pole sticking on top of it. We were wondering, what happens if lighting strikes. Yikes.

Even at this height, the mist is pretty thick and the weather is cold! Especially when the wind blows. Brrr! I was hopin the mist would clear up so I can take some shots of the mountain view... but the weather not nice. Sigh.

The descent
We rested for around 45 minutes on the summit and met with some other climbers who took another route. After eating the nasi lemak and 'celebrating' our half-succesful climb with 100-Plus, we started the descent. Why I say half-succesful? Tat's because a succesful climb is when you have completed BOTH ascent AND descent. You never know what could happen during the descent! Touch wood, touch wood (Luckily in the jungle all around also wood... =_=").

Well, since the weather is looking gloomy, me and Tiong was like:" dam better not rain, please, at least after we reach car park only rain lah...". But dunno why, it rained anyway. Right after we started out descent. Lol. Shuey ah.

The rain made the descent a lot harder! Slippery and muddy slopes meant that we need to be careful with our steps. I landed on my butt several times, and made a few 'surfing' stance to balance myself from falling.

A good climb
Leeches! Dam, when I was taking my bath at the car park area, found out a few leeches on my body. A particular one is quite near my, ahem, sensitive part... lucky got rid of it fast fast.

It was already 7 p.m. when we finally drove off from Nuang. While driving, I thought to myself: Actually, this morning I was quite reluctant on climbing, since some of my friends weren't able to show up. And I was quite worried of my physical condition as long time no exercise.

But, in the end, I was glad that I did the climb. It felt great! Getting close to nature, the greenary, the natural rivers and mountains. It was rejuvenating. The climb was worth while, and, just like any other climb, I was able to know a little bit more about myself.


nuang04
( ゚Д゚ )!

18 comments:

MyDIYsHop said...

yo man, cooooooool pics... really a damn nice photo it can take. not really believe is because of ur skills... haha. any way, post more pics. it's damn cool...

Alex said...

Haha, thanks man. Sure will post up more when I snap.

I'll have to admit, the camera did help a lot. But in the end the shot still requires angle and composition, which is determined by the user. =P

Anonymous said...

Bro.. good post and very informative.
i plan to complete Nuang without camping, is it possible?.. i read that you reach base at 7pm, what time u start hiking?. please advise

Alex said...

Yoh, glad you found it informative. ;)

For me the best time to start is 'as early as possible', lol. But actually since climb time is dependent on individual physique. There really isn't any definitive time.

I rhink a good gauge whether a 1 day push is possible or not is to check the time when you reach Pacat Camp. I think the journey from base to Pacat is roughly 70% from the whole ascent; and from Pacat to summit is the remaining 30%. Use this info and combine with your arrival time in Pacat to estimate whether you will have enough time to tackle the summit and reach the base on your desired time.

e.g.
- Ascent
Start at 8am, reach Pacat 2pm. Time taken = 4 hours.
Estimated time to reach summit from Pacat = 1.5 hours.
So, 2pm + 1.5 hours = estimate 3:30pm reach summit.

- Descent
Time needed to reach base from summit = 4 hours + 1.5 hours = 5.5 hours.
So, 3:30pm + 5.5 hours = 9pm.

Haha, 9pm seems a bit too late. That was just an example. Though me and my buddies have in quite many occasion, had to descnet in pitch black, and reached the base late into the night.

If you find it too late, then you can enjoy yourself at Pacat, descent from there, and fight the good fight some other day. The mountain ain't going anywhere anyway. Unless if you are the adventerous type, then night climb is a whole new experience (which isn't that bad really =), just bring head lamp, not hand-held torch lights ;) )

Just take into account you and your team member's physical level, whether they are experienced climbers, check the time, and you can roughly decide whether to push the summit from Pacat or not.

Lastly, from one climber to another, climb safe, climb hard, and most importantly, enjoy the climb!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much hajime.
I'm looking forward for a hike there next month. Have a great day..

Anonymous said...

Hi, i agree with his culculation. basically if you want to do 1 day trip possible you go up before 7:30am. if late then 8:30pm you better not go to submit if raining day. as it take longer time for you to come down then climb up. the Mug will make u slow down and falls no mater how carefull you are.. you you place to push to limit. If you want to have a slow enjoy relax climb. it is advise to take 2 days and over night :)

Alex said...

Anonymous must be seasoned climber! Coz so familiar with Nuang liao, nice. =)

Post ur name mar, it's always good to know another climber/trekker. ;)

Mm... wonder how was Jay's climb? XD

Anonymous said...

really good info, trying to search for this info and I can find everything from your blog. looking forward to trek this gunung naung.

mhgo@hotmail.com

Alex said...

Awright man, go go go! Go tackle Nuang! XD

Glad you found this post informative =) Flex those muscles and enjoy your climb man!

Anonymous said...

hi hajime.. do you think we need get a guide from the local people there if we going there first time? if yes, how much does it cost? do you have any email address?

mhgo@hotmail.com

Alex said...

Yoh mhgo, glad u gonna trek Nuang!

Regarding your question about the price and contact of guide, I'm not too sure. XO

You can try this though:
Pejabat Hutan Daerah Selangor Tengah,
Pangsoon, ulu Langat
43200 Cheras,
Selangor, Malaysia
Phone no.: 03-90752885
URL: http://sel_forestry.selangor.gov.my/eng/hutan_lipur2/nuang2.htm <-lousy site

Hmm, there is basically only one route up to the summit. The only 'confusing' part is probably near the dam at the lower camp sites.

Hopefully there are some campers there for you to ask for directions... or I bcom your guide , cheap cheap price, LOL. XP

Anonymous said...

thanks for the info... we confirmed hiking on 1st May... if u interested, can always be our guide and we can meet new friend like u..

mhgo@hotmail.com

Alex said...

Oh, that's great! I think Nuang is glad to welcome new climbers. Haha... =_=|||

Well, take care of your team, and remember: leave nothing but your footprints behind. Keep the garbage throughout the climb and dump it properly when you reach the base aye?

Aiyaks, 1st of May I oledi got plan man. Mm... bring a big torch light, if your team in trouble, then shine the torch light to the sky with a 'hajime' logo, then I'll hop into my hajime-mobile and go rescue you guys lol.

Right man, enjoy the climb with your friends!

csk said...

Is the campsite big enough for 10 person.

Alex said...

Hi there CSK. Yeah, there are actually various camp spots around the river area, and in your case, the camp sites can fit ur team (provided that no one else is already there lar).

The base campsite:
A short distance from the end of the 'tarmac road', you will come across a small campsite, its actually more like a stretch, where u can pitch tents in a row. Then further up across the river, there is a huge campsite.

Pacat:
Pacat site, if my estimation is correct, is suffice to fit ur team... 3-4 midsize tents. Although I dunno how the geography is as I write this (long time no go liao =p)

Hope you have a great time there man. Start a blog and post those pics up aye!

All about me said...

can you tell me, is pacat camp suitable for camp? any water source?

Anonymous said...

best place to set ur tent is at lolo camp..normally if i go on saturday morning, i set camp at lolo than the next morning early2 morning go till summit and than turn back, pack ur bag/stuff and go home.lolo camp nearby water resources compare to pacat camp...btw 11 july till 12th july 2009 (saturday and sunday) me and my group will heading to nuang.interested person can join in email me at azura_azizi@yahoo.com

Sky.Live said...

Probably the best Nuang guidance blog post I ever read, been wanting to do this for years..