This is a weekend hiking adventure to one of Malaysia's pristine rainforest named Bukit Kutu. It's a challenging experience with a lot of breathtaking sceneries along the climb uphill to an elevation of 1,000 meters. This journey took us from Kuala Lumpur through a scenic drive all the way to Kampung Pertak that is approximately 10km away from Kuala Kubu Bharu.
In this story I will share my own personal experience from a first-time adventure trail seeker's perspective. The mountain that I'm going to conquer today will take a hiking journey of 7 hours of moderate speed to complete the entire trail.
To get here, the nearest landmark is an old town in Kuala Kubu Bharu to stopover for breakfast or a sumptuous meal. This is your last stop to get all your essential requisites such as bottled mineral water, packed food, bread, chocolate bars, candies, etc. I chose to have a hearty breakfast at one of the few coffee shops around town.
I've been to this old Kuala Kubu town a couple of times to stopover before heading to Chilling Waterfall on the same route toward Kampung Pertak - an Orang Asli settlement for this outdoor adventure. The atmosphere here is pretty laid back and somewhat serene and peaceful. As soon as you've replenished your supplies with a full stomach quickly head toward Kampung Pertak because it's difficult to find car park there as this place is getting very popular with weekend hikers and picnickers.
After you found a spot to park your car at Kampung Pertak you may begin to head toward the base of the mountain. You can get assistance from other hikers for the correct direction because this place is quite popular nowadays for the perfect hiking getaway.
There are shallow streams to cross-over before reaching the base of Bukit Kutu. Its very refreshing to breath the air here. Everything is natural and organic. The only way to preserve this natural habitat is to use my camera to capture its beauty without destroying any part of this rainforest.
The bridge crossing and river crossing that I've shown here will be the same route that you will take to return to Kampung Pertak at the end of the journey. In other words this trail is one-way up and one-way down. You will meet other hikers along the way and follow the proper marking for direction.
For the most part during the early hiking journey you can see the walkway path that leads the direction. Surface is still flat at this moment after the last river crossing. As a word of advise it is better to remove your socks and shoes during the river crossing with your bare feet. If your hiking shoes and socks are wet it would be very difficult to walk the long journey for another 3 hours before reaching the summit.
Just make sure your feet stays dry. The other most important aspect for this type of outdoor hiking adventure is about dehydration. You need to carry enough water for your own. But carrying too much weights will make your rucksack become heavy for this long hiking trip with steep elevation.
After experiencing this journey, my advise is to get a 1.5 Litre bottled water and another bottle of 0.7 litre 100 Plus isotonic drink. Isotonic drink will give you the extra boost of energy. You need to conserve your water ration appropriately so that when you reach the summit only half of your water ration is used up. You need to preserve the other half of your water ration for the way downward. Many folks thought that coming down the mountain is much easier. But this may not be true for steep mountain like this in and the dense forest heat will dehydrate you easily making you feel tired and drag your movement to a prolong period. I bet you don't want to me the last one to come out from the jungle trail.
Journey planning is very important. You need to know how many hours is your outdoor trail going to take and whether it's a flat land surface or elevation height. For mountain hike like Bukit Kutu or other similar mountains we really need to plan what to take along but it has to be light enough to endure the whole journey.
From photos it doesn't look very steep. But believe me it is steep enough for an average hiker. I took along a walking pole to assist in my balance while walking up the uneven steep trail.
Along the way up you will be rewarded with some remarkable views while taking a 2-3 minutes break. The trick here is not to over-exert yourself. Take a short rest if you feel you are short of breath. Don't rush but keep a check on time management.
At 805 meters from my altimeter reading, there's another 200 meters to go before reaching the summit. But this 200 meters would take another 1 hour of uphill effort. A moderate hiking speed from the start of journey until reaching the summit would take approximately 3.5 hours.
Reaching the top is a sense of achievement. For all the hardwork you've put up during this uphill hike you can now enjoy a light meal that you brought along.
Depending on the hour of the day most hikers would spend between 20 - 30 minutes for a quick rest and selfies. After that it's all the way down that will take another 3 hours. Assuming you've made it to the summit at 1.00pm and the estimated descending time to reach your car would be around 4.00pm. Don't forget that you will need to drive from Pertak to reach your home destination before sunset and have dinner with your family and chat about this wonderful experience. In saying that you don't have much of a luxury time to spend at the top of Bukit Kutu. As soon as you've enough rest and satisfied you must begin your journey to descend. Descending down is just as agonizing as the way up. Remember I've said earlier to conserve your water ration. You will need it to stay energetic and steady.
After an agonizing pain of walking down from 1,000 meters you will find civilization when you started seeing day tripper folks at the river streams that you've crossed earlier in the morning. Overall this adventure hike is a success for me and to others on this day.
"There Are No Shortcuts To Anyplace Worth Going"
I hope you've enjoyed reading this hiking story with picturesque atmosphere of lush rainforest setting to aspire your next adventure.
Song Now Playing
In this story I will share my own personal experience from a first-time adventure trail seeker's perspective. The mountain that I'm going to conquer today will take a hiking journey of 7 hours of moderate speed to complete the entire trail.
To get here, the nearest landmark is an old town in Kuala Kubu Bharu to stopover for breakfast or a sumptuous meal. This is your last stop to get all your essential requisites such as bottled mineral water, packed food, bread, chocolate bars, candies, etc. I chose to have a hearty breakfast at one of the few coffee shops around town.
I've been to this old Kuala Kubu town a couple of times to stopover before heading to Chilling Waterfall on the same route toward Kampung Pertak - an Orang Asli settlement for this outdoor adventure. The atmosphere here is pretty laid back and somewhat serene and peaceful. As soon as you've replenished your supplies with a full stomach quickly head toward Kampung Pertak because it's difficult to find car park there as this place is getting very popular with weekend hikers and picnickers.
After you found a spot to park your car at Kampung Pertak you may begin to head toward the base of the mountain. You can get assistance from other hikers for the correct direction because this place is quite popular nowadays for the perfect hiking getaway.
There are shallow streams to cross-over before reaching the base of Bukit Kutu. Its very refreshing to breath the air here. Everything is natural and organic. The only way to preserve this natural habitat is to use my camera to capture its beauty without destroying any part of this rainforest.
The bridge crossing and river crossing that I've shown here will be the same route that you will take to return to Kampung Pertak at the end of the journey. In other words this trail is one-way up and one-way down. You will meet other hikers along the way and follow the proper marking for direction.
For the most part during the early hiking journey you can see the walkway path that leads the direction. Surface is still flat at this moment after the last river crossing. As a word of advise it is better to remove your socks and shoes during the river crossing with your bare feet. If your hiking shoes and socks are wet it would be very difficult to walk the long journey for another 3 hours before reaching the summit.
Just make sure your feet stays dry. The other most important aspect for this type of outdoor hiking adventure is about dehydration. You need to carry enough water for your own. But carrying too much weights will make your rucksack become heavy for this long hiking trip with steep elevation.
After experiencing this journey, my advise is to get a 1.5 Litre bottled water and another bottle of 0.7 litre 100 Plus isotonic drink. Isotonic drink will give you the extra boost of energy. You need to conserve your water ration appropriately so that when you reach the summit only half of your water ration is used up. You need to preserve the other half of your water ration for the way downward. Many folks thought that coming down the mountain is much easier. But this may not be true for steep mountain like this in and the dense forest heat will dehydrate you easily making you feel tired and drag your movement to a prolong period. I bet you don't want to me the last one to come out from the jungle trail.
Journey planning is very important. You need to know how many hours is your outdoor trail going to take and whether it's a flat land surface or elevation height. For mountain hike like Bukit Kutu or other similar mountains we really need to plan what to take along but it has to be light enough to endure the whole journey.
From photos it doesn't look very steep. But believe me it is steep enough for an average hiker. I took along a walking pole to assist in my balance while walking up the uneven steep trail.
Along the way up you will be rewarded with some remarkable views while taking a 2-3 minutes break. The trick here is not to over-exert yourself. Take a short rest if you feel you are short of breath. Don't rush but keep a check on time management.
At 805 meters from my altimeter reading, there's another 200 meters to go before reaching the summit. But this 200 meters would take another 1 hour of uphill effort. A moderate hiking speed from the start of journey until reaching the summit would take approximately 3.5 hours.
Reaching the top is a sense of achievement. For all the hardwork you've put up during this uphill hike you can now enjoy a light meal that you brought along.
Depending on the hour of the day most hikers would spend between 20 - 30 minutes for a quick rest and selfies. After that it's all the way down that will take another 3 hours. Assuming you've made it to the summit at 1.00pm and the estimated descending time to reach your car would be around 4.00pm. Don't forget that you will need to drive from Pertak to reach your home destination before sunset and have dinner with your family and chat about this wonderful experience. In saying that you don't have much of a luxury time to spend at the top of Bukit Kutu. As soon as you've enough rest and satisfied you must begin your journey to descend. Descending down is just as agonizing as the way up. Remember I've said earlier to conserve your water ration. You will need it to stay energetic and steady.
After an agonizing pain of walking down from 1,000 meters you will find civilization when you started seeing day tripper folks at the river streams that you've crossed earlier in the morning. Overall this adventure hike is a success for me and to others on this day.
"There Are No Shortcuts To Anyplace Worth Going"
I hope you've enjoyed reading this hiking story with picturesque atmosphere of lush rainforest setting to aspire your next adventure.
Song Now Playing
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