GUNUNG NUANG

Gunung Nuang
Located in Pangsun, Hulu Langat, Selangor, the infamous Gunung Nuang is 1,498 m/4,898 ft above sea level. It's the highest mountain in Selangor.

How to go there?
Very easy! From KL-Seremban highway, take MRR2 highway towards Genting and exit at Kajang/Cheras interchange. After paying the toll at Batu 9 toll gate, turn to the left to Jalan Hulu Langat. From there, be on the look out for Balai Polis on the right side near a traffic light. At the traffic light, turn to the left. From here, it's one straight road all the way and signboards are all over for directions to Hutan Lipur Gunung Nuang.

The terrain
The terrain is divided into four main Check points:
1. The never ending road!
2. Kem Lolo
3. Kem Pacat
4. Puncak Pengasih

Jul 18, 2009. Saturday
1. The never ending road!, 6.50am
It was 6.30am when I reached the parking lot of Hutan Lipur Gunung Nuang. After a short briefing by the group leader, we started our journey at 6.50am through the never ending road. It was still dark and it's a bamboo forest along the road. We had to walk fast along the road as later on we had to slower the pace as we started the ascending.



Kem Lolo, 8.45am
We reached Kem Lolo about two hours later after passing beautiful waterfalls of Lolo dam. Kem Lolo is a very popular spot for overnite campers. Quite a number of hikers camped overnite here too so that they can start the climb early! If they start at 7am, they are already 2 hours in front of us.

There's nothing interesting along the way and I was wondering what made Gunung Nuang so special until people say that once you've done Nuang, Gunung Kinabalu is not a problem. My curiosity was answered after we passed Kem Pacat.

At Kem Lolo, we turned to the left towards the next Check Point, Kem Pacat. There used to be a lot 'dancing queens' in this camp area, that's why it's known as Kem Pacat. It' didn't rain for a few days before this trip, so the campsite was dry. Instead of pacat, there were a lot of bees!


Kem Pacat, 10.25am
We reached Kem Pacat after almost 4 hours of trekking. Despite its name, no pacat (land leeches aka dancing queens) to be found here. It must be because it's dry. The fun really began here!

Here the trail became steeper and more rugged. We were hiking on red clay with exposed roots and fallen trees here and there. Good pair of hiking shoes with good grips are necessary. Otherwise, you'd end up being slowed down by shoe problem. It happened to us too as one hiker had shoe problem and had to continue descending barefooted.

And here, I knew what the mountain was infamous about! I prayed that it'd not rain, or else the red clay trail can be very slippery. Knowing my record of slipping on the way down, the thought that I might have to endure the slippery red clay chilled me to the bones!

I had fun here and really enjoyed the climb and this trail really defined what Gunung Nuang was all about and what made it different from the rest. Or else, the trail before that was all boring and it's more like 'been there and done that' kind of things.



Puncak Pengasih, 11.40am
Puncak Pengasih is also known as False Peak. Hikers may have got the idea that they have reached the peak here, but it's not. From here, take the trail to the left. It's a descending trail for about 20 minutes. We had to ascend again to the peak. A few meters before Puncak Pengasih, the air was already cooler and the surrounding was misty.



The Peak, 12.25pm
Yes! We made it to the peak in more than 5 hours. It was very misty and it looked it's gonna rain. I was worried!

During clear day, one could see Semenyih dam from here and the surrounding towns. The view is worth the endurance! But not today. It was very misty and cloudy. And cold too! Some of the hikers were taking out their kain pelikat and use it as blanket!

After about 15 minutes and after feeding a friendly squirrel we decided to come down leaving some of the group members there. Anyway, most of them hadn't reached the peak as yet when we left and met them on the way down.

We reached back the base at around 5.30pm passing through the same Check Points. And the never ending road seemed to have no end in sight!


As a summary, I enjoyed the hiking experience here and I thanked God, Allah the Almighty for being able to complete the trip safely. I was also grateful to the group leaders who gave me the opportunity to join them on this trip.