Broga Temple Trail 22 Nov 2009

Trekking up the hill besides the Broga Stone Temple could be described as easy. Starting at 8.15 a.m. the trek to the open hill top took only about 30 minutes. That morning the weather was simply beautiful and cloudy. We took our time to admire the scenic surrounding especially the mist moving about the Broga Hills.

On returning to the Temple at about 10 a.m, we proceeded to hike the opposite hill following the G7 paper trail. The trail passed through the most challenging slopes. The terrain was steep and slippery and we had to grab onto branches and tree trunks to climb uphill. At 323m asl, we decided to make a U turning instead of proceeding up another hill (for another 1 hour) as we were unprepared for such a challenging climb. The downhill trail was drier and thus easier to navigate. It took us a total of 3.5 hours to climb up to 323m asl and to return to base. The hike can be described as vigorous and exhausting.

Trekking buddies: SeeToh (Leader), Ting, Ben, Murugiah, Kachana, Randy, Choo & Elsie.

For the photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/6861.

Broga Hills 14 Nov 2009

This is my 5th trip. Following the last trip on 17.5.2009 (http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2009/05/broga-hills-17-may-09_18.html), the crowd was smaller than anticipated possibly due to the gloomy weather. Anyway, it was a fantastic day of no direct sunshine to spend on 'botak' Broga Hills. The downsides were limited views and photography due to the thick mist. Despite the daily rain, the trail was surprisingly dry and firm to trek. Things have changed:-
1) Two access laterite roads to the head trail have been created with ample car parking space on both sides of the roads. Car park fee RM2 per car
2) Stalls could be found near the head trail selling drinks and food.
3) Trails have been upgraded with steps cut into the slope. Certain sections have 2 parallel trails - one for uphill & one for downhill. Gone were the smooth slippery slopes.

After spending a considerable amount of time lepaking on the final hill peak, we decided to back trekked as the trails (beyond the final hill peak) into jungle were covered by thick undergrowth and no longer trekable. We were fortunate that the rain came after we returned to the head trail at about 11 a..m. We later adjourned to the Rock Temple and an orchid farm nearby before rounding up our trip with a scrumptious lunch at Restaurant No 52, Jalan Sg Lalang.

For the photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/6809.

AHFR III 1 Nov 2009

With this third trek, I would say that I have completed all the AHFR trails. Within 25 minutes of trekking, we reached the Wild Boar Hut Rest place at 8.40 a.m. Surprisingly, the two swings in the area have been removed.

When we came to Junction 1, we took the right trail with the aim of visiting the mini waterfall. The trail became narrower and the path was padded with a thick layer of fallen leaves and undergrowth. It took about 20 minutes of downhill trek to reach the mini waterfall. The area was pristine with crystal clear water.

After a short 5 minutes photography session, we hurried up the steep gradient slope to escape from the "ambushing" leeches. We had difficulty tracing the uphill trail as it was obscured by fallen leaves and tree branches. We just pushed on uphill by scrambling through whatever openings between trees and shrubs. Needless to say, there a fair bit of ducking to avoid the sharp vines and low branches. It took us about 30 minutes to scale uphill to hit the peak of 197m asl (reported to be 233m asl) near Junction 2. From here, we proceeded downhill to Junction 3 where we took the right trail to Junction 4 and then the left trail to visit the big waterfall.

We ed around for about 20 minutes before we pushed on at about 11 a.m. to trek back via Junctions 6, 3 and 2 to Summit One. From here, we took the Pupa trail via Junction 8 and exited Entrance B at about 12.50 p.m.

Overall, a good energetic trek of over 4 hours with Ben, Woon (leader), Ting, Muru and wife.

Earlier treks are documented at http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2009/10/ahfr-trek-ii-241009.html and http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2009/09/ahfr-trek-i-270909.html.

ROUTE TAKEN


For the photographs of this trek, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/7204.