Gunung Stong - East State Daypack Hike

Gunung Stong with the height of 1422 meters located in the state of Kelantan -  5 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. There are 2 routes to choose from i.e route 1 – from car park straight to Gunung Stong peak (shorter route) while route 2 – car park to Gunung Ayam – Gunung Baha – Gunung Stong (longer a bit).

The entrance of Gunung Stong

from left to right...2 routes separated

Our plan is to hike route 2, however, due to miscommunication with the guide, we only realize that we were following route 1 all along….sigh…

The guide fee, registration etc is around RM350 per guide and the guide can bring a maximum of 12 person.

We started at around 8.30am or so and successfully made it to Stong Peak around 12.53pm in almost 5 hours. Descending was an easy part which only took us about 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours.

The details on the distance and time are as follows :

Car Park to Kem Baha Junction

Distance from start : 1.1km

Duration : appx 45 – 50 minutes

Time of the day : 9.15am

Trail difficulty : moderate inclination

Kem Baha junction - going straight will lead you to Kem Baha and the nice sunset/sunrise.

Going on your right - will make you climb towards the Gunung Stong peak

Standing at the junction - take left to Kem Baha, right to the peak

Kem Baha Junction to Kem Baha

Distance : 320 meters

Distance from Start : 1.48km

Duration from Kem Baha Junction: 5 minutes

Duration from Start : 58 minutes

Time of the day : 9.22am

Trail difficulty : moderate inclination

Take left to the starting point, take right to Kem Baha 

Kem Baha to Sungai Rantai

Distance : 610 meters

Duration from Kem Baha junction to Sungai Rantai : 24 minutes

Distance from Start : 2.44km

Duration from Start : 24 minutes

Time of the day : 10.06am

Trail difficulty : easy

On our way up : distance, time and duration

On our way down : distance, time and duration

From Sungai Rantai to Permatang Bonsai

Distance : 3 km

Duration from Sg Rantai to Permatang Bonsai : 24 minutes

Duration from Start to Permatang Bonsai : 2 hours 6 minutes

Distance from start : 5.5km

Duration from Start : 3 hours 49 minutes

Time of the day : 12.12pm

Trail difficulty : moderate inclination

From Permatang Bonsai to Gunung Stong Peak

Distance : 680 meters

Duration from Permatang Bonsai to Gunung Stong Peak : 36 minutes

Distance from start : 6.18km

Duration from Start : 4 hours 29 minutes

Time of the day : 12.53pm

Trail Difficulty : hard

The speedster youngsters

I would advise for those who are planning to do Gunung Stong route number two daypack, it is possible actually - please park your car outside the gate - just in case you unable to make it before the gate close at around 5pm - 7pm.

Back at Kem Baha Junction 

 Clear sky from Kem Baha at 3pm something

Finally, we reached the hut just in time 

Done ! 12.12km in 7hours 36 minutes, time 4.40pm

This is gua 'keris' - dont leave dabong without visiting this keris like structure.

Our Gunung Stong Guide charge us RM50 per head for this. Its worth it!

He will explain the stalactite, stalagmite - rock formation, the cave was once inundated by sea water - sea weed formation on the rocks, unique spider species, sparkling white rocks, and many more.  

 In the background is the Dabong small town pasar malam (night market) on Saturday evening.

Please go while it is still bright around 6pm - it closes soon....