Mount Bah Gading - Troubled at the River

 

Mount Bah Gading or Bar Gading located near Bidor Perak, standing at 1621 meters/5318 ft.

Summary of Hike

Ascending - 10.1km in 7 hours

Descending - 11.5km in 9 hours 30 minutes

Total hike : 21.6km in 16 hours and 25 minutes

Overall Trail Condition and Difficulty

The overall trail can be divided into 2 parts, Part 1 is the river crossings and part 2 is the climbing :

Part 1 : River Crossings

Earlier part of the trail there were a lot of river crossings, i mean a lot! More than 10 crossings and mostly crossing the same river. There are part that was easy, moderate and dangerous

Part 2 : The Climb

The climbing part will start after kem Tigok - 5. 8km from trailhead. Its another 4.3km to the peak. Its a hard climb. Please be prepared for this.

Parking and Location

gps coordinate - the exact parking point based on google map

the school

Most of the photos credit from one of our team member : Azali Idris....marvelous!

Cautions and Preparations

1) River Crossings stage

• you will be stepping on rocks and boulders - most of it are slippery as hell. If possible, don't step on top of it, just step on a rock that same level with the ground
• don't get too confident with your hiking shoes, one false move, you will fall
• I saw 'adidas kampung' in action, firm grip on the rock surface, but then again, when its slipped, you will get into trouble
• there are dangerous section as you will need to follow a narrow ledge (on the side of a cliff), if you miss a step or slip, you may ended up falling to river down below.
• slippery big boulders - most of it are curvy, please be extra careful with your balance and step. I saw hikers fell down here and get bruises.
• Elusive rock at the river bottom - as the river water is murky, we can't even see the bottom, be careful when you walk across, your step may hit these small boulders at the bottom and you may ended up falling. Just bend your body a bit, make a small step at a time to feel what you are stepping onto - to maintain your balance
• A team effort is needed when crossing these rivers - make a line and hold hands for everybody to get across (refer to photo below)
• Having a hiking shoes with a firm grip will at least minimise your risk of slipping and maintaining your balance

Photo of the year

We couldn't make it without the teamwork effort

credit : azali idris

2) Dark is our Enemy

• As we all started at 4.00am before dawn, its a pitch black
• please use 150 lumens and above of headlights/headlamp. You will have better view on what's ahead with this high lumens
• even with high lumens bright light, your step is not perfectly landed on solid ground. Stones, tree roots and uneven surfaces will get in your way.
• You might end up returning back in the dark, so, please prepare the headlight with extra battery. Standard energizer battery will last around 3 - 4 hours of burning time

Night mode photo setting

Photo credit Azali idris

3) Tree roots and loose grounds

• Be careful on your way down as the tree roots and loose ground will make you slipped and fall
• It will get ugly while descending a steep gradient (downhill) - please hold on to tree branch while descending

4) Leeches are Everywhere

• Leeches are present from start right after the Orang Asli settlement
• the attack intensify as we get deeper into the jungle
• Please wear "leech socks" (100% coverage up to your calf) or socks with small holes (it still can seep in to bite you...haha)
• Insect repellent will also deter the leech at the spray area but you need to constantly reapply - you are crossing the river, remember?...and the effect will worn off eventually
• I wore leech socks but the leeches attacked my upper body up to my neck. A constant check on yourself will deter this.
• when you feel like an ant bite on your skin which means the blood sucking is still at earlier stage, please check where the pain came from, 99.9% it will be those leeches
• please remove the biting leeches (or still crawling) if not, the blood will continue to bleed (its not that dangerous but kind of annoying and will get messy)

5) River Wild - Rising Water and Strong Current

• There are rivers with strong current which can easily bring you down. Be careful
• if its rain, there is a high chance that the river will rise and make it deeper to get across, please wait a while or in worst case scenario, you may need to extend your hike, please prepare with food and camping gear if needed.

Teamwork baby....braving the waist-deep water

Photo credit : Azali Idris

Our Guide in black top with Ajul the sweeper in red top setting up the tree trunk for us to get across while Oli (foreground) looking at the two

Those who brave enough could lead...

These 2 souls risking their lives to ensure our safety

6) Confusing Trails

• at the beginning, the trails are clear and straight forward, however, there are few trails that lead elsewhere, believed it was made by the Orang Asli in their exploration.
• by having gps or experience guide who knows their way around are better.
• There are less trail marker in the jungle, even lesser or none during river crossings, so, having a guide is recommended. You may use your gps as supplement assistant but depending on your device, you need to get off-route first then the watch will trigger the off-route alert (away from correct path) - which may cause you extra time and energy.

7) GPS device

• It is recommended if you use GPS device (if you got no experience guide) which is also possible to hike this mountain
• but it is not recommend to use your handphone as the sole gps reference as it may get wet, damage or even lost - you are crossing the river, you are falling - remember? My friend lost his water bottle without even knowing it after a while. Imagine having your phone lost in the river.
• I would recommend a gps wrist watch or handheld gps device which is sturdy and water resistance

8) Moving as a Group and Do not Break away from Group

• it is recommended to stick together in your group, if you have big groups, you may break it 4 to 5 persons (though it is also less recommended)
• the reason, we have one hiker who fell down between big boulders while to get across a makeshift bridge that made of woods, one of the wood collapsed. Luckily we saw him falling and few of us helped him up.
• As all the hikers are the guide/organizer's responsibility, its hard for them to manage the group if we break away - risk of being lost, risk of falling down the cliff without others noticing it

The boulder and the gushing water

Photo credit : azali idris

Back to the Story

Rendezvous at Bidor town and heading towards Pos Gedung, 16km away in 30 - 40 minutes. Its a winding road and had few steep hill, put your low gear ya.

We parked at an open space area with grass near the school entrance.

Started at 4.00am, in a dark, cold sunday morning. There were 16 of us, 1 guide (general rushido) and 2 sweepers - Ajul and Oli who also the organizer for this trip.

From Start to Kem Tigok

Distance from Start : 5.8km

Time taken from Start : 3 hours 36 min

Trail Condition : many river crossings, expected more than 10 rivers, slippery rocks and boulders, prepare to get wet

Trail Difficulty : easy, moderate and danger (at certain section)

This is on our back - its raining

Reached Kem Tigok also area known as Tigok Waterfall

in 3 hours 36 minutes, 5.8km from start

From Kem Tigok to Permatang

Distance from Kem Tigok to Permatang ; 2.4km

Time taken from Kem Tigok to Permatang : 1 hour 48 minutes

Distance from Start to Permatang : 8.2km

Time taken from start to Permatang : 5 hours 24 minutes

Trail condition : dry, still one or two river crossings, slippery on our way down

Trail difficulty : moderate to hard inclination

From Permatang to Peak

Distance from Permatang to Peak : 1.9km

Time taken from Permatang to Peak : 1 hour 42 minutes

Distance from Start to Peak : 10.1km

Time taken from start to Peak : 7 hours

Trail Condition : dry, slippery on our way down

Trail Difficulty : hard inclination

Bah Gading powered by 100plus isotonic drink

There you go...10km in 7 hours...

"pewai" time - extremely exhausted...

On our way back, it rains heavily and after kem tigok with only left around 2km to finish, we got stranded at one of the river crossing due to the water level have risen. Its too dangerous to get cross as the current was too strong. After multiple attempt to cross but failed, our guide had chopped a small tree, long and strong enough making a temporary submerged bridge for us to hang on to while crossing the river. A brilliant idea i would say.

As its getting dark, our process to get all river crossed still unsuccessful even after dusk. With poor visibility and only with our headlights, we crossed the river as a group, a slow but progressing enough until we finally reached the last river crossing to mark the end of our grueling 16 hours journey.

Completed in 16 hours 25 minutes with 21.6km in a cold dark night

In summary, you need to get prepared and your common sense check before attempting Mount Bah Gading. The confusing trail, the treacherous cliff, slippery rocks, rising water level might end up with extra nights and the hard inclination itself are among the things you may consider.

To me, as this is my first time, its another hard hike with difference experience.

It is more challenging with a line up with different level of fitness - we have too fast, moderate and slow, we need to make sure that all make it to the top and complete the mission.

Great teamwork guys!!