Saturday, August 25, 2012

Climbing Gunong Berembun and Cemerong

I had two days off from flying and  decided to go for a hiking trip in the mountains of Ulu Dungun. These two hills, Gunong Cemerong and Gunong Berembun are located in Pasir Raja area, a place I love to haunt for it's natural beauty.. It is also because I need to familarise myself with the trail as my friend Martin Lee and his gang and some of my gang will be coming over to the East Coast to climb these two mountains.
I had lured two good old Hashers from my hash chapter to come along with me.  Mr Rothman King Size and Mr Pretty Boy had taken the bait and I picked them up at 0600 hrs on Tuesday 21 Aug 2012 for the journey to Cemerong Waterfalls where the trail starts and ends.
We started the hike on high spirits. Both Pretty Boy and Rothmans are very fit hashers (stronger than me for sure!). They had been in the timber industry too so they are very well versed in the art of jungle craft.

All along the trail there are a amazing species of flora and fauna to feast our eyes.

The trail is very well maintained and is extremely clean too. But beware... it starts off with a very steep climb. Do not be mislead by the information on the track distances because the distance indicated is only the horizontal distance and NOT the actual the surface distance. Hence the first check point KEM B is only 2200 meteres but believe me it takes a pretty long time to get there. Along the trail the distance to Gunong Berembun are marked every 250 meters.

This is Kem B. located only 2200 meters from the starting point. It took us about 2 hrs to reach here.
We were rewarded with a very beautiful river. The water here is crystal clear and it tastes very good.

After Kem B, the trail is more bearible.. not so steep. We had inadvently gone to the Gunong Cemerong trail but it does not matter as this trail is a loop and we will eventually get to both the peaks



The trail is well marked with signs like this
After Gunong Cemerong we crossed some steams and decended down again. From here I got a glimpse of Gunong Berembun

Gunong Berembun is 1108 meters above sea level.


After crossing a few more streams we arrived at Langsir Waterfall. The view from here is majestic

There are prepared campsites at Langsir waterfall and if the trail is to be joyed at a leisure pace this is the place to camp.

From the edge of  the waterfall we can see tha cascading falls .


This is the peak of Gunong Berumbun

For lunch we cooked instant mee with tuna and the meal ended with mushroom soup.


My recommendations for would be climbers...

Come prepared physically to enjoy the hike
Bring sufficient food and drinks otherwise the stream water is very good too
Share a small camping stove for every few climbers.Hot food is good for your morale!
Shoes are very important. Wear proper shoes.
Carry a GOOD MORNING towel to wipe your sweat.
Bring along your hand phone. There is good reception all along the way
Walk light. Carry only essential items otherwise you will be carrying dead weight

Overall this is a very good trail. I will be going back for another trip soon.