Fell In Love With Bukit Kutu!

After all those hiking experience with the team, I've silently decided to try out at the famous Bukit Kutu at Kuala Kubu Bahru.  I've expressed my proposal to the leader but failed to attract his heart to try with something that start with 'Bukit' term.  He thought that this must be an easy hike not up to his expectation.  Oh well.....


After long persuasive, he gives in and depends entirely to me for thorough research. Finally...

This expedition has been cancelled twice before due to unavailable appropriate date for participants and unexpected mishap.  However the last date met with only 2 members and 2 advisors available to experience the journey to the Bukit Kutu’s peak!

Bukit Kutu is the name of the one famous hill located at the Kuala Kubu Bahru, near Kg Pertak where the local Orang Asli resided.  The infamous Kuala Kubu Bahru Dam is the landmark where the junction to Kg Pertak is.  Historically, Bukit Kutu used to be a weekend retreat for the British and it was bombed by the Japanese during the war.  At 1053m ht or 3,456 ft height, it was once a colonial hill station called ‘Treacherous Hill’ until usurped by neighbouring Fraser’s Hill in popularity.  Today, only the remains of the bungalows here that once overlooked the lush valley are the chimney, fireplace and well.

Bukit Kutu has become one of the ‘must hike’ among hikers in Malaysia and abroad. It is quite a deceiving name given when you mistaken the ‘Bukit’ as an easy hike but it wasn’t.  They should give the name as ‘Gunung Kutu’ instead with 4 hours tough hiking and sometimes more depends on your stamina performance.

The journey took us around 2 hours or more (depends on the traffic condition when you reached Rawang town) drive from Sri Damansara towards Sg Choh.  It will be a pleasant drive if you start early morning. (I know this when we went there a month earlier for scouting the drive route as this is going to be our first experience with nobody have ever been there).  However on that very day, our leader forgot to buy some gasses for cooking the night before resulted us reached the destination late evening (around 12.00 noon) just to wait the shop open at 10.00 am at Damansara. There goes the plan...

view of the hill nearby the man made lake by the famous Kuala Kubu Baru Dam.
Right after crossing the bridge, there's a section to the right towards Kg Pertak.

To embark journey to the peak, it is advisable to start early morning or otherwise you have to prepare yourself to camp at the peak or walk back down in the dark at night.  Our planning was to camp by the river before start ascending and descending on the same day back to the camp site.  This is because at the peak there will be a water supply only from the makeshift well.  We prefer the cold gushing river for bath.

Since we arrived late evening, we decided to camp the night before start the journey tomorrow.  We have learned from the hikers who were on the way back from the peak at the time that the journey took 9CP (check points) within 4 hours up.  And to reach from one check point to another took around 20 minutes or more.

Below are the sequence pictures showing the journey from the parking lot towards the camp site.

once you see upon this river, you can start parking your car by the roadside.

car parking can be sometimes congested especially during weekend.  

this the first landmark that the journey begin with. 

An old bridge to cross..

easy terrain to begin with..

then you come across the second similar bridge to cross again..

the view of the bridge... something is wrong...

the bridge is almost sunken to the side.. be careful when you cross it...

then you will come to this intersection.  both direction is permissible whereby marking on the
trees can be found on both side. 

this is the route you will facing when you choose the right side... it is a short cut but troublesome..

and this is on the left side, long cut but easy..

and this is the very first river crossing without the bridge.  I would advise you to cross it as in the picture rather than hopping on the big stone to avoid your pants wet! don't bother..

It was already 1.30 pm after setting up the tent and there were few hikers were already on the way back down from the peak.  We decided to scroll up for a few meters just to get ahead start of what we will be facing tomorrow.  We’ve been walking for more than half an hour but still not yet found the first mark for CP1. Damn!!

We turned back with excited.  Couldn’t wait to go deep under the cool fresh river for swimming.  But first we were hungry....

The next morning as early as 5.00am, we woke up and prepare breakfast and some meal to bring along during hiking.  Soon when the sun came out, we have already in our full attire and gadgets for hiking.  At 7.20am the journey has begun....

At the early journey, the weather was beautiful after a few hours raining yesterday.  No other hikers were there to join us.  The terrain was an easy one and we walk faster each minute. After more than half an hour walk, we came across the first signage stated the hiking has just begun!  To our amazed, it was where the final junction is which for a change; you need to choose left side.

After that moment we could see the route were all the way up like 80 degree steep.  It took around 20 minutes or more (depends on your stamina) to reach the second signage stated CP1.  It was a tough climb!  It changes our perception of that ‘bukit’ term.  This is not going to be an easy journey.

at the early hiking... if you can realize we were wearing the same clothes as  yesterday.. LOL!

a lemon look fruit at the outside, but in the inside... uweks!! it's like full with sandy mud..

a 45 degree straight route up before the first signage..

there's the signage! interestingly it is like a new just-pin-up signage. at this junction, please choose left side..

zooming the signage...

looking up the starting point of hiking, it is like 80 degree  slope.. fuh!

like 1 minute hike, you can see the first boulder (in the picture is on the right side).

interestingly, some portion of the route were covered with roots.  seems like difficult to walk on them..

after 20 minutes, we reached the first check point!! and it is not on the flat ground!

at zooming picture.

we came across this weird looking roots from this particular tree.  looks like an elephant's trunk.

Another CP! check point 2.. still not on the flat ground.

it was a tough hiking even though the route were well directed.  But it is still a tough hike, a 80 degree slope all the way up.... with non-stop... so we rest on this natural swing root. 

another junction... either left or right, you still won't get lost. tough but short-cut if you choose left, and vice versa on the right side... we choose the right side...

finally we reached the CP4 after a long hike (more than 30 min). We guess that if we choose the tough route on the left side, we would probably reach the CP3 first.

CP4 is a bonus!  it come with WP! it means there is a water point. and the water is underneath a big rocks. looks like an underground cave.

this is the look while fill in the water bottle at the WP.

After a long hike (around 3 hours or so), we came across a huge boulder with interesting stacking layout that become look like a cave.  It is a good spot to take cover from a heavy downpour or camp for the night before continuing.  This boulder located between CP4 (which is where the water point is) and CP5 (which we haven’t reached yet!).  We were so amazed by it we just can’t get enough of taking pictures of it.

After continuing the journey, we reached the CP5 in 15 to 20 minutes.  And to our greatest amazed, we saw a really, really, really huge... I mean really HUGE boulder that make our jaws drop for few minutes!  This discovery makes us so small under God’s creature and we couldn’t get enough of it.  After walk through it, we were sorry to see that from unscrupulous people littering the area without conscious to clean them up.  What a waste for a beautiful place.

Amazingly beautiful God’s created boulder that washed away our tiredness of hiking... Amazing!

Another easy terrain to hike afterwards...             

then we came across these huge slimy creatures...eeiii..

After a long continuous hike, we reached CP6, CP7 & CP8.  And not long after that, we finally reached the historical site at CP9!  What a view!!

The view of what left that once a retreat bungalow for British residents.  The remaining are the chimney(you can see that clearly), foundations, steps to the bungalow’s entrance and wells...

The historical site is quite famous for hikers to camp for the night after a long journey of hiked.  Even though there’s no river for bath and washing, they have a water resource from one out of two functional well that collected water from rain.  But this site is not the peak.  You have to climb a bit further up to declare yourself you have reach the Bukit Kutu’s peak.

The water sources from the ancient well which collected water from the rain.

there's another well but unused..

The journey continued towards the peak at the guided route...

There’s a signage upon reaching the top! 

Finally!

We have reached the top when seeing the familiar yellow signage indicating you've successfully reached the peak.  But the journey is not end yet...

It is not complete if you did not climb a big boulder (or rock I may presumed) that there will be  another yellow signage at the top indicating you have reached another peak by climbing the unstable ladder to the top of the rock with the spectacular view of the town of Kuala Kubu Bahru and the surrounding.  This peak is only permissible for those with heights tolerance.  I was giddiness at first upon seeing the top.  I was reluctant of climb up, but seeing the rest of the members were enjoying the view and their persuading for me to join them, I carry on. And I was so happy to follow their steps.  It was a wonderful, spectacular view that beyond my imagination.  I was grateful for this remarkable journey!

To reach the top, you’ve to climb the big rock, then climb the unstable ladder crossing to another rock.  Don’t forget to take pictures at the top of the ladder near the signage indicating you have reached the ultimate peak!

climbing up further, you will see two more big rocks to cross over before reaching at the end of the peak.  This is not advisable for those with heights tolerance.  It looks way dangerous but yet inviting to see what offering you at the edge of the rocks.  I can’t resist that.

The view was spectacular!

We have reached the ultimate peak of Bukit Kutu!  This was a remarkable journey with unexpected discoveries along the way.  And this is one of the best journey so far that our club has ever conquer!

We were so thankful for this journey to end safely.  Climbing up for 4 hours and descending for only 2 hours.  We reached at the campsite late afternoon.  After washed up and clean the site, we embarked to our university at 6.00pm reaching there at 9.30pm! (massive jammed at the Rawang Town!).  However, it was a worthwhile trip!! J