Gunung Nuang is the tallest mountain in the state of Selangor. It stands 1,493m from sea level.
Comparing to many mountains in Malaysia, it is considered a tiny mountain. Even so, this is one unforgiving mountain to hike. It requires a lot of stamina and most important, mental strength.
There are two hiking trails to the peak from what I know, via Pangsun and Janda Baik, the latter being the easier trail.
This time I am hiking to the peak via Pangsun which is much nearer to where I live it's about a 30 minutes drive from my house to Pangsun.
So, the things I prepared before the hike are just 3L of water, towel, bread.
Also, before the hike, my friend had warned me about leeches, so I wore a knee length socks under my training pants and another shorter socks over it. All are so tight fitting, so now I can hope leeches don't find their way into my pants.
7am, I started my hike.
There are 4 important check points, Kem Lolo, Dataran Pacat, Puncak Pengasih and Peak.
The first part is the "never ending road", this stretch is nothing hard, just some steep up and down hill walk with lots of greens surrounding but you definitely will need the mental strength to push through this 5km. This stretch took me about one and a half hour.
From this part to Kem Lolo is 1.2km. It is no more a flat road but it is still considered quite an easy hike up. Took us about an hour to get to Kem Lolo.
This stretch has four river crossings. There are ropes to cling on to if you are afraid of falling into the river. The rivers aren't deep and the current is not strong. Just that, we do not want to get our shoes wet.
The last river crossing, is the route to the 2nd checkpoint, Dataran Pacat. This is where the adventure begins, it is about climbing up and up. This stretch is 1.2km. It took forever. I took about an hour and 45 minutes up.
While climbing I was more worried how I am going to descend down later, because the incline is pretty steep and the red clay ground is pretty slippery. I am terrible at descending, I can climb up and it is easy for me but descending feels like a nightmare to me and my poor knees. At this moment, my towel was so drenched.
Finally arriving at Dataran Pacat (Leech(, I would name this place Dataran Lebah (Bee) instead. There were so many bees and I dislike them. We stopped by this place to take our breakfast to give us more energy for further hike.
Everyone who stops at Dataran Pacat took a picture with this tree. So, I guess I will just follow.
Okay, the next push is to Puncak Pengasih. This moment , nightmare behinds. It was rocks over rocks. I was basically rock climbing my way to the top. It was huge boulders and steep inclines up.
Let's not think how am I going to descend later. I think I rather tumble down at this point.
1.2km feels like an eternity. I took about an hour and 45 minutes at this point.
Puncak Pengasih aka False Peak. Too early to be happy, now it is time for a downward hike over mouldy rocks. I love the trail along the false peak to the peak. All the mould covered rocks gives a mysterious and ethereal feel. I could like imagine suddenly Totoro appearing out of nowhere.
This stretch isn't anything too hard since there isn't much not a steep incline. Felt like an obstacle hike, crossing over fallen trees and big mouldy rocks (not a huge as the ones at the route from Pacat to Puncak Pengasih).
Before reaching the peak, there's a literally vertical rock. To me, it looks very vertical and gosh I didn't know how to get up. If you asked me now how I managed to get up, I can't explain. Just used some 'magic' called willpower.
I am so close to the top, I can't just give up right now.
Finally I have reached the peak.
We rested for about 15 minutes before we start our descend. We hope to reach the parking lot before the sky turns dark. Not much time to waste.
Too early to be happy because hell awaits after this. Descending is a total nightmare.
This is the time where your legs are already killing you, you are already exhausted from hiking all the way up. Now, you have to go down.
The slopes are more slippery descending, so it adds more burden to your knees.
It took me about 4 hours 45 minutes up but 6 hours descending.
At the end of the descend, I couldn't even feel my toes and knees. RIP.
I was beyond hungry and dehydrated at this point. All I wanted to do is to have a huge jar of isotonic drink, a big fat meal and sleep.
I burned a total of 4900 calories with this hike which is an impressive amount of calories with this 21km journey.
Oh yea. I didn't encounter any leeches during my hike. Maybe because it was a dry day.
Try to hike this mountain on a dry day, it's much safer without the extra slippery muddy clay grounds and also leeches.
Will I do Nuang again? Sure! but not so soon. I still need to recharge.
Easier hills for now.
Comparing to many mountains in Malaysia, it is considered a tiny mountain. Even so, this is one unforgiving mountain to hike. It requires a lot of stamina and most important, mental strength.
There are two hiking trails to the peak from what I know, via Pangsun and Janda Baik, the latter being the easier trail.
This time I am hiking to the peak via Pangsun which is much nearer to where I live it's about a 30 minutes drive from my house to Pangsun.
So, the things I prepared before the hike are just 3L of water, towel, bread.
Also, before the hike, my friend had warned me about leeches, so I wore a knee length socks under my training pants and another shorter socks over it. All are so tight fitting, so now I can hope leeches don't find their way into my pants.
7am, I started my hike.
There are 4 important check points, Kem Lolo, Dataran Pacat, Puncak Pengasih and Peak.
The first part is the "never ending road", this stretch is nothing hard, just some steep up and down hill walk with lots of greens surrounding but you definitely will need the mental strength to push through this 5km. This stretch took me about one and a half hour.
From this part to Kem Lolo is 1.2km. It is no more a flat road but it is still considered quite an easy hike up. Took us about an hour to get to Kem Lolo.
This stretch has four river crossings. There are ropes to cling on to if you are afraid of falling into the river. The rivers aren't deep and the current is not strong. Just that, we do not want to get our shoes wet.
The last river crossing, is the route to the 2nd checkpoint, Dataran Pacat. This is where the adventure begins, it is about climbing up and up. This stretch is 1.2km. It took forever. I took about an hour and 45 minutes up.
While climbing I was more worried how I am going to descend down later, because the incline is pretty steep and the red clay ground is pretty slippery. I am terrible at descending, I can climb up and it is easy for me but descending feels like a nightmare to me and my poor knees. At this moment, my towel was so drenched.
Finally arriving at Dataran Pacat (Leech(, I would name this place Dataran Lebah (Bee) instead. There were so many bees and I dislike them. We stopped by this place to take our breakfast to give us more energy for further hike.
Okay, the next push is to Puncak Pengasih. This moment , nightmare behinds. It was rocks over rocks. I was basically rock climbing my way to the top. It was huge boulders and steep inclines up.
Let's not think how am I going to descend later. I think I rather tumble down at this point.
1.2km feels like an eternity. I took about an hour and 45 minutes at this point.
Puncak Pengasih aka False Peak. Too early to be happy, now it is time for a downward hike over mouldy rocks. I love the trail along the false peak to the peak. All the mould covered rocks gives a mysterious and ethereal feel. I could like imagine suddenly Totoro appearing out of nowhere.
This stretch isn't anything too hard since there isn't much not a steep incline. Felt like an obstacle hike, crossing over fallen trees and big mouldy rocks (not a huge as the ones at the route from Pacat to Puncak Pengasih).
Before reaching the peak, there's a literally vertical rock. To me, it looks very vertical and gosh I didn't know how to get up. If you asked me now how I managed to get up, I can't explain. Just used some 'magic' called willpower.
I am so close to the top, I can't just give up right now.
We rested for about 15 minutes before we start our descend. We hope to reach the parking lot before the sky turns dark. Not much time to waste.
Too early to be happy because hell awaits after this. Descending is a total nightmare.
This is the time where your legs are already killing you, you are already exhausted from hiking all the way up. Now, you have to go down.
The slopes are more slippery descending, so it adds more burden to your knees.
It took me about 4 hours 45 minutes up but 6 hours descending.
At the end of the descend, I couldn't even feel my toes and knees. RIP.
I was beyond hungry and dehydrated at this point. All I wanted to do is to have a huge jar of isotonic drink, a big fat meal and sleep.
I burned a total of 4900 calories with this hike which is an impressive amount of calories with this 21km journey.
Oh yea. I didn't encounter any leeches during my hike. Maybe because it was a dry day.
Try to hike this mountain on a dry day, it's much safer without the extra slippery muddy clay grounds and also leeches.
Will I do Nuang again? Sure! but not so soon. I still need to recharge.
Easier hills for now.
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