Gunung Besar Hantu (Ghost Mountain) Saturday Part 1

Saturday, October 13, 2007



I heard talking and the shuffling of feet on the dirty floor coming from the living room. Outside someone coughed. The light coming through the grimy slat windows was faint and grey. The time was 6:30am. I crawled out of my bag, had a nice long stretch and peeked into the living area. A small camping stove was nearly bringing a pot of water to boil for our instant coffee. About 5 people sat on the floor and in assembly line fashion were constructing a stack of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. A glance through the front porch door and I saw a thick ground fog,

With coffee and sandwich in hand I walked outside and saw the fog slowly swirling and dissolving as the sun further lightened the sky. Everything was coated in dew. It was a damp and muggy morning. Even the dogs across the track still slept.

After everyone had their breakfast, rolled up their sleeping mats and bags, repacked packs, and checked gear one last time, we slammed the house door shut, hefted on our backpacks and started walking to the trail head. It was now 8:30am.

The trail we began walking on was an old pot-holed track used by the Orang Asli. Their small settlements are scattered throughout the lower areas of the mountains.. Their home is the jungle and the jungle sustains them. Some live in small concrete block homes with tin roofs, some in thatched homes. This track also leads down into a valley to the base of a spectacular waterfall. We would visit this waterfall on our return from the summit.

For the next 1 to 2 hours we walked along the track crossing small bridges over fast moving streams. We walked up and down hills past small settlements with roosters running around, dogs barking. On the side of the trail was a dead snake apparently killed by one of the Orang Asli. It was about 2 meters (6 feet) long; cobra the best we could tell.

Above us patches of blue showed, but to our left and right, dark clouds gathered. The weather in Malaysia over the past few weeks had been unusually wet and it looked like the pattern wasn’t’ changing.

We came to a point along the track where just off to our right a small trail slipped into the jungle growth and curved out of sight as it climbed upwards. We rested along the track munching on apples and bread and drinking water.

Water is an important factor when planning overnight and longer treks through the hot and humid jungles. We each carried 3 liters of water in our pack and a small bottle in our waist pouches. Before making the final ascent this water would all be gone and we would need to fill our empties from one of the small mountain streams… real mineral water.

We started up the narrow trail. Undergrowth intruded from both sides brushing up against us. I was the only one wearing shorts. I just don’t like walking in long pants or long sleeves in the jungle. Scratches, small cuts and bruises never bothered me. I don’t model my legs are arms so there’s no worry there. The trail surface was mostly clay soils with a scattering of small stones. During heavy rains this was a small watercourse. The trail was still saturated from the previous night’s rain. The trail steadily climbed upward but wasn’t to steep to impede m gait.

We came to a small stream and dropped our packs to rest our shoulders and legs. After a few gulps of water, an energy bar, and some bread, we looked around for the correct trail to follow. There was a trail to our right heading up into the jungle and a trail across the stream disappearing in the thick undergrowth along the stream bank. But what we noticed to our immediate south, specifically our feet, was that we were covered with leeches.

Leeches are small slugs with teeth and have an insatiable desire and need to drink blood. When they latch on to your skin, they excrete and enzyme that prevents blood from clotting. A leech bite can bleed for hours. Other than staining your socks with blood, leeches are ok. You can’t feel their bite and you won’t miss the blood that they take. When they first latch on to your skin they are about at big as a 1-inch piece of pencil lead. After having their fill of blood they can get as big as your little finger. Once full, they drop off and probably take a nap (though I haven’t read any scientific studies about the nap part).

One of our guides opted to cross the stream and head along the trail that continued in the same direction we had been traveling. After carefully walking on fallen trees and hopping on slippery stones, I made it across only getting one shoe wet. We paused on the trail and our other guide said we should have taken the trail that went up the slope. So we crossed the stream again and I got my other shoe wet. We started up the other trail when we heard shouts coming back from the stream. A small group of Orang Asli told our trailing leader that the trail we wanted was up stream and to the right. So we turned back, waded through the water and climbed up onto a trail that quickly started climbing up a steep slope.

Two things were different about this trail. First, it started raining so the trail now was a slippery, muddy channel. Second, the trail started getting steep. Up until this point the trek was a walk. Now I had to use my hands to grab onto tree roots and small saplings to assist in keeping my balance and create climbing leverage. A trail with an angle of 60 to 80 degrees requires a whole new set of muscles. It was still relatively early in the trek and I still felt fine. After about 20 minutes, we completed the steep section of trail and rested in the thick, wet undergrowth, picking off more leeches and munching on energy bars.

The jungle now started to get thicker and encroach tightly on the trail we were following. Only short sections of the path could be seen ahead as it snaked up the slope. It was still raining and the air was thick.

We continued single-filed up the twisting trail. Though not as steep as the last section, the trail continued climbing at a steady rate. The muddy track was only about a foot wide and thick, low vegetation crowded in from both sides. Gullies and small streamlets ran along the trail and one thing I carefully noted was that one small step off the course could lead to a 2 to 3 meter drop into one of these gullies. With head turned down focusing on the next placement of my step, I continued on, one step at a time in single-file with our small group.

Because the trail was now steeper and we had been walking for close to 5 hours, I found myself taking short ‘breather’ breaks. This also allowed me divert my eyes from the trail and look around at the trees towering high above us. Small colorful mushrooms cantilevered out of fallen tree trunks. Ferns grew in clusters along the trail, their new growth spiraling open. And dotted around the ferns, splashes of colored wild orchids were like jewels among the many shades of green. Looking up I could see patches of grey sky through the overhead tree canopies.



After a short while (time was becoming meaningless), we emerged out of the jungle onto a flat open space; a rock ledge jutting out of the mountainside. We all let our packs drop and took a much-needed rest. I laid on the rock using my backpack as a pillow and looked up at the gray sky while my heart rate returned to an acceptable level. Directly in front of me the ledge disappeared over a steep drop into a valley. Below a stream could be heard. Behind me I saw mountain after jungle-covered mountain disappear into the jagged horizon, blue green in color and covered in a light mist.

I ate an energy bar and drank the last of my first big bottle of water. Someone pointed out a mountaintop to me and I looked up at it towering high above us, dark clouds surrounding its peak. I was looking at Gunung Besar Hantu. We were at about the 2500-foot elevation mark and still had over 2000 feet to climb. I looked up at the peak and for the first time wondered if I could actually make it to the top. We were all wet, a bit tired, but still eager to continue. It would take about 2 to 3 hours to reach the summit, the remaining distance a steep climb up the side of the mountain.

I strapped my waist pouch on, hefted my backpack up on my knee and onto my shoulders, took a deep breath and continued along the narrow trail into the thick jungle and up the side of the mountain.

Go to Saturday's Ascent Part Two