kutu 110212 - review

Sharing our hiking passion with you...

Well, carpooling on a Saturday afternoon is quite different than early morning; a lesson some of us had to learn... We started the hike later than scheduled, and even then not everyone had made it to the car park at that moment. But we were sure that we would make it on time to the top to witness the sunset. During our regular hikes we don't ascend anymore in the afternoon – as we're normally descending to the car park – so it was a tough effort for some of us. Combined with the warm, sunny weather, it resulted in a real calvary. I assume they missed enjoying the ever changing beauty of the sunrays dancing through the Kutu leaves. While daylight started fading away, especially after dark clouds obscured the sun, we still crawled our way up. We passed several hikers who intended to camp at the chimney site and met the youngest hikers ever: a three and a four year old child were sleeping peacefully on a canvas somewhere half way. At the summit we were treated with a spectacular pre-sunset view above Kuala Kubu Bharu. The mountains in the East draped the horizon in all serenity. This meditative mood had to make place for some lively action, because we switched to our usual acrophobia scenario. And this time, it took more than perseverance and determination to make some hikers who are “scared-of-heights” to sit or even lie on the top boulder. Literally and figuratively, this is a process which can only be executed one step at the time... Anyway, after all the commotion at the top, silence returned and I'm still in awe for the spectacular game of rays and clouds that I witnessed that evening. Most of us had something to eat while the evening slowly turned into night. While all were geared up to start the descent, one copious chicken rice dinner wasn't finished yet, so the backpacks went down again and the headlamps were temporarily switched off. Shortly after 8:00pm the last batch of hikers was ready to leave. Kutu's night sounds are pretty amazing. The periods of silent descending, which characterised this hike, gave us plenty of time to enjoy the nocturnal fauna. Fireflies hovered from one tree to another shrub. The exceptional big spiders and the “centipede” cicada added even more variation. Thanks to the headlamps, the crossing of Sungai Rinting didn't cause any problems and we all reached the car park safely within 2.5 hours after we left the summit. Will certainly do it again...

Gunung Kutu - Sunset and Night Walk 11-Feb-2012