Introduction

 

In January of 2017 I hiked through Taman Negara (Kuala Tahan) from Kuala Tahan to the top of Gunung Tahan alone.  By myself.  No guide, no group, no friends, no...brains?

I've put this quasi-blog together as a resource for people who are interested in knowing more about what that sort of thing entails.  In the following pages, you’ll find information regarding the park and the trek, some notes on how I prepared (including packing lists and other preparatory guides) and as many maps and visuals as I can offer.  

While it should go without saying, I ought also to offer this note of warning: unless you are legitimately OK with the risk of death, you shouldn't do this hike solo when the park is closed.  The possibility of getting lost in the jungle or getting injured and having to somehow overcome adversity alone is part of the appeal of a solo journey - an integral part.  If you’re more into just seeing whether you can physically climb “Endurance Mountain” sans risk of dying then just go with another person or a group who can assist you in the event that you’re lost or injured.    

Before I give you any advice or descriptions, there are some things you should know so that you can put what I write into perspective: 

I did this I was a 37 year old male.  At one point in my life I had been in the army and had had survival training there and at a couple of civilian schools.  I had climbed mountains before, run my share of adventure/obstacle courses/marathons/ultra races and all in all knew I my way around the wilderness well enough.  In a pinch, I could bow drill a fire if that gives you some idea of my general survival ability.  On the negative side, I’d been traveling without doing much training for about 6 months.  So while my mind was pretty tough, my body wasn’t in the best shape it had ever been.  So when I write about how awful certain aspects of the hike were, now you know a bit more about who is making that assessment. 

I arrived at the park in mid January 2017 towards the end of the monsoon season.  By that point the back country had been closed by the government since October of 2016 due to flooding from monsoon rains.  The back country wasn’t scheduled to re-open until a few days after I set off, meaning that if I got lost or injured there was little hope of any hiker or group discovering and helping me - at least not for days.  In general the trails were washed out, trees had fallen blocking and obscuring most pathways, the jungle was generally overgrown and water levels on the river were high.  You could find the main trail on ridge lines and up the mountain easily enough but the low laying areas and riverside paths were difficult if not impossible to track.  

I had two GPS systems with me and, as a last resort, paper maps and a compass.  By day five both of my GPS systems failed and I was forced to navigate by paper and compass.  Along the way, I had run-ins with boar, snakes, monitor lizards, lightning storms, heavy rains, chest-deep and fast running rivers, slippery and crumbling ledges, (what I’ll go to my grave thinking was) a crocodile, a nest of biting ants up to the waist and more leeches than I thought imaginable.  I had to fight physical exhaustion, mental fatigue and emotional stress on par with the hardest endurance challenges I’ve ever undertaken.  

And it was one of the best weeks of my life. 

Odds are that if you go, you’ll likely be trekking when the park is open - thus you may have some security in the hope that a random hiking group might find and help you in the event of the worst.  At the very least, your trail should probably be a bit better worn than mine was at the time.  So, again, when I discuss the trek up Gunung Tahan within these pages and make my recommendations, know that I undertook the journey under close to the worst possible circumstances imaginable.  

Good luck.