STONG @ 1420m - A painful yet satisfying comeback

"HAVE ALLAH NOT MADE EARTH AS A WIDE EXPANSE AND THE MOUNTAIN AS PEGS" - Al-Qur'an (Chapter 78, Verse 6&7) 

- ayat ni telah diturunkan sebagai satu peringatan kepada mereka yang sangsi terhadap hari kebangkitan (Resurrection/Judgement Day), di mana dalam ayat ini Allah mengingatkan tentang fakta kejadian bumi & gunung-ganang. Dengan indahnya Allah menyatakan gunung-ganang sebagai "pegs" which means pasak. In other words, mountains are well indented into the earth, in order to support the earth. Modern science has revealed how true this verse is. 

MOUNTAINS HAVE BEEN MAINTAINED 49 TIMES IN QUR'AN ON DIFFERENT ASPECTS.

My last climb to any place that is rightfully called mountain or hill was back in July 2010. That is enough to hint how well I could do this time..a trip I had tried to get on since last year but failed on every occasion..

However, Thank Allah, I was able to get a group finally and on 4.4.13 we headed to Dabong where this gunung is situated.

4.4.13

Left Seberang Jaya at 6.30pm with 3 guys..Jeevin, Hafiz & Sofri. A slight twist to the earlier plan; we had to go further north (Alor Setar) to fetch Hasan the Otai, as bus to Baling (the initial meet up place) was rather later than expected. So we met up at Tesco Stargate, Alor Setar (nearby AS (S) toll exit). Had our dinner & Jama' prayers before leaving to Dabong at 8.30. 

We headed back to highway, exiting at Sik, Jeniang & made our way to Baling via Kuala Pegang. The motorists along this road were "superb" as most of them had no rear lights. We did not stop until into Jeli district, when it was 11.30pm. A non-stop 3hrs drive was really aching!

Then at around 12.15am, some 25km before Dabong town THE incident happened, whereby a poor creature hit my car on the right fender leaving me with some repairing work to do when I get back home :(

Damage done :)

Syukur..akhirnya sampai lah di Dabong pada jam 1.30 & dapatlah stay di homestay Abe Din dgn rate Rm80/ night

5.4.13

Kami pun check out lah jam 9. Pastu pi buat report polis di Balai Dabong. Rupanya kes pelanggaran oleh makhluk tuhan yang langgar kami mlm tadi mmg biasa di kawasan ni...hmmm....

Dekat jam 10 barulah p sarap & tapau utk lunch. Sampai perkarangan TAMAN NEGERI GUNUNG STONG (akhirnya....pada jam 10.30). Pas pendaftaran & peregangan otot sikit ala kadar, 11.10am; kami pun mula lah mendaki. Setelah setengah mendaki, hasrat di hati ingin ke puncak hari ini juga terpadam & kami sebulat/sesegitiga & apa2 saja bentuk suara, bersetuju untuk bermalam di Baha Camp & naik ke puncak dengan muatan minima keesokkan sahaja. Sebab dia....paham2 je la..huhu.

Kami amik masa 2 jam utk sampai di Kem Baha. Terus Kapten Hasan memasang khemah & aktiviti seterusnya bebas. Backdrop camping site kami adalah air terjun..lawa o.. I was quick to eat my tapau & sleep

Entah napa..masa dok tidoq, termimpi lak naik Tambuyukon mountain (which was my last climb with lots of sweet memories :( 

Petang; pi mandi air terjun & dinner we had maggi goreng dgn teh tarik. Malam, kol 8.30 da siap2 nak tidoq...walaupun xngantok. Akhirnya smpai ke kol 12 xdpt tidoq sebab hujan lebat, tempias menyebabkan ayaq terkumpul dlm khemah, kena lap buang. Jadi, buat lagi teh tarik utk supper.

6.4.13

Woke up early at 6.50am..huhu. Hafiz & Sofri went to do get some sunrise photoshoots. Did our Suboh on the rocks while awaiting sunrise. Started preparing b/fast (sandwich sardin-telor) & lunch (macaroni wth carbonara sauce...macam gempaq..Prego jer..)

9am : Started our Day 2 journey to conquer Stong. (Though planned to go at 7.15 actually...sigh)

There were 5 "checkpoints" before we reach the summit. Route from checkpoint 4 to summit was horrible..I almost gave up..huhu.

1.15pm : We finally conquered the summit..Alhamdulillah! Spent about an hour there, photographing, feeding a squirrel (dunno wat it was doing up there), had our lunch (macaroni thingy).

2.30pm : Descended down & reached Baha at 4.30pm. We did not bother about shaking knees as we descended down, as we need to be fast; a long journey back to north awaits us.huhu

Had a round of teh tarik & some last immerse in waterfalls before we packed up & started our last descend to car park.

Finally we reached to the point where we started at 7pm. (took us an hour to reach here from Baha Camp).

7.30pm : We left GSSP.  Stopped by at a stall for dinner & had our jama' prayers at a nearby masjid. Also bought a t-shirt at the only stall which sells Stong t-shirts.

Stopped by at Gerik for a roti canai & coffee, before heading onto BKE to send the 3 eligible bachelors at HSJ & further north to A.Setar to send Hasan. I checked into a hotel there at 2.45am...as I had enough of driving with sore legs!

Despite an accident and very tiring walk up & down the summit; plus an immediate long drive back, the trip was satisfying & looking forward for another hiking soon...

EXPENDITURES

1. Guide & Camp site = RM325 (can go up to 13pax/guide) - for 2 days

2. Fuel                        = RM 80

3. Food                      = RM 30

4. Homestay               = RM 80

TIPS

1. If you are driving, NEVER drive to Kelantan at night!

2. For a 2 days & a night trip like us, u can start your climb to Kem Baha after 12 noon. Plan so that you arrive in Dabong only that morning..need not overnight in Dabong. But if you wanna do Ayam & Stong, then it is different. If anyhow you need to overnight in Kelantan the day before, try to get a place in Jeli, as there is only a homestay in Dabong & if that house is occupied, u might have to overnight in your cars.

3. Possibly bring a closed tent to camp there. (I saw a scorpion & a small snake (dunno what type) outside our camp the next morning :)

4. Train well before coming :) I would rate this moutain as 6.5/10 in toughness. (I am an amateur saja)

5. There are 6 peaks here; namely Ayam, Stong, Baha (bukan Kem Baha ye), Kob, Mat Tahir & ntah apa 1 lagi. But usually ppl will ascend Stong & Ayam only. Ayam peak is said to offer more scenic views than Stong.

6. Stong Waterfalls are said to have seven levels & thus the highest in South-East Asia. However climbers usually dont hike up to 7th level, as it is of different route though much lower to the summit of Stong or Ayam. The waterfall that makes the backdrop of our campsite is at Level 2.It is the convergence of waterfalls from Stong & Ayam; which converge at much higher level (the 7th level I suppose)

This is where the trio youngsters trained before coming to Stong

The damage

Packing up at Abe Din Home Stay

Jeeve setting up some fire for rituals

All smiles..ni baru nak start. Odie (our guide at the back)

This is the stream we crossed along the way to Baha Camp

Contoh jalan ke Kem Baha

Sofri konon2 menyambut ketibaan tetamu di Kem Baha

View dari Kem Baha (corresponding to Level 2 waterfalls)

Pemasangan khemah diketuai oleh Otai@Hasan

Waterfalls at Level 2...air tak deras time nie. Klo hujan..perghhh..

Photographer beriman sedang meni'mati keindahan alam

Sunrise...MasyaAllah..

Mr Scorpio

Checkpoint #2 (Kem Baha to summit)- bole gak camp kat sini, kalo xnak tgk Sunrise. Tapi air jauh sikit

Sg.Selar - last water point (after checkpoint #3-Bogor)

Checkpoint #4 - batu besar & kayu sendeng

Checkpoint #4 - batu besar & kayu sendeng - a lateral view

Sofri sedang mengkontrol keletihan

the squirrel di puncak

Macaroni wth carbonara sauce di puncak, Bakpo Sofri tue??

Stong dari jauh

Pemandangan dari Puncak Stong

THE MUCH ANTICIPATED PHOTO