Bukit Batu Chondong hike

After what felt like months of not hiking (although we’ve just climbed gunung Angsi again a few weeks ago), my feet is itching to hike again. My opportunity came when one of the organizer of my Tahan trip invited me (along with dozens others) for a quick hike up Bukit Batu Chondong near Ulu Klang. Never heard of it? Neither do I until he organized it on Facebook.



We agreed to meet up right in front of the National Zoo early that Saturday morning (7:30 am). As always everybody finally show up half an hour later. From the zoo entrance we took the trunk road on the right side towards Kemensah which is well known for its stream and ATV riding arena. We finally got to the trailhead after a short 15 minutes drive. The starting point is an obscure logging path situated by the roadside, without any signboard, marking or whatever. You’d never find the place without the help of somebody with prior knowledge.



There were at least 17 people who joined us that day include two from the organizing committee. After a short briefing we wasted no time hiking up the trail. Just like the starting point, the trail was completely alien to me. Unless you’ve climbed the hill before, you’d be hard-pressed looking for the path because there were almost none. Eddy (the lead) had to literally clear the bushes with his parang to make way for us.

Fortunately, the hike was rather a short one and we reached the peak in less than 30 minutes (it’s that short). Near the peak though we had to climb some rocks ala bukit Tabur with the help of ropes which Eddy purposely brought for the hike. If you’ve been up bukit Tabur, this one should be a piece of cake. It’s half as difficult as the former. The peak of bukit Batu Chondong is marked by a beirut, surprising for an obscure hill with very little visitor. There were a few peaks along the ridge and we took the chance to explore every one of them until the last one where we can see the Tabur Far East peak in the distance. Yes the two hills is pretty much side by side.



As always we took a lot of pictures among ourselves, selfies and what not. After a quick snack we took the same route back to the starting point. Before we part, Eddy started to collect 10 ringgit each from everybody as the fee for his services. Now I don’t mind paying that token amount for his service but I wish he’d informed us earlier on Facebook or something. I understand he’s a professional guide and this is how he makes a living but informing us in advance would be more appropriate you know, no surprises. Perhaps I’m used to joining hiking trips which costs next to nothing to participate so having to pay one for a local hike nearby come as a surprise to me.



Anyway, it was a good trip to say the least. We would have not made it without Eddy’s guide. He says he’d brought people there a couple of time only a couple of times before. Maybe he doesn’t want the place to be as crowded as bukit Tabur next door. If you wanna try this hill for yourself, make sure you hire or bring along a proper guide and equipment like ropes and stuff. Sure you can climb the rocks with your bare hand but only if you’re confident with yourself. If bukit Tabur is too mainstream for you, you might want to try bukit Batu Chondong for change.