Chilling at Chilling Falls

Picture Intentionally stolen from www.thefrogcroaks.blogspot.com

A few of my friends asked me why I don't ask them out for one of my many outdoor "mis-"adventures, so I decided to put up an easy trip for them to give them a taste of what it's like to be out in the wild.
My invitation spread like wild fire and within 2 days I already have more then 20 people confirmed for the activities with an additional 8 person making it a total of 26 person for me to take care of. My days before the trip was flooded with doubts, I wasn't too sure if I could manage that many people and remain calm, the feedback I got from the previous trips got me branded with the nickname "Commando" mainly due to my constant need to yell out at people to keep the group together. It is a Good thing that the "doctor" gave me order not to shout during the trip.

I woke up at 4.30AM and quickly got ready to meet up with the rest at Devi's corner for breakfast, from there we were supposed to leave at 6am but a few people were a bit late, lucky for them that I too had to delay to get the passenger arrangements done.

Soon we were on our way via the NKVE heading towards Rawang, where we'll be exiting to take the old road to get to Kuala Kubu Bharu. The convoy of 6 cars got me quite worried at first, I got my passengers to help me keep an eye out for the other cars so that I can focus on driving with the aid of the GPS. It was a pleasant drive to be passing the Selangor Dam driving on the wide empty road and having the sun rise to greet us with it's warming embrace.

Soon we arrived at the landmark dumpster car park and gate to the fish sanctuary, this is the point were we parked our cars and get in to our gears for the trek. A short 15 minutes walk from the car we arrive at the fishery department building to register ourselves.
I still remember what the place was like about 15 years ago, there was no sign of humanity there back then, it's just one big open area for campers and nature lovers, there was no huts or bridge, the toilet is a hole dug in tall grass. This is the place where I first camp when I was young, the place I first look up the night sky and realized that there are much more stars here compared to the city's night sky.

I got Linus to play a couple of ice breaker games with the group as most of them do not know each other, which did it's job of getting everyone accustom with one another. Soon after we are on our way heading to the falls, I had the novices up in front, smokers and low stamina people in the center and the more experienced at the back, I was to lead the group with the aid of Aaron as sweeper and Linus as photographer and marshal.

So we hiked, passing through a path between the bushes in to the jungle. I've been here many times before however being overconfident had me leading the group to the wrong path, for some reason we are now on a path I don't know of, a path far from the river. Not wanting to waste the group's energy I got them to take a break while I scout for a route back to the river, good thing that we have the GPS handy to let us know how far are we from the actual trail, thanks to that we got back to the river rather quickly.

At one of the river crossing I notice another group catching up behind ours, seems to me that we now have a race to reach the falls first. The first one there will have the honor of having the best spot which is on top of the giant boulder by the waterfall.


Due to certain event I've lost the mood to continue writing, so this post will have to end here.

Have A Great Day
Dennis