FiddleheadTravels

As some may know from reading past posts on this blog, I have been trailblazing a hiking trail on the island of Phuket here for the past 2 1/2 years.   I have been putting a route over the high peaks of the many mountains here that when completed, will go from Prom Thep Cape (the most southernly point) to the Sarasin bridge (it’s northern terminus).

I have been out exploring for more than 50 days now over those years and started in the south and am now up north and east of the Heroine’s monument (which is the center of the island)
The mountains are much more wild up there than in the more touristy south.
Which means access is very difficult and trails, roads, rubber trees, and easily walked paths are hard to find.
So, I now take a machete with me and two days ago, I set out with my full backpack, including tent and sleeping gear, stove, fuel and a food for 2 days, one night.

I spent  the first 2 1/2 hours bushwhacking up this steep mountain to where i had left off before.

Not too far after that, I found a small trail that basically went in the general direction of my proposed route and followed it, lost it, followed another one, lost it, and made my way all day to this area where i had gone to see about access last week near a National Park.

Well, there’s also a monkey (gibbon) rehabilitation center nearby and they reintroduce gibbons back into the wild after they fix them up.

So, it’s about 4:00 PM and I am bushwhacking when this monkey attacks me from above. He first came down and took my hat. and made noises, then he jumped down again and grabbed my watch and broke it.   Then he jumped on my pack (which was on my back) and started pulling my hair and trying to grab my arm.   I was freakin out.    I had my machete in my hand and would have killed him if I could, but he was too fast.
He pulled my tent stakes out of my side pocket and my big water bottle out and threw it.  He was big, about 3 1/2 feet high?

There was a lot of bamboo nearby so whenever I could take my eyes off him, I would chop a big piece and then throw it at him.  He was too quick.  Even when I had a great throw, he would dodge it.  Finally after a good 10 minutes (felt like an hour) he slowly left.

So, I gathered up all my stuff and continued my journey, found another trail and got the hell out of there.

After about another 15-20 minutes, I found a beautiful swimming hold on a good trail. There was a sign there explaining the gibbon project and telling you that they can be aggressive.
(Unfortunately, they didn’t have signs before I had this encounter)
But, then i lost the trail again (or it went the wrong way) and i found myself bushwhacking again until the light of day started fading.

I thought about setting up my tent somewhere (already had water) but then i heard a monkey again.
There’s no way I was going to camp there.
So, i bailed.
Sorry to say, I was near the park that I knew about so, found the trail that I had GPS’d last week and hiked out and hitched a ride back to my motorbike. (real dark by now)
When I told Thum (my Thai wife)  she was mad that I go out there by myself and all that.
Simon, my 4 year old son was very interested and wanted to hear all about it.
I am quite cut up from all the bushwhacking too so he was impressed.

Anyway, in all of my 20+ years of backpacking or trekking, I have never been attacked by a wild animal before and let me tell you, it is scary.
That monkey could have bitten me or done a lot too me and maybe even killed me if he wanted to.
He was that fast.

It was scary!

Being a Geography buff, and living in Phuket, I see as much of this beautiful island as I can.

Did a little research and saw that Mai Thao Sip Song Mountain was the highest point on the island.  It is the one just east of Patong and west of Wat Chalong with the big golf ball looking structure on top.    It is actually a radar station for the military and restricted area.

I have been doing a lot of wilderness trekking and trailblazing trying to put together a hiking trail that will eventually go the length of the island, from Lam Prom Thep to the Sarasin bridge.    I want it to go over the high peaks as much as possible and follow the ridges and string together a trail that will be full of views, wilderness, and ridge walking.

I’ve been writing blog entries as I go along and eventually will have one in guidebook format for anyone wishing to hike it as well as the track uploaded to Google  maps for you to download to your own GPS and follow it precisely.         Here is the first and second sections for those interested.

Now obviously Mae Thao Sip Song Mountain should be on the trail.   But, unfortunately that’s impossible as it’s restricted and has very steep sides so traversing is extremely difficult.    I have plotted a route around it after 7 days of trying.

Now, I am well north of that area and up closer to Kathu waterfall.

Earlier in the week, when I was planning my route using Google Earth, as I do, I discovered that according to Google Earth, there is a higher peak.     But of course, this is only computer generated from satellite images so there could be room for error.

So, today I dropped my son off at school and went to the beach to set my new altimeter on my Garmin 60 CSX GPS, at 2 metres (it was low tide this morning).    Then I drove up to the Kathu hill that takes you to Patong.  The high point on that road has a small Taoist temple where many many people blow their horns as they go by.   Must be nerve-wracking for the caretakers who live there but maybe it’s something they are used to by now.    I stand around there for 10 minutes setting my GPS and clearing memory to build a new track and profile map and the horns had me ready to move out.  Fast!

It is a beautiful trail heading north out of there and I even pictured myself back home in eastern USA on the Appalachian trail with the well kept trail.   The only difference was the species of trees.   And of course the heat!

There is a saddle about halfway up with some homes or farms around there.   I don’t know which side they come up on but it must be a good road as the houses are nice although there is no electricity.

Found a beautiful spring full of lily pads and flowers in bloom.   Dipped my water bottle into it and was surprised the water looked so clear.    I tasted it and must say it is some of the best water I’ve had since I started coming here 9 years ago.    

Continuing up, it turned into a bush-whack as the trails all ended or lead off in directions that weren’t going to work for my goal.    One section had a lot of bamboo and rubber trees that had been cut down and left to rot.  This is the kind of bush-whacking that is extremely difficult and it was on one of the steepest parts.
When things get tough like that, I often just traverse around the mountain and often find another trail somewhere.   Sure enough after about 40 minutes of very tough going through rotten brush, I found a great trail that looked like motocross bikes had kept it clear.
I followed that for a while and came to a house where 3 rubber tree men were eating.    Tried talking to them a bit although my Thai was almost as bad as their English so, I just went back to bushwhacking.   They probably thought I was a little crazy.  Many do when I go out on these excursions.

Got into some heavy vines that were next to impossible to get through without a machete so again,  I traversed until I found an old rubber tree farm and could go up along the border.    Not much further and I came to what was the high point.     Nothing there, except a property marker.   A cement post driven in that looked as though it had been there a very long time with lots of brush, weeds, bushes and vines growing up around it.

I put my GPS onto the altimeter page and took a picture.   545 meters. I checked it in feet: 1778 feet.   I was pretty excited as I knew that Mai Thao Sip Song mountain was around 500 metres.
I sat there a while enjoying the quiet.   There are good views of the Andaman sea about 50 metres east of the high point.

I then used the TracBack feature and followed my route back although I tried to make it  a little easier and followed the rubber tree border a little longer, but eventually had to bush-whack again.
I fell down pretty hard on the spot where the cut bamboo was as it was very steep here.

Stopped for another bottle of great tasting water on the way down and waved to a few of the farmers.

I was very tired when I got back to my motorcycle at the loud road crossing as it had taken me about 4 hours total of steep ascents and descents.

But there was one more thing I had to do.   With the altimeter set that morning, and having been to the new high point within 2 hours, I drove up to Mai Thao Sip Song Mountain to check the elevation.
I could tell when i was getting close (you can drive up although there are restricted area signs and guards at the top).  I probably looked like I had been out jogging and  I parked my bike and walked up the last 200-300 meters.  Now it was the hottest part of the day and it gets steep near the top.  So, probably looking very beat, i walked right up to the gate and waved at the soldiers inside.    The high point is about 10 meters away from the gate just to the right (east).     My altimeter read 482 meters!

Now, Google Earth has it at  512 meters to the west of the gate but, like I said, I don’t trust Google Earth as much as I trust my new barometric pressure altimeter.    But either way, Mai Thao Sip Song is the second highest point in Phuket and the newly discovered highest point has NO NAME!   And no access.    And no one knows.

So, I’m writing it all down here, just hours later as it is all fresh in my memory.    I will add  the screen shot of the GPS altitude page for the days hike.

Now March 3rd, 2009

Went out again today and first went and set the altimeter to sea level as we had rain yesterday and today looked like rain too so I figured the barometer had changed.   Sure enough, it was off by about 20 meters.   I then drove to Kathu waterfall where I parked the bike and headed up steeply to the gap from the east side towards the high point.
There was decent track going up as someone (I later found out who) has made cement tread going up the very steep climb.   At the top, I turned left or south to connect the point to where I last left off.

About 300 meters before the high point, I saw a man at a nice cabin who seemed friendly and said hi.  I told him what I was doing and he told me to stay to the right on the way up as it is easier track.     Sure enough, I’m glad he told me or I would’ve been bushwhacking again but got to follow track and rubber tree farms almost right to the top.

There are good views of Patong and Kamala beach from just before the high point.   When I  got to the spot that is the highest and checked the altimeter,  amazingly  it was exactly the same at 545 meters.    So, I am fairly positive that this is within a few meters of the correct altitude.       I sat down after a tough, steep climb, not having stopped since I parked back at 79 meters elevation.     470 meter climbs will tell you to stop and rest for sure.

On the way back down, I saw about a 2 meter long dark grey snake.   He squirmed away from me as fast as he could and I think we scared each other.     Back at the cabin, the man talked again and offered me water and bananas and then invited me up to his porch.   I went up and he explained that he was from the area and bought 50 rai (20 acres) about 15 years ago and planted fruit trees.   Mostly Dorian and jack fruit, but also some lemon and others.      He offered me coffee and I accepted as he was a pretty cool man with lots to add to the history of Phuket and the way it used to be.   He told me that at night, he sees and hears  people with guns shooting pigs, monkeys, chickens, and whatever they can shoot to eat.     They are mostly Burmese rubber tree farmers and construction workers.   I have seen them living off of frogs and lizards and slugs and geckos and the women collecting wild edible plants.      These people have it rough as yesterday I saw a truckload of them going down the highway in a pouring down rainstorm packed in like sardines with no cover except their bandannas.   Very sad.

So, talked with the man for about an hour I guess and then headed out and continued past the point where I came up to check out a road that was on my GPS.   Saw another cabin with no one home but another nice spot.    The road turned out to be slightly overgrown but possibly and easier way in from the Kamala side that I will try next time I come up.     Saw one side trail that I checked out and it was a pipe to a concrete water basin and most likely good water as there is not much higher  elevation around here.          I then went back down the steep trail in fast time and headed home.   Now, the further north I get on this project, the longer the drive from and to home to get to the trail where I left off.

If you want to keep following my adventures on this trail, you can see my next blog entry here.   It is the next section northbound and one of the hardest and most remote up to the Heroine’s monument.

Also, my first blog entry which explains a bit more on why I would like to see this trail exist and my first steps and ideas are on a post from August 2008 here.

Down-loadable track that can be installed in your own GPS and followed can be found at Google Maps HERE.

Brought to you by Warmstuff Distributing   www.warmstuff.com (selling thermal long johns and warm stuff to keep people warm all over the world)

After hiking the first part of the trail 2 weeks ago from the southern tip of Phuket at Prom Thep to the top of the mountain at Big Buddha, today we continued the walk on what i will call section B from Big Buddha to Patong.

Since our trail is being designed as a “high trail” of the peaks of Phuket, it will NOT go into Patong although a side trail (dirt road) goes down from our end point aproximately 500 meters to the town where everything is available.  Patong being the premiere tourist attraction on the whole island.

Getting started a little later than we wanted to this morning, first we had to set up a shuttle by dropping off one motorbike at the east side of the mountain near what I call “yellow gate” on my GPS’s waypoint.

Driving back up to Big Buddha, we started walking about 9 AM.  The Buddha statue was very picturesque this morning with the morning sun shining on it brightly. Also, we noticed the scaffolding has finally been removed as it is almost near completion.  I have been going up here for 5 years now and remember when the road was dirt all the way up and they were just working on the base.  Now, it is all but complete and shiny with small squares of white sparkly marble covering the whole statue.

 Clear blue skies today for a change make for very scenic but probably hot day for the hike.

We headed up the steps at the tourist attraction but at this hour it was still pretty quiet. There are great views from the top, especially from a small lookout to the left before you get to the stature right at the top of the steps.    Then from the top, we head to the left (west) side of the statue and go around and down on a dirt road that is used for construction vehicles.   

At this time, we are going to have to walk the concrete road for a few hundred meters to a junction with a good sized dirt road on your left that I have marked “motorbike”

Take the dirt road heading northwest, then it immedietly turns due east for a bit.   Coming up on some great views of Chalong bay to your right then watch for a smaller dirt road and take it left and up instead of the road you were on turns right and goes downhill.

It is a pleasant walk along the dirt road with rubber tree and banana tree plantations on both sides of the road with the occasional abandoned shack that the workers had lived in.  Some of these are very beautiful and in picturesque spots.  Sometimes they have a great view also.

Continueing along the road winds around so much that when I first explored this section, I thought i was headed towards the highest point on the island, which is a mountain called Sip Song (means #12 in Thai) that has a huge “golf ball” looking thing on top.  This is a Navy radar station and restricted area that I’ll talk more about later as the restrictions are causing me problems.    Back to my story, I was heading towards the golf ball mountain when i topped a rise and saw directly in front of me was Big Buddha again!    I got completely turned around because i wasn’t watching the compass and hadn’t gotten my new Garmin 60 CSX GPS yet.    The new Garmin is amazing as it can see through the trees and i never lose signal now.    Before, i would have to search for a clearing and wait.

So, I eventually came to this scenic spot with Big Buddha in front of me and had to go back and look at Google Earth again. I noticed some young children playing in the jungle with an old tire on that first day and marked the point “kids”.   After i went back to Google Earth, i knew i had to turn right where i saw those kids and sure enough there is a decent road there to make the right.  It has since been widened as there is a house in about another 500 meters that I have marked “manu housu” (Ok, my glasses were fogged that day and i thought i wrote something else but it stayed in there that way so that is what we now call it)    
At “Manu Housu” you will notice one of the finest panoramic views of the whole trail so far.    That first time i was here, so was the owner and although he spoke no English, he seemed to understand that i really enjoyed the view and he did too.    From his house, you can look east and see Chalong Bay and you can also look west without moving (except your head) and see Karon Beach, the 3 mile long beautiful white sand beach between Kata and Patong.
From the 1st house you come to, continue up to the higher house on top and then there is a barbed wire fence in your way.  Follow it to the right and you will eventually come to an opening at the corner of a field or newly planted trees.  Stay to the right side of that field for about 50 meters and you will see a small path to the right that is really beaten down grass to a very short bushwhack thru some thick brush to an older rubber tree (working) plantation on the other side.    I have seen people working this plantation 3 of the 4 times i have hiked this section.   They even posed for a picture on this last time for us.    

From here, turn left through the trees to the border of the woods (jungle) and follow it to the right until you can see another freshly planted field to your right (north).
It is now best to use the waypoint marked “4 points” and basically follow this new field on it’s left (west) side downhill until you come to a small decent road. The road get’s better as you go down.      
This road turns into one of the 4 points where there is an intersection going down to the right to Choafa West road near Wat Chalong.

Continue straight ahead on the lesser used road that goes up the hill.  Follow this road for a few hundred meters and pass a point where you will see good views ahead of the Sip Song Mountain with the “golf ball” looking radar station on top.     Then turn right on a smaller track that is a motorcycle track that leads to a hut with a family living that works the rubber trees.   

  These are friendly 

people with a dog and it’s best to announce your arrival so as not to scare anyone.   You must walk just to the very left of their house and around the back is a good place to refresh yourself from their water barrel.

    The 2nd time I was through here, Ricky our drummer, came along with me and I found out he was afraid of snakes.   Although I have yet to see a snake in the jungle, I have seen two on a road that we were walking and both times they were traveling as fast as they possibly could away from me.    I have found that people who don’t spend a lot of time in the jungle think there’s snakes all over.   Yet, I have been out at least 15 days so far and still haven’t seen one in the jungle.

You only get to walk through this very nice, small path through the woods, or jungle for about 400 meters and you will come to another small road.   Turn left on this road for a few hundred more meters and you will come up to a clearing.   Turn right after the clearing and continue on a better and better road now descending down to a waypoint I have marked “Water Tank”, passing a few picturesque rubber tree worker’s huts along the way.    Great views to the right of Chalong Bay and Cape Panwa can be seen here.

From the water tank which can be seen as a big square metal boxtype container, our trail goes to the left heading west.    From this junction, if you go right, you will go down following the road steeply at times to a yellow gate (another waypoint).  This is a spot where i often park my motorbike for exploration and from here an excellent blacktop road goes down to the east towards Wat Chalong.   They are building a golf course in this beautiful valley and there is another Wat along here where supposedly the head monk is 115 years old!    So, this is access for resupply or possibly a hotel nearby along Choafa West road between the two Wats and a major thoroughfare for southern Phuket. 

But, our trail heads east at the watertanks and maintains it’s altitude instead of dropping down.  Follow this small track as it contours some alluvials along it’s way with beautiful views of the

 terraced newer planted rubber trees to the north on the foothills of “Sip Song” mountain.   (the one with the golf ball looking radar station on top)

You will eventually (after about 700 meters?) come to a point where we head down steeply through some switchbacks.    I must continue some exploring here as i have a hunch that if you go straight, you can eventually meet up with our trail further along.   But for now, we will head to the right (north ) and go down these switchbacks.   (picture at right)

Continue heading west on the road below.  This road was built a few years ago as a connecting bypass between Wat Chalong and Patong.   But they seemed to have built it way too steep and made it dangerous.   There are no switchbacks at the steep parts and it washes out quickly so it has since been abandoned and I even saw some enduro motorcycle riders getting stuck trying to go up amongst some of the huge gullies that have formed in the roadbed.  

But, we don’t have to walk that part and our trail contours at a level elevation here towards Patong on the west with views of the hills of “sip song mtn” to the right. 

At one point, the road descends steeply down to a junction.   We turn left here although I am working on the next section trying to get around the big mountain, “Sip Song”.    The problem here is that this mountain, being the highest point on the whole island of Phuket, is a military base and is restricted area.    So, I have already spent 5 days trying to find a route around this big mountain.    A friend from the local running club: The Phuket Hash House Harriers, told me that the west side is the best to try as there are steep drop offs on the east side.    Well, i have tried and tried and just can’t get through the thick brush and steep ravines.   So, the trail will either have to drop in elevation on the west side, or I am going to start looking on the east side for a route that doesn’t drop down too far.    I learned a long time ago to try to maintain your elevation rather than dropping way down, just to come back up again.  I  will try my best to find a good contour and come back and edit this section if i find one.   

So, the road we are walking along continues along until it comes to a junction that i have marked “Turn Left”.    At this junction, our section ends and will continue to the right and up the hill.  By turning left here, you descend down to the town of Patong which is the biggest tourist town on the island of Phuket with it’s 1500+ bars, 100’s of hotels and guesthouses, many discos, dance clubs, Caberet shows, jet ski rentals, literally thousands of restaurants and every thing most people come to Phuket for.

 

 

As you can see from the above screen shots from the GPS, this section B is a fairly easy section that only took us 3 hours to walk with a 30 minute break. And is only 9.26 km long

Click HERE to download the .kmz file for this section.  Complete with all the waypoints and different routes from my exploring. 

Click here for a link to a basic map shown in Google maps:

  After 14 days or so of exploring and picking routes and then getting my new GPS (Garmin 60 CSX) and going out and hiking the first 15 kms., it is time to write some form of guidebook entry while it is fresh in my mind.

We went out 2 days ago (Sunday Sept 21st) with Kim from Canada and Joanne from Australia who i must say were awesome partners and real troopers to continue after some of the crazy bushwhacks we had in the few places where i forgot the exact route and were stuck in high thick grass or thick brambles and sticker bushes. They never got discouraged and always kept a smile on their faces and I believe they thoroughly enjoyed the whole hike.    

We started out at 6 AM as i knew it was going to be a long day.  Met Joanne for the first time at 6:15 and headed up to Leam Prom Thep which is the high point just north of the southern tip of the island of Phuket.  They were not into being purists so waited for me while i ran down to the water’s edge after the steep dirt track there that is well used by tourists.

Going down there by myself at 6:30 AM brought back many memories from  my old hiking days when i often did big sections alone. I enjoy being alone and have spent almost all of the time on the planning and exploring for this hike by myself.   Total silence as southern Phuket gets very minimal air traffic is the norm although this day was a bit windy.

I spent some time setting my GPS and clearing everything in it so it would keep track only of what we did on this day.  The new one keeps a profile map with zoomable levels that i haven’t totally figured out yet but have all the info saved.   Also a computer track log which would finally tell me distances as well as elevation.    Up to this point, it was only a guessing game based on time and my hiking experience.  But, these mountains of Phuket are a lot steeper than anything except perhaps the Pyrenees in France/Spain but THEY had a trail built on them that often included switchbacks.      

So, Kim and Joanne were waiting for me and already into the food bag until i got back up to the top of Laem Prom Thep which is a huge tourist attraction as it is the southern tip of Phuket and has some history as a lighthouse spot in the old days and wonderful views in 3 directions.    But, not at 6:30 AM.  Thai people don’t like that time of day any better than most of us.

Said our goodbyes to Joanne’s husband Graham and headed across the road and down a trail just to the left of the parking lot. (which is just to the left of the tourist souvenier shops on the road. So, there is a slight trail there that is not far from the road and starts the descent past a few houses on the right.   We weren’t too far from the road and it wasn’t long before we had to hop or go under our first barbed wire fence.    This fence is the boundary for the Phuket Bungalow Resort that was basically abandoned as it is low season and they are closed.  THis resort has beautiful views of the Andaman sea to the west and is the one right on the biggest “horseshoe” bend of the road between Ya Nui and Laem Prom Thep.   

So, we come in the back side of it (top side) and walk right between some bungalows, make a slight right hand turn at the black top road and then the left at the Y to continue the descent.   Within a minute or two, we are in a huge nice working garden of mostly veggies and an orchard.    A dog started barking but the owner didn’t come out of his small bamboo shack as he was probably still sleeping at this hour.  Past the garden, we went over and under another barbed wire fence and were now in the property of the Ya Nui resort.     Ya Nui is the small beach that is popular for lovers and snorkeling and my original route headed up the west side of the steep hill to the windmill.    But, that was thick, nasty stickers and had no views.   So, I had been thinking about it and decided it would be an awesome hike to go up the west side which was just exposed grass with fantastic views to the beach behind us and the Andaman sea to out west as well as the windmill on the hill.

This was steep going but wonderful.   I coudn’t take enough pictures and we had a few photo-op moments on the way up.  I was running at times to stay ahead of the girls to try to get some good pics.    They both had cameras too and i am hoping to see their pictures soon.   Here is one looking back.    Nothing but smiles at this point of the hike for sure. 

Up near the top, there is a big, deep ravine and we went pretty high to the  right and then crossed above it and then had to work our way back to the left towards the big dark leafed trees.     I had scouted this out beforehand but still went too far right.    Got situated and found the path just feet from where we had been looking.    There is really a lot to take in at this point with the views probably the most spectacular (already) of the whole journey.  As soon as you get on the other side of those bigger trees, you are at the rest area at the lookout point on the windmill hill.    I bring my boy, Simon up here about 3 times a week but Joanne had never been here before so was ooohing and ahhing for another 5 minutes or so.

I checked the trip computer here and it said 2.14 kms from the start to this point.   Heading out from here is easy as you just start on the road that comes up to the lookout for the 30 metres until it hits the main road.  Turn right for 10 metres and take the dirt track to the left that goes back to the football pitch there.     The road goes for about 200 metres before it gets to the field.   No cows today but they often graze there.

Head south through the field and at the other end, watch for the four-wheeler tracks to the south and follow them staying to the righ (east) until you have to work your way over into the trees.    There is a very short bushwhack here until you can find a boundary marker and follow that until you see a path created there.    

After about 100 metres, you will see a makeshift tower made from construction poles that i belive were stolen and carried up here so someone could build a tower to check out the sea view to try to sell some land.    The land is above the 80 metre rule but some ignore that and build anyway.   The 80 metre rule states that you cannot build a house above 80 metres from sealevel.   I believe it is a good rule and you don’t see houses dotting the landscape all over Thailand disrupting the views.    It is one of the things that keeps the place so beautiful.

Continueing past the tower, keep following the boundary markers and somewhere along the line, you must leave them and head left or west.    We didn’t do this too well and anyone might have trouble so i really have to go up there and mark some trail through here because there the hills here separate into two ridges and we want the one to the west.   (but the easier trail leads to the east)    So, we had to do a little bushwhacking again and this time it took a bit longer but the girls were very game and not complaining at all.   I was impressed.     

  As soon as you make the top of the western ridge, you find trail again and just continue following it north until you see Nai Harn lake.   This is the lake where we hang  out and jog and live near so it was like: Wow, that kind of wilderness is so close to the lake and we didn’t know it.      We hit the road around the lake and turned right      towards the Reggae Bar there.      Our friend Big Bow was up already and calling out to us with his freindly laugh and greetings.    We told him what we were doing and he just laughed harder.  

 I checked the trip computer again and now we were at 4.57 kms from the beginning.   And for the third time, at sea level again.   I believe this will be the last time we will  be at sea level, until the  end of the trail at the northernmost tip of Phuket at the Sarasin Bridge that we will be at sea level as this is a trail with a goal of hitting the high  peaks of the mountains of  Phuket and will strive to do so whenever possible.     This is the end of Part 1 of Section A.

 

  Turning left at the Reggae Bar, we cross the small bridge and go straight up the small dirt road just to the right of the new Hotel going up, up the hill.    This is a steep road and once you get up there a bit, you see a yacht and have to wonder how they got it up there.    We beat left on some concrete above the yacht and you’ll see a few houses that have been started but left abandoned.   I would guess they were shut down becuase they are above the 80 metre line.     We continue up westbound and go to the right of a small barbed wire fence heading for the corner of the trees.    Turn right at the corner and continue the fairly steep ascent along the treeline and border posts there.    

We were getting hungry at this point, so started looking for some shade with a view.    AND  a flat spot.    Not so easy to find all 3 so we settled for shade, a somewhat flat spot, but you had to stand up on your tiptoes for the view looking west to the sea with Nai Harn beach off to the left.      Had our breakfast of Cinnamon rolls that i had bought the morning before and some dates that the girls brought.    High spirits all around and impressed with our 700 feet of elevation gain already since the lake only about a mile back.   

Continuing the ascent with some decent trail along borders of land boundaries until we came to a small road that i have marked “sm road” as a waypoint.    Continue north, heading for the waypoint marked “clear 1″ and then you will see a better road.  (the first, small one is really a 4-wheeler track),   Follow the road up to the top and your high point at 820 feet.

 We celebrated a bit at this high point before heading down only to see a group of about 20 4-wheelers heading up.   (right)   And just after that, since it was a Sunday, we saw a big group of mountain bikers doing some training or warming up with a little course they had set up on the road using coconuts for markers.   We stopped and talked to them for a bit as I had hidden some water bottles here the day before and we stopped to fill our smaller bottles and get a good drink.     The girls, who are also into mountain biking, spent some time finding out when they get together while i worked on the GPS as we were now within 50 metres of the end of this part 2 of section A at KATA VIEW X-ing.

  I know i was only in the woods for a few hours but still almost stepped out in front of a motorbike coming up the road from Nai Harn village on the right.     About 200 metres up the road to the left is a beautiful viewpoint called “Karon Viewpoint” with excellent views of Kata Noi beach, Kata beach and Karon beach.   I took my family up here yesterday also.     Possibly i shoud route this trail up there for the view but it is very touristy and i’m trying to stay away from that so will continue along my originally planned “red route” and cross the road, slightly to the right and jump across the drainage ditch then immedietly turn left after entering the small banana tree farm that someone has just recently planted.  

From there, we head northeast following a small track but leaving it to follow the ridge that goes up just to the left of a new rubber tree plantings.   Go to the left hand side of this and find some  boundary markers and follow the track laid by the rubber farmers.   Continueing up from the  640 foot elevation when you crossed the road.    Near the top, you will have to leave the easy walking and cross the barbed wire fence up into some real jungle.   When i first hiked this, i had no problems here but on Sunday, with the girls, we got off my track i guess and had to do some scrambling around and bushwhacking for a good 15 minutes before coming out on a small road leading down.      I will go out today or tomorrow and fix the track on this as i know it’s not a tough route to follow.  Probably i was just talking too much rather than concentrating on the terrain.    

  Gaining the track, we passed the highpoint here and headed down to an excellent road that crosses the mountains here and forms a link between the main road at Kata Hill, and the windy, back road, to the west that is the shortcut road from Nai Harn to Kata.    This Nai Harn road has gotten some bad reviews lately as there were a few muggins late at night (after 2 AM) here including one Norwegian man was killed about a year ago.    It is not travelled as much as before but is perfectly safe in the daytime.

Now, we turn right on the good gravel road and it bends to the left at a steep descent with great views of Nai Harn and Chalong Bay off to your right. We continue on to a low point where there are 2 rubber tree shacks up to the left and a good dirt track off to the right.   I have this point marked as “NOOGO” on my GPS because THIS is the spot where i really want to turn right and head up to the top of the steep mountain there.

The first time I came here, there was another shack at the junction and a woman was bathing there and when i asked her if it was ok to go through, she said No!   I was a bit persistant as i had never had anything but smiles from these farmers of the rubber, but she kept saying MiDai! which means: Cannot!    Now, my Thai isn’t very good but I could tell she didn’t want me going through there.   So, i’m thinking they must have something illegal growing up there or something and i left it alone and continued on the road which lead me all the way (another mile or two) to the KATA Hill road.      But, i don’t like roadwalks, especially if they can be avoided so, went back 4 times to try exploring this valley and mountain where i really wanted the route to go.   Each time, she was there and said “Mi Dai” and I had hoped to bring a Thai person who is bi-lingual along to ask why but never did.    

But, today I had Kim who speaks pretty good Thai.   So, we had to go search the woman out at the huts and Kim then asked her if we could go up there.  Again she said no.   But, this time when Kim asked her why, she said: “Because there’s nothing up there and if you go up, you will come back and be mad at me because you got lost”   Well, we all had a good laugh over this.  (Thai people love to laugh, especially at stupid farangs)    Obviously she didn’t know about GPS and Google Earth and what we could do.   

These are rustic rubber tree farmers who live in small corregated metal shacks with no electricity, no power tools of any kind, getting their water from the roof when it rains and using only machete’s and plastic buckets for collecting their rubber.    They use coconut shells for collecting the rubber that drips from a cut they make in the tree.  They have to make this cut (not sure why) at 4 AM.  Then the cups (shells) fill up with the dripping rubber and they come back and dump them into the bucket.  The pay is about $6 a day from what I hear and many of the workers are illegals from Myramar.    Then they take the liquid and run it through a machine run by a hand crank that looks like the old style “wringer washer” we had in the 50’s.     This gives them a flat piece of rubber about 1 foot by 2 feet rectangular that they can then stack on the back of their motorbikes and get them to market.     I understand that they work for a commission with the landowners and can negotiate pay sometimes.  But in a tourist area like Phuket, it is not easy to be able to afford food and clothes.     

So, yesterday (Sept 25) I went out and went back to my exploring mode and made the right turn here and went up the track and, well it was incredible.   AFter about 100 metres, there were no more rubber trees and i was in real jungle with footpaths worn in and I found paths going almost exactly where i wanted them.   I wrote this up already in another entry and will paste it here:

Today, Sept 25^th, 2008 I was out to do a piece of section between the NOGO waypoint, (where the woman told me I couldn’t go )  and Kata Hill near Pub Pla. It turned out as I thought and was beautiful with trail thru real jungle almost all the way.

I saved the track as “Sept-25-08” on MapSource and saved the profile screen and trip computer screen shot using “x-image” under Garmin/screen shots/profile nogo to kata and  tripcomputer nogo to kata.

So, turning right off of the good road at the NOGO waypoint, I parked my motorbike on the left where the entrance to the two shacks with rubber tree workers living in them.    I started up to the trail heading southeast on a very well worn footpath.     50 metres in, there were two girls sitting in a nice spot chatting and I continued straight as there was a possible right (disregard)

Then I got to another Y and made a left.  There were 2 or 3 guys over there and I attracted the interest of all of these folks.     Remember, I had asked 4 times before to explore this section to all negative answers, only finding out once Kim came and asked them why, and they told her that they were afraid I would get lost or hurt and the trail went nowhere!

I started the ascent now and continued on the trail.   It wasn’t far off my original red trail track line that is on my GPS.   I was just to the west of that line most of the way up that first climb.    I had marked a few points that I was striving for on Google Earth and then  transferred them to my new GPS.  I had to do this the old fashioned way of entering each number but I will figure out an easier way one of these days.     The first point I was going for, I had named “Try 1” and I got very near that point by staying right on trail.  (I was perhaps 40 metres to the east when I passed it) Then I put the next point in as my “goto” and it was named “Try 2”   I noticed I crossed my original Red Trail line while going up to this one but I was still on a slight trail through beautiful real Thai forest and not rubber trees for a change.    (not knocking rubber trees, they are easy walking but so was this trail)  

I crossed the red line again right before I came onto “try 2” waypoint.     Just after reaching that waypoint, I continued on decent trail but found that I was going too far west and away from my planned route.   So, I backtracked a bit,  and headed back to the red trail line and found some good trail again.   Continuing up the ridgeline, I came to a big tree which was near the top of a knob.    Excellent.   So, I stopped for a few minutes and got a drink and marked this waypoint as  “top bigtree” 

Then I kept following the ridge and trail but found once again, that I was going too far west and decided I must be following the wrong ridge.   So, I backtracked BACK to the “top bigtree” point and  found a slight trail leading northeast.   My next point I had in there was “try top” but it really wasn’t on the ridge so I kept following the ridge which was leading me slightly east. 

After a few hundred metres from here, I had to do a little bushwhacking but stayed on top and sure enough ,  a trail (slight) appeared here and there and I continued following it.    Finally after about 15 minutes  or maybe 20 from the big tree mark, I  came to an OLD rubber tree plantation with big trees.  

Up until this point, it has been all REAL JUNGLE and I wasn’t used to that and it felt great.   I had trail most all the way too and this is what hiking is all about.   So, now, I followed these big old rubber trees easily although they didn’t last too long and then the ridge dropped downhill pretty fast and there was a bunch of high grass.    I had to backtrack again one more time as I was getting  way west of where I really wanted the trail to go via the red trail line.    But, the ridge wasn’t where the red trail line was so I was going the only way I could I guess.

I came to a small road that I marked “road 2” and it turned into a bigger one and I then put in the waypoint “pub pla” and headed towards it.       But the road seemed to go to the west of the pub so I cut up through some steep hillside and got on another small ridge coming down and got to the pub pla.   Then I decided I’d better go check out where that track came from so I headed southwest again.    I then saw the way I should’ve come and marked the spot Ideai (with an I) so that I could find it easily next time.     

In walking down the pub pla road, I went too far south and got on another road.  Next time I should go to the west of the restaurant at the top and go down their driveway, to near the bottom I found the perfect spot to cross the hiway and marked it “come out here” .  So, next time when I’m walking down their beautiful driveway (pub pla’s) near the end, I will head down a small gully or track to this waypoint and that is the end of this section “NOGO to KATA HILL”

This brings us to the end of Part 3 of Section A.

 

From this new exit point (“Come Out Here” waypoint).  Be careful and cross the busy highway here.   They are working on widening the road to 4 lanes.  This is a busy connecting road between Kata/Karon/Patong with Chalong/Raiwai/Nai Harn areas. 

Crossing the road unto a driveway just to the left and a big open dirt parking lot.   Follow the lot over to the right where it goes up through some decent track/road although becoming overgrown.  This leads up around and to the left passed some old temporary construction worker’s huts now abandoned.    Go right past these huts and the bear right to where you can see a spot where a ‘dozer flattened out a spot for a possible house but never finished it.  

From here, my original track went around to the right a bit and then up a fairly steep band heading up to the ridge.  BUT, on this day I hiked with the 2 girls (Sept 21) I wasn’t remembering well and we started bushwhacking a little and saw a rock boulder field that was actually a stream bed in rainy weather.    I should’ve known better but it was suggested we go that way.   I have tried walking streambeds before and it is never much of a good idea.    Too many big drops, waterfalls, and trees (blowdowns) blocking the way.   This one was no different and it was slow going with me in front.

After about 100 metres of this, i climbed up a steep boulder and looked up to see a hord of the dreaded “Tor” or Large Poisonous Wasps that i had been warned about from the Hash House Harrier guys.    They told me this was their number one worry out there.    I had an encounter with one before on an exploratory hike and bitten on the finger.   That time, my first immediate thought was “cobra” as it hurt really bad.   The pain lasted 24 hours and really throbbed and hurt.  I went back to the Hash House guys and told them i now know what they were talking about. 

So, on this day, when i saw about 30 of them, I immedietly turned around, yelled “wasps, go down, FAST”      I don’t think the girls believed me at first but then they saw a few of them circling my head.     I was trying to swat them away and the two of them (i considered to be scouts or sentries) attacked and hit my thick ball cap 7 times.  I knocked one down and hit it with my walking stick.  It didn’t faze it and it got up again and came after me.     Finally it got through and achieved it’s intention.   It got me on the neck just below my hair and then the other one got me a few seconds later on the back of my head.     I really started running then and so did Kim and Joanne.  

 Finally we were clear of them and we stopped to regroup.   We then found my original way up there and went up into a spot and stopped to rest, talk about the attack, and have a drink.      The pain didn’t lessen much at all in this time.   Continueing up the ridge through old rubber trees here that are becoming overgrown and taken back to jungle.     we had to cross a thicket where there was a boundary line to a small clearing the i had marked on my GPS before as “Small Road 1″

    At this point i remember someone asking me how i knew where the heck i was going all the time.    I explained that i originally drew my preferred route on Google Earth and transferred it to the GPS as a red line.   (still on there so i could show them)    Then, i came out again and came up with this route that we were on and placed waypoints where i thought they were needed.    And after today’s walk, would have a track log of the actual walk to follow.    This is a grey line on the kmz or kml file that i have created.   I haven’t figured out yet how to upload that file to a downloadable place on the web yet but will eventually.

Ok, the small road, leads up to a bigger road that you must turn right on.   That road goes over to an elephant riding camp.    Today it was deserted except for a cook or two but last time i was here, there were many elephants and “mahouts” around.  

 A Mahout is a man who trains the elephant and they are together for life.    The elephant listens to only him.   He uses a small stick with a metal hook in it as a sort of whip to tell the elephant (or “Chang” if you speak Thai) when it is doing wrong.     The Mahout made the elephant bow to me on one knee and told me i was going the wrong way as the road was over to the right.     I said i didn’t want a road, and was going up to Big Buddha by the shortest possible route, in other words, straight up the ridgeline.   They got a good laugh over that and told me to watch out for snakes.     Now that got a good laugh from me as i had now been out about 14 or 15 days and saw 2 snakes and both were on a road, about 20 metres away and going as fast as they could away from me.      I had yet to see a snake in the jungle and the Hash House Harriers told me that in their clubs 18 years of exsistance, no one had ever been bitten by a snake.    So, rest assured it would be a rare occurance.

We followed a small road or track to the left of the elephant camp and came up to a small building or concrete tank and turned hard right here unto the ridgeline again.    Now the going got a bit steeper although it was always in or near rubber trees which are easy to walk through.     Finally the rubber trees ran out about 3/4 of the way up this big mountain.   So, we had to bushwhack again. At this point, we were all pretty tired as we had been out walking/climbing/bushwhacking/hiking for about 8 hours with only 2 breaks.      We got into some thickets that were pretty tough and again, i have to give these to women a lot of credit for staying positive and joking about things along the way.  

 Keep going up and up and eventually you will come to a Buddhists monks camp in the jungle complete with about 4 huts and a campfire area for cooking.    1st time through here, they were occupied and i think i scared them as i came right out of nowhere in the thick bush.    This time there was no one around as it was a Sunday and a busy time for the Wat or Temple up at the top just below the actual statue of the Big Buddha. 

Continuing up through their camp and you come out just below the toilets built for the tourists who come up to the top to see one of the best views in all of Phuket and the almost finished “Big Buddha” statue.    It is 5 or 6 years in the making and should be completed within a year.  

 

I have been up here many times with both Kim, whom i used to hike the road climb every Saturday for about a year with. And also my son Simon loves coming up here.    

On this day, we saw a monk or two that we knew and told them about the wasp.   They told us we really needed to see the big monk who would give us some protection from these terrible stinging wasps.   So, we went and did the religious bowing and Sawadee Krups and were blessed by the monk who put a bracelet on each of us for protection.   Then someone got the girls to go speak to the president of the Big Buddha statue association or something like that and I didn’t see them for about 1 1/2 hours while i took a badly needed rest.  

This completes our trail and Part 4 of Section A and Completes Section A from the southern tip of Phuket at Prom Thep point to Big Buddha.

 Here is the profile map of  Section A

l)                                                   

The Author “Fiddlehead” on one of the more scenic climbs.

 

In conclusion, Section A, from the southern tip of the island at Prom Thep to the top of the mountain at Big Buddha is broken up into 4 parts:

Part 1: The sea at the tip of the island to the Reggae Bar at Nai Harn lake: Distance 4.57 kms.

Part 2: Nai Harn Lake to KATA View X-ing: Distance from beginning: 7.8 kms     or 3.23 from the end of Part 1

Part 3: KATA View X-ing to the road at KATA Hill: Distance from beginning: 12.45   or 4.65 kms from Kata View X-ing

Part 4: KATA hill road to Top of Big Buddha:  Distance from beginning 14.47 kms or 2.02 very steep kms. 

 

Here is a link to where you can download the .kmz file I created in Google Earth and you can look at the trail from above.  
or, if you have the latest version of Google Earth, and you hold down the shift key while scrolling with the mouse wheel, you can see the climbs in 3D. 

 

If you have any problems with the above link for the .kmz file, please comment so i can fix it.  Thanks

Here is a link to Section B (next section) from Big Buddha to Patong.