A week into the year 2024, I managed to start on my new year’s wish list – restart hiking. An exciting sport for the young ones. My aim was to hike the easy trails around Selangor and N9. My SIL recommended this trail nearby Shah Alam and said to be easy. So I agreed. The morning sky was gray and wet like a sad day at the end of a weekend. We got ready anyway and hope for the sun to show up later on. The forecast said rain is on the way.
It was a short drive from Sek 7 Shah Alam to Setia Alam where the trail starts. The morning traffics were light and easy. A few gang of cyclists passed us , joggers and morning walkers seemed to enjoy the sunday morning without sunshine. It was the views of urban lifestyle that has started to be mainstream in this part of Malaysia. The very reason I chose to stay around here after my retirement.
At 9am, we set off at a beaten track that seemed to be a starting point. Just follow the crowd has always been the rule in this situation. So we did. The beginning track was muddy and slippery – not a good sign for the path ahead.
We went into the wet forest through the trails that have seen many nature enthusiasts. Today a good bunch of youngsters were seen to manouvre the slippery slopes in some very intimidating manners. They ran, slided or just dived down the muddy tracks. On the other hand, I was desperately looking for a good soil to step on with my wobbly stick. I felt so frustrating looking like a grandad walking downhill on a rainy day. I threw a fake smile to cover my disappointment.
Soon, I realised it was all game and fun, so enjoy it as much as I could. The trails went up and down; not so much in terms of difficulty only the drizzles that started to get heavy made it challenging and even dangerous.
After a long one hour we reached the Peak Garden. The place where dogs made a home. A pack of dogs seemed to roam the place and looked offensive as well. We are not dog people so seeing the place occupied , we proceeded to the next destination. It was a lake called Tasik Cermin. Another hour through a dangerously slippery down hill would end at that place. A usual endpoint of a hiking trail would be an awesome view. A view that would take your breath away and the difficult trails that we left behind seem insignificant. A stupid lake would not do that and the only thing on my mind was the agony of going back. I guess the notion of “ hiking is not about the destination but the journey itself” can really be applied here. So if the journey was one long and boring walkabout then you are so very unlucky man.
I drew a long breath to embrace a long way back. The tracks were more slippery than before as more people have started to go up and down. I pushed forward as not to waste anytime at the side of the track.
Baam! I fell and my big ass went down the muddy soil. OMG! Have my knees given up? It was the deceiving soil that tricked me and made me lost control.
I realised soon enough that before you step on the soil, you must know whether it can be reliable or deceiving. A reliable one is easy- looks dry and hard, weaved by hard roots or padded by pebbles or hard stone. So you go for those surfaces and made a firm footing before you proceed.
A deceiving one is a wet soil layered by some dead leaves. A heavy step would make you fly down the slope without mercy. A wet stone covered by hard soil would also be deceiving and must be avoided at all costs. A decision should be done in split second so most of the time you just go and hope to be lucky. I was not so lucky to fall down twice on the way back. But it’s not so bad ,I think, so far I am fine.
Challenging : 3/10(6 on a rainy day)
View at the end : 2/10 (lake views are not for me)
Interesting trails : 2 /10( how I felt along the trails)
Worth of time : 5 /10( in terms of spending the whole morning sweating and exercising)
Time spent : 9:00-12:00
Distance : about 7 km ( from starting point A to the lake and back)
Overall : 2/10
It was a good hike ,nevertheless.
