Ulu Sepat, standing at 2161m, is 7th highest mountain in Peninsula Malaysia. According to our guide, Forest Gan, we would be taking a new route for this trip. It certainly seemed to be the case as the Orang Asli guides were creating new trail as we trek towards the summit.

Located in the Titiwangsa (main) range, it receives a significant volume of rainfall annually. On this trek, it rained daily especially in the late afternoon.

The starting point for our trek was near Gua Musang. From there, it was a 4hrs ride by 4-wheel drive to the starting point at a Orang Asli village located deep in the mountains. Most part of the ride through the mountains was on logging trails which were well-maintained as logging were still carrying out in the region. However, once the vehicle entered the trails which were no longer in use, the road condition deteriorated. In fact, the vehicles were stuck in the mud on one occasion and we had to push it free.

At the Orang Asli village, we could see that they seldom have visitors as the children look at us with great curiosity. It was also at this village where Forest Gan engaged two Orang Aslis as guides to bring us to the mountain.

The trek was certainly challenging and full of surprises. About 2 hours into the trek, we have to cross a wide river where the water level reached our waist level. For one-third of the trek, we were walking on old logging trail. Part of the logging trail has been abandoned for so long that erosion formed deep gullies on it. As we trekked deeper into the mountains, the Orang Asli guides traverse across ridges where there were rivers and streams at the bottom of the ridge. However, that also meant there were a lot of ascent and descent. As this was a new trail, there were really no trails to follow at all towards the last third of the journey in the forest. The Orang Asli guides have to use parangs to hack their way through the thick vegetations. Despite walking and clearing a path, they were still moving at a faster pace than us. During our descend down the mountain, we lost sight of them and have to rely on following the trail of chopped plants to lead us to the campsite.

Probably due to the high rainfall, the vegetation at the summit of Ulu Sepat was very thick and reached up to head level which blocked out any view. Moreover, there was a complete white-out as the clouds moved in and a light drizzle. A point of interest was there were evidences of heavy elephant traffics nearer to the summit of this mountain. Elephant dung were everywhere along the trail and some looked fresh. Near to thee summit, the trail was very muddy, probably elephant dung mix with water.

Ulu Sepat, like many other mountains found in Titiwangsa range is not meant for the novice to Peninsula Malaysia mountains. Good fitness level and mental strength is required to tackle the mountain as not only are we required to carry heavy loads and make long, tiring treks, the daily rain and sandflies at the campsites would make life quite miserable. However, there are certainly some personal satisfactions and valuable experience gained from such a trek. One thing for sure, trekking through virgin forest, making new path and experiencing the isolation of the region are something that very few treks can offer.