The view from the Peak at the Kota Damasara Community Forest Reserve.
The sun was peaking through the canopy, the air crisp, and the distant chirps of birds and whatever noise cicadas make added to the ambient sounds of, by all accounts, a lovely morning hike. The only thing out of place was the straggler in the group and her plaintive cries of, “Kill me, please”.
A rest stop for hikers after a steep ascent.Over 10 years of comfort food and being a couch potato had turned any semblance of a once-toned outer shell to mush. Sedentary work, running a household and age had rendered being active needless. Or that was the excuse anyway.
But when a work email announced a hobby initiative that included hiking, cycling and a whole litany of distant-memory activities, something welled deep inside. It was interest, and no amount of fried chicken could force it back down.
Images of past hikes from 40kgs ago flashed before my eyes. Swatting hornets, plucking leeches from the body, traversing rivers, scaling down Mt Kinabalu’s rock face, being out in the middle of nowhere with a full bladder ... all the while thinking, “What fun!”.
So at 7.35am, drenched in mosquito repellent and greeting colleagues from floors in the building rarely ventured, who reassuringly promised the hike would be “not that bad, you can do it, don’t worry,” my fate was sealed.
For almost anybody but unfit me, the Kota Damansara Community Forest Reserve is a slice of heaven and lives up to its claim of being a “low-impact” excursion.
Another view from the Peak of the Kota Damansara Community Forest Reserve.The inclines are gradual and there are flat stretches in between. A few naturally occurring root-held steps might take a little more effort for the vertically challenged, but sturdy branches are strategically placed to help you up.
The goal of the hike is to reach “The Peak”, and it’s straightforward. Just head upwards. The reward after making it past the steepest section of the “advanced level” trail is a glorious view of the highway from Denai Tiga Puteri.
The 14km network of trails, painstakingly constructed over many years by community volunteers and Temuan Orang Asli, is well maintained and marked. Even if you’ve abandoned your group so that they can finish the route before nightfall without you holding them back, the chances of getting lost are slim to none.
It also helps that you can download the trail map from the KDCF website, and there are full bars throughout, so getting “rescued” is just a WhatsApp away.
As a general guide, good beginner-level trails are the Salleh, Scouts and Temuan trails, with tarmac or au natural options.
Intermediate-level trails would include Harmoni, Sahabat and Serenity.
Sun rays streaming through the forest canopy.Of course, my colleagues took the zero-to-hero path, which is the peak trails, including Unity, Unity Peak and Denai Tiga Puteri.
Clearly, I had not done any research, or I wouldn’t have agreed to follow blindly.
I was immediately confronted with my worst nightmare, a trail on which I had to look upwards.
I couldn’t see any flat paths, and my heart sank, but I trekked on.
I wish I hadn’t been so out of shape because then I could have done what my colleagues were doing – take in the sights, remark on the beauty of this preserved-from-development space, giggle excitedly, and take photos.
Instead, I had my sights trained on the light brown mud-caked ground, willing each foot forward, darn it!
Already, I was trailing behind.
Being a Saturday, various groups of people of varying ages and fitness levels were streaming in. Even a mum was carrying her baby. None of them looked like they had broken a sweat.
I’m not sure if hikers are generally a much nicer lot, but they were all so cheery and would stop, wish me a “good morning”, then ask if I was OK.
My bright red visage, the copious amount of bodily fluids leaking from me, and my hyperventilating may have been the source of their concern.
The view from the Peak at the Kota Damasara Community Forest Reserve.If I had air in my lungs to spare, I would have explained that I looked like this even when grocery shopping, but I just managed a smile and gnashed out, “All good, awesome, lovely day for a hike”.
After what felt like hours, which in real time was about 30 minutes, my desk bestie Rachel reminded me more than once that she’s “not an outdoor or morning person”, and called a halt so we could chart our progress. We were exhausted but felt remarkably accomplished.
I couldn’t believe my eyes; my tracker read 500-plus metres! That couldn’t be right. Either the tracker was faulty or I couldn’t see the screen properly through body heat-fogged-up glasses.
Rachel looked utterly dejected. I was wracked with guilt for dragging her into my madness.
But we both agreed that half an hour of trekking wasn’t enough to justify waking up before dawn, so we determined that we would walk off enough calories to enjoy the brunch we were planning.
We grudgingly trudged onward as much older people blazed past us.
Finally, an hour into our excursion, we reached a point just within reach of “The Peak”, or more like a sign pointing the way forward.
A travel buddy making a call to ensure fellow hikers are doing fine.Close enough, we thought as we stared glumly at the steep incline ahead.
I turned to Rachel and said, “We done?” to which she immediately responded, “We’re done!”
We were slumped in the car with the air-conditioning cranked up by the time our colleagues were enjoying the reward of the hike with a picnic at the peak and taking in the view.
We relived our 3.5km accomplishment vicariously through their photos.
Would we do this all again? Most definitely!
It was tough going, but after setting the bar so low on our first outing, I’m sure we can take it up a notch next time.
