Cameron Highlands Jungle Walks 8 and 7

---

Gerung Berembum

One of the web pages I consulted lists the walks to Gerung Berembum as 'very tough' with steep sections. I had found the start of Walk#8 yesterday (25/2) and it didn't look too bad. But I had also forgotten yesterday's lesson that the early signs of hope were not always good indicators of what really lay ahead.

It hadn't rained overnight, and the footpath in to Robinson Falls was quite a lot less slippery, although it was often easier to walk beside the path than on it. To make it attractive, the concrete slabs had been painted red and green with a product that has a quite gloss finish. No non-slip finishes here. Add the ocassional patch of slimy leaf litter and the path was quite a challange.

Shortly after the start of the trail, it rose steeply as it climbed up a ridge line. I am sure that all the hills here are concave, with quite steep lower slopes flattening out at the top. Having trekking poles helped enormously with balance and traction.

Crossed a saddle with power lines coming up from the Robinson power station area, and faced another steep initial climb. Finally spotted just the one small bird - its size out of all proportion to the noise that it was making. Also found a millipede crossing the trail and took some pictures. It was about 15cm long and a tan colour, so it was easy to spot against the black of the trail. It would have been less conspicuous amongst the leaf litter.

At the top of this stretch the path had been widened with use into a broad aisle, almost cathedral like. The trees on either size were not large, or majestic, but still shaded the pathway without being overbearing.

After this. the summit was a bit of an anti-climax. I missed it, and only realised that I had when I came to a clearing a little past it with signs pointing back to it. I wimped out of going back, and found the start (end?) of Walk#7 and started back down.

Where Walk#8 had come up the spine of the ridge line, Walk#7 went pretty much straight off the side, so it was steep from the very start of the descent, levelling out from time to time closer to the base. Walked back into Tanah Rata through the agricultural research institute (MARDI).

---