What better way to end the year than by visiting a waterfall!” That is how I ended my last post for 2013. So, let me start my first post for 2014 in a similar way:  “What better way to start the year than by visiting a waterfall!”

Yesterday I explored with a few friends waterfalls in the Sg Rinting. This river is located in the same region as the Chiling waterfalls, visited last week. But that is where the similarity ends..:-). The Chiling fall is the most popular waterfall in Malaysia, with a crowd of visitors each weekend. The Lata Medang, the main waterfall of the Rinting river is less frequented, access takes longer, although the trail is easy to find nowadays. Here is the Medang waterfall (upper part) with my personal marker. Picture taken few years ago.

Our target for this trip was not the Medang fall, but the several falls that can be found downstream of it. With as our main interest a tall fall, named Kijang Jatuh. After  having breakfast with Siang Hui and Nick, near my condo, we drove to KKB where we met Eddie. The trail head is the same as for Bukit Kutu and the Sg Luit waterfalls, starting from Kg Pertak. Well defined trail until you reach an Orang Asli (?) campsite near the first waterfall.

From there we started river trekking to the next tiers. Vague traces of trails, sometimes just following the river. Very rewarding hike. Here are some of the tiers we found.

The second fall from right is called Lata Mendung. With a nice big pool. We took a short rest to take a group picture. Using the timer option. Eddie pushed the camera button and had to hurry to join us. Did not realise the water was quite deep, so he looked like a hobbit..:-) So we tried again, I took his place, becoming the hobbit. Very funny…:-)

We continued our hike and reached the Twin Falls. The next one should be the tall Kijang Satuh. But how to go there? Following the river or scrambling up the slope? Siang Hui and Eddie decided for the second option. It was a tough and steep climb up to a former logging road, completely overgrown. Thanks to Eddie’s and SH’s expert parang handling, we managed to reach the location of the Kijang Jatuh fall. However, we could not reach the bottom of this impressive tier. Halfway down the slope became too steep. Here are the Twin falls and a partial view of the Kijang Jatuh. Maybe we must come back and try the river trekking option.

I took a video of this fall, it gives an impression.

From this fall it is only a short hike to the Lubuk Mecu. Here we had a rest and our lunch. Time for another group picture. No hobbits this time..:-)

When we were ready to go back, a downpour started. It is what you can expect when trekking in the rain forest and part of the fun. But good that it did not happen during our scrambling up the slope! Here are some more pictures taken during this great trip. Not only waterfalls…:-)

A perfect start of 2014. In a few months time I hope to celebrate my 70st birthday, maybe it is time to slow down my waterfall activities a bit. But this trip was big fun!