{"id":10481,"date":"2016-12-01T16:26:22","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T08:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=10481"},"modified":"2016-12-01T16:26:22","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T08:26:22","slug":"strata-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=10481","title":{"rendered":"Strata revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was in 2005 that I read a post in one of\u00a0the Malsingmaps forums about an unknown waterfall near Tanjung Malim. GPS-tracks and the coordinates of this Strata<\/span> waterfall were given.<\/p>\n

Here is the track (in red) and the waterfall, superimposed on a topo map of the region. Click on the map to enlarge it.<\/p>\n

\"strata_diamond_creek\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Notice that the track is broken, it is not very accurate. Starting point is the Diamond Creek resort, which did not yet exist when the topo map was printed. I have indicated (in white) the location of the roads in this (rundown) resort. I have also marked (in blue) two rivers, to guide the eye.\u00a0The Strata fall is located in the Sg Sekiah,\u00a0the Gerehang river has also a waterfall, which I hope to revisit soon<\/p>\n

Of course I was interested to visit this fall, so in the following months I went several times to Diamond Creek, and finally found the waterfall. I have written two reports\u00a0about these trips. The first report,\u00a0The Strata Fall, Prologue & First Acts<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0describes the first attempts where we followed a trail high up the left bank of the river and found the Upper Strata Fall. In the second report,\u00a0Strata Fall, the Grand Finale<\/a>, we decided to river trek and finally found\u00a0the main Strata fall.<\/p>\n

The map shows the two routes, the yellow one leading to the upper fall, the brown\u00a0one following the river to the main fall.\u00a0The reason that the original (red) track is so scanty, especially in the last part, is that\u00a0the river flows in a deep ravine where GPS reception is not easy. Even with my Garmin GPSMap 64s, there was a lot of scatter, which I have smoothed out.<\/p>\n

\"strata_detail\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That was more than ten year ago! Recently one of my friends wanted to visit this fall and I gave them my GPS-data.\u00a0They did a recce, but did not reach the main fall.<\/p>\n

My\u00a0friend Edwin had told me that he had visited Strata beginning of this year,\u00a0crossing the river to the right<\/span> bank and following a rather clear trail to the fall without river trekking. That sounded interesting! He was willing to\u00a0go again and be our guide. Here is our group. \u00a0From left to right \u00a0Paul, Fahmi, Edwin, Jan, Chin and Tan. Picture taken by Aric<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u00a0started walking from the Diamond Creek resort, with a 4WD we could have gone much further in. Sometimes it was a bit confusing which road to choose..:-)<\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-13-13-54\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-09-16-36\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Passing through the plantation and entering the forest, we came closer to the\u00a0stream and the point where we had to cross the river. The sign Hutan Simpan Kekal says\u00a0that this is a Permanent Forest Reserve. So we were shocked when we saw that less than 100 meter further, a new logging bridge had been constructed over de river.<\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-12-47-37-hdr\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-12-43-37\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This was all still unspoiled forest when Edwin came here earlier this year. Shameful. And a problem for us.\u00a0Of course the building of the logging roads had also destroyed the existing trails. So how to\u00a0proceed? With some scrambling we managed to climb up to the logging road (marked with a red X).<\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-10-09-43\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We decided to cross the stream on this logging bridge and then try to find the trail on the other side. We chose what looked like a kind of trail<\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-12-37-29-hdr\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But it was not a real trail and soon it petered out in a chaos of tree trunks and branches. Pictures taken by Chin, our selfie-man. Edwin suggested to do a recce, because he was confident that it should not be far to the old trail.<\/p>\n

\"2016-11-30-12-05-00\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2016-11-30-12-04-36\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We waited for him (picture by Aric)<\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-10-15-49\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When he came back after about ten minutes, he said that he had seen\u00a0the trail down the slope,\u00a0to reach it might not be\u00a0easy, but\u00a0should be possible. So we continued and indeed, after scrambling not more than 100 meter, we reached the trail. Kudos for Edwin!<\/p>\n

\"2016-11-29-23-52-05\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2016-11-24-12-05-27\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The trail was remarkably clear, not overgrown, apparently also used by other hikers.It was only about 500 meter to the fall, which took us less than half an hour. And a beautiful waterfall it is!<\/p>\n

\"Strata<\/a><\/p>\n

We arrived at the fall at 11am and stayed one hour, because we were expecting rain in the afternoon. Enough time to enjoy the view,\u00a0and take a bath. And pictures of course, or selfies…:-)<\/p>\n\n\t\t