Waking up  at 3.30 in the morning to go on a hike might sounds crazy for some of us, but that’s how most regular hikers are. We wake up at odd hours make sure we have every thing we need, our bags packed, enough water and food for the journey, and go through the check list once again so that we don’t miss anything.

With the Hi-kers, we set out to explore Gunung Jono. I could not find much to read about this trail, hence was a bit excited to find out what’s in store for us. Gunung Jono is located in Kuala Pilah, one of the stated of Negeri Sembilan. To be exact it is located in Senaling Province. We drove pass Sri Menanti Palace before we reached the entrance. Gunung Jono stays tall at  852meters, even though it’s the almost the same height as Gunung Angsi, the terrain is much tougher to climb.

After a hearty breakfast of roti canai and dosai at a restaurant in Bukit Putus we headed towards the trail head. We reached the trail head a bit after 9.00am which was much later than planned, but none seems to be worried since we were expecting to be down with in 5 hours.

The walk started through a rubber plantation and it was not thick jungle. But rather an open field. The trail started from a tree with a marked red ribbon but Dr. Vick reminded us the actual trail would start from the base of the mountain, which may take some time to reach.

Since the beginning of the hike all I could see and feel is mud. The trail is well marked with red ribbons and from the base of the mountain it’s just one way up.

 Sliding and slipping we continued our journey, up the slippery slope. The shoes felt so heavy due to the mud. One thing I noticed was there was not much foot hold like most trails, and even on the side there are hardly trees to hold onto at most places. There were ropes at certain areas, but most of the time it’s just you, yourself and your hiking stick, if you have one. There were few times I was on all fours to prevent myself from sliding down. On and off I would feel the person behind me giving a push up, so that I will not fall backwards.

Once in a while I could hear a hiker saying “how do we come down” and I told him, let’s not think about it, till we have to think about it.

As a I walked up I could feel my calves giving up on me few times, and I kept complaining to Dr.Vick. Of course , it’s muddy and it’s a steep slope, so I was applying twice the pressure on my calves to move up. As I moved up few times I got scared of getting cramp, so whenever I felt the pain I took a break and made sure I stretched, cause I knew if it started to cramp it would be really hard to continue.

Just before I reached the peak I saw a familiar face, and I got really excited to see my dear friends from the bootcamp, Kumar and Melissa coming down from the peak. The two very experienced hikers, where else to bump into them after year, other than on a trail.

After a lot of pulling and pushing and sliding we reached the peak roughly after 12 noon. Though I have read there would be no view, I was expecting something exciting and interesting rather than just a tree with the usual boards. Oh well, just have to consider this as an exercise.

After snacking on the food we brought we started our journey down, surprisingly it was much easier than I thought it would be. It was around 1pm and in my head I calculated and had a feeling we should reach the stream by 2.30 to 3.00 pm.

Not long after we started descending one of the hikers started having cramps and Dr.Vick and another fellow hiker started to help him, It was funny to hear some of the phrases coming from them, asking him to stretch different directions.

Once he felt at ease we started to walk down and then we heard someone calling  Dr.Vick again from above saying he is needed. While going up he said “ today is one of those days”

Since I was down I could not clearly see what was happening but one of the hikers decided to go up to check what’s going on. By this time two of the hikers had already gone down and I knew they must have gone far and would not hear me even if I call them. Luckily I had phone signal so I called them to let them know that we may take a while.

After what seem like forever the group above started descending down. A fellow hiker had twisted his ankle and his foot needed to be bandaged . I really don’t know how he managed to come down the slippery trail, but with the help from other fellow hikers and taking rest in-between, he was able to reach the trail head.

 Though it was a weekend we did not meet many hikers on the trail so I was assuming that this is not a very popular trail among the hikers. It could be since it’s the rainy season and regular hikers know it would be muddy. Every time I complained about it , Dr.Vick would say “where is the fun if it is not challenging” oh well. It’s true too.

After the very eventful hike we reached the stream roughly after 4pm and I was so happy to get into the stream to remove all the mud from the shoes and my body. It felt really nice in the cold water.

So what’s my take on Gunung Jono? Would I do it again? I may , but I would wait for dry season since the trail can be a very good training ground. Until then.. its bye bye Jono.