Penang Hills and Trails - Bukit Gambir Explorer 4

This is part of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang. Click here for the index. This is a Grade 3 walk, the off piste section is not difficult for experienced walkers.  There is a sketch map at the bottom showing the route followed.

In November 2016, the only suitable 501 departure from Teluk Bahang is at 10.30 (and the last bus back from Balik Pulau is at 17.30), check the Penang buses page for possible updates.

Although the title says 'Bukit Papan', today's peak is really Bukit Gambir but I don't use that as there is another better known hill of the same name in the Gelugor area. You will note the absence of a smiling Yuehong, her bad knee has got to the stage where she has been ordered to rest (a bit) by our doctor, in particular to avoid hikes over uneven surfaces or with steep descents. This was not one she would have fancied and so stayed back to deal with the 'domestics'. This is not an outing for the average hiker, it assumes a degree of familiarity with the main paths in the area and there are links to appropriate other reports included.

From the parking spot above Orchard Ville, I went straight up the concrete road past the small Da Ba Gong shrine and continued right where the alternative path to the main ridge goes straight on. After which it was a case of following the road and ignoring anything smaller turning off until I got to the oil palms. Just up and 40 minutes after I had left Mavis was the junction I wanted and I turned right.

We had investigated the valley to the left here on a previous occasion but not seriously. Today, I wanted to climb up it to the ridge to the right, left being the normal road up. I assumed (wrongly) that there would be a path to the left from the concrete road running up the hill, so when it turned right I had no choice but to leave it.

It was a typical out of season fruit orchard and I trampled through it hoping to find a path up but there was none. In the end I was reduced to following a contour round until I finally found a path coming up which I recognised from our previous visit.

It quickly led to a house where we had met an old man who had strongly advised us not to go further as there was only 'jungle and snakes'. 

Today I continued beyond the house the way up was much clearer now and the jungle indeed lay ahead.

However, it was easy enough to continue up by turning right on to a narrower path, looking back I could see how much (annual) clearance had taken place.

Soon I could see the col whch was my main target for the day, but instead of going up directly, I couldn't resist continuing on the path as it wound up the hill.

It appeared to end but in fact continued sharply to the left as it skirted the orchard.

Alas, it then turned left downwards and it was time to go 'off piste'. It was nothing like as bad as the picture suggests and by now I must have been less than 100 metres from the col.

Alas, there were several trees down and I looked for an optimal place to find my way through. The trusty secateurs came out of the bag and five minutes later, I could climb through.

I was just above the col and to my right there was what would have been a path / rubber terrace, my guess is that we had been here on another of our hikes from the Sungai Ara side. Unfortunately looking back down the way I had come there was no indication that we had been 100 metres from a fruit orchard and we had instead followed the contours round the main hill until we found a way down.

To the left and just below, I could see what looked like an 'opportunity' behind the fallen tree even though it was just below the ridge which would have been my first choice.

It was indeed a former tappers' trail, there was one tree down and a few bushed that needed attention but progress was quite rapid.

There was no need to lose height until I dropped a couple of terraces as the 'forest' opened up.

Another path came in from the right which we had used quite recently and then I was back out into the open with the familiar shelter and young rubber. Game over, it was slightly more than an hour since I had left the concrete road.

I took traditional refreshment and wandered down through the rubber to the migrants' hut which once again gave me shelter from the rain. After which I strolled back to the car and went for a very early dinner at the Yo Yo in Sungai Ara making sure to get a take away for Yuehong back home. Job done and there was a tougher assignment waiting.