Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Hike (& first geocache encounter!)

Warning. Long post with lots of photos.

This morning, I woke up at 5am. That’s a really rare occurrence, usually only when I really have to wake up for something I cannot avoid, like army duties or an early flight. But this morning it’s different. I woke up before the sun did, to have a hike at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

I did curse a bit, and putting on my contacts proved to be more difficult than usual. But by 5.40am I was in the car, and reached the Diary Farm Nature Park carpark at 6am sharp. Wari, colleague and friend from more like 10 years ago, came by soon. It was great to meet him again. I must say I am inspired by him to move my lazy butt and do more of such activities. And yes, this was his idea.

So since it was so dark, we decided that we should go for breakfast too. We drove to a nearby coffeeshop, and had roti prata and teh o (no milk, Wari said. I’d want to pee if I did. Hmmm… we then went back to the carpark, and sent off, with nothing more than a bottle of water each and RunKeeper activated on my iPhone. Here’s the end output from Runkeeper. Surely not as accurate as Wari’s advanced Garmin 405 but good enough for now.

So off we went. We started slowly on the Wallace Trail. Wari was nice to make sure I don’t suddenly get into a difficult route. Wallace Trail was nice and peaceful. Something that even wifey will do I reckon.

It wasn’t long before I was trying to catch my breath. Wari’s pace was good but I had to try to keep up.

That’s Wari. And that’s the start of what is known as the KNNCBB stairs. Locals will know what it means.

Up and up we went. It never seemed to stop. I wasn’t too excited because I wanted a more natural hike. Not to climb stairs! I got my wish, but later.

We finally reached the top of the many ‘flights’ of stairs.. and rested for a while, drinking water and sharing some raisins. Then we moved on.

Here Wari is pointing out our location I believe. I wasn’t pay a lot of attention as I was really quite tired already!

Along the North View Path, Wari told me that he has something interesting to show me. I was really curious.

Nothing there right?

Wrong! It’s a geocache! Wheee! And my first encounter! I was sooo excited!

Wari examines the find. He has found this before BTW, but it’s a real treat for me!

I left my business card as my contribution! I had nothing else but US dollars and bank cards!

We then moved on. We kept going till we reached the summit. It was really quite physical and I admit I am in bad shape. But if I do this every week, wow, I will surely be fit!

Here we go… another long deck of stairs… Wari………….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some funky roots or trunk or whatever you call it.

Hint! Taking the side can be easier than the stairs.

Only one way to go… yes, yes. UP.

After a bit, we reach the summit. There are some people doing some taichi thingy there.

And even a person puking. I hope he is ok…

Wari KNEW I wanted a photo. So here I am.

Onwards we went. I thought it was downhill all the way. After all, we have reached the summit right? Well yes, but then again not really.

We do climb mostly down…

But we still need to climb up sometimes… Augh. We are moving along the Summit Path to the Rock Path. Now this is where it got really fun! My absolute favourite part of the entire hike.

We are basically going down a path strewn with big rocks. And it gets quite steep.

It’s hard to see here but you have to start to grab roots and vines or whatever you can to guide you down.

And down…

That’s me!

So I really enjoyed the rock path. I just wish it was MUCH longer. And that we didn’t need to start to move UP again.. augh.

I love this shot. The camera didn’t capture it well, but the light is beautiful.

Yay we are moving down again. Towards the cave trail I believe. Caves? Oh yes… there were two Wari pointed out.

Here’s one. I tried to take a photo of the inside, but the FX7 had nothing to focus on.

And there’s another.

W
Wow! It’s just begging to be explored! But of course. It’s locked. Damn.

Here’s a stream that ends up on a pool of water at the bottom. It looks so crystal clear and feels cool that I wanted to fill my bottle with it. But of course, I didn’t.

Some massive aloe vera/pandan leave LIKE plant. Wari poses next to it so you have something to scale it against.

We note a spot where we can see the concrete jungle beyond.

Wari points out a trail which has been closed, though still on this old map. We are going to take that closed trail.

We spot some water silos. What were they used for? Wari said there used to be some kampung here. In the hills? How inconvenient!

The rungs of the metal ladder are rusted. It won’t hold my 70kg+ but hmmm I am curious to go up. I didn’t la.

Another view of the silos. Or water tanks. Or whatever you want to call it.

We are nearly at the end of our hike. We spot a roof and gravitate towards it.

I love abandoned houses. I think of how people have lived in here before.

And we are finally out. Some pretty plants greet us.

We take this path back to our cars and off we went for a drink at Rail Mall. Phew! It’s not exactly over though. After our drinks and some kaya toast (I realise we both hate the slabs of butter in the kaya toast), Wari guided me to another part of the nature reserve, to show me the bike trail.

I cannot imagine anyone going up this very rocky upslope! Maybe with a full-sus bike… I know I can’t. No illusions there.

We walk on till we see this sign.

And there’s the slope. From bottom looking up. I can’t wait to try it! Maybe next weekend.

So that’s it. It was a WONDERFUL way to spend my Saturday morning, and I really really enjoyed it. THANK YOU Wari, for being an excellent guide, and introducing me to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, and yes, to my first encounter with a geocache too. More adventures to come!