My mom is laughing at the way I walk now; I can’t straighten both my legs because my muscles are aching after hiking at Kota Damansara Community Forest (or Hutan Simpan Kota Damansara) this morning. It was a 3-hour 7.4km (two-ways) hike to the peak of Denai Tiga Puteri, overlooking NKVE highway!
I normally try to read about hiking trails before going, even if it’s just a quick google during the drive there (as a passenger) — just wanna set some expectations. But I didn’t do it this time so I was clueless.
We arrived at about 7.35am on a Sunday morning and parked the car right when we saw a peaceful lake by the roadside, a short walk away from SMK Seksyen 10 Kota Damansara school. There were cars lined along the road so we thought there’d be no parking in front. However, it was pretty empty at the entrance of the forest reserve situated right in front of the school!
The entrance was quiet. It didn’t seem like a popular hiking spot. There was a group of youngsters tailing us when we started. We were unsure of the way and hoped they knew the way so we let them pass and tailed them instead.
As we casually strolled along the lush forest trail, so many aunties and uncles kept overtaking us; they were speed walking! I felt anxious trying to keep up with them and slowed down after a while. Stress!
The forest trails were easy to walk on. They were easy to be seen too so we didn’t feel like we were off-trail at any point of the hike. However, there were quite a number of routes so they could get confusing. The routes were actually marked; with signages and pieces of paper left behind by fellow hikers. Regardless, it’d be best to know which trail/denai you’re going for so that you know which signage to follow.
We didn’t know which trail will lead to the peak or lookout point, if any. At the starting point, there was a list of main trails and one of them was Denai Unity and Unity Peak. Peak! There’s a peak at Unity! And thus we went hunting for Denai Unity.
We were partly right. The only challenge was that Unity was not marked in the first half of the trail. While we were going to the direction of Unity, the labels that we saw along the way were Sahabat and Temuan. As we approached the second half of the hike, we started to see Unity Peak and Tiga Puteri.
When we finally arrived at a junction that pointed to opposite direction to Unity Peak and Tiga Puteri, we went for the one with the word “peak” of course. We arrived at a plain with fencing around the cliff and view blocked by trees though. There were many dry drainages around and the trail seemed to stop halfway so we decided to turn back to explore Tiga Puteri instead.
There were big groups in Tiga Puteri and the view was much better! Unblocked view of NKVE highway and the city! That view was worth it. Standing atop a lush hill right next to a busy highway that I drive pass every day to work felt extra satisfying. It felt as if we had the privilege to chill while watching others hustle by. Awesome!
Honestly, it felt like a really long hike. I was feeling bored during the first half of the hike because although I liked the easy trail, it was a long stretch with nothing really interesting to see along the way.
Thankfully the second half of the trail was so much more fun. The terrain changed. There were short bursts of steep ascends where we had to grip on trees, roots or dirt at certain points. There were fallen tree trunks to climb over and low branches to stoop across. It even felt like a mini obstacle course when we had to climb ladders! That was my favourite part because it was fun.
Good that I wore my Adidas kampung. The ground was quite dry but because we were walking on dirt road, my non-hiking sports shoes wouldn’t make it. Grip = confidence.
I liked this Kota Damansara hiking trail because it was easy and fun at the same time. The mesmerizing lookout point was a good reward. The place was clean. It was quite quiet when we hiked up at 7.30am and it wasn’t crowded when we hiked down past 10am also.
Just beware of monkeys. They didn’t do anything to us; just beware if you’re eating along the way because you may not notice monkeys camouflaged in the foliage.
Also, beware of mountain bikers in the late morning. We played songs from our phone on the way down so that the mountain bikers would hear us before turning round the blind corners and seeing us. We also needed the music to kill boredom and to motivate us while our toes and legs were screaming in pain.
All in all, it was a great first hike of the year. It’s a trail that I’d return to.
Note: This place has a website!
Thank you kyension, reading was entertaining and informative 😊
Aww. Thanks for your kind comment!
Great article. Thanks a ton for the information.
Thanks! Glad that you liked it.
Have you tried hiking Bukit Sri Bintang Kepong?
No, I haven’t. Never heard of it actually but I’d check it out since you seem to want to recommend it ^^
Im going for the hike tonight start at 3am. Thanks for ur info bout the bukit damansara.
Wow you must be an avid hiker to hike at such early hours! Have fun and be careful. It has been raining all night long across Klang Valley.
Hello. I am using map my hike application as well. But how did u get the elevation graph. I cant see it in my app.
Click on Analyze and you’d see the elevation and pace charts =)