Mendaki Gunung Inas

Gunung Inas is located in Lawin, Perak. There are two treks up the mountain. One is from pekan Lawin, about 20 minutes from Gerik town, and the other is from Selama. The trek I’m describing here is the trek from Lawin. It is possible to ascend the mountain in one place and descend to the other place. From what was observed from the Lawin trek, much of the earlier part of the trek has been destroyed by loggers. Logging is currently being done in that area, and you’ll be passing abandoned as well as used logging roads, at least about half way.
To get to Lawin Town, if you are coming from the north, go towards Grik. Then take the road leading to Kuala Kangsar. Pekan Lawin is about 25 km from Grik town, heading towards Kuala Kangsar. If you’re coming from the south, at Kuala Kangsar, take the road to Grik. I’m not sure how far Pekan Lawin is from Kuala Kangsar. At pekan Lawin, you can park your car at the police station.
It is advisable to prepare a list of participants, date, etc and apply for a climbing permit at Gerik town. The permit costs about rm10.00 paid in the form of wang pos. It is better to prepare a permit before you climb than to get caught half way and then only apply for the permit like what happened to me……..!

First day
From Pekan Lawin, take the road towards Lawin Ulu. At the village there, there is a logging road. It is advisable to ask the villagers , as the directions to the logging road is quite complicated. At the starting of the logging road, take the turning at the left . You’ll pass some rubber plantations . The logging road is still being used by loggers, so be careful . Continue going for about 2 hours if you are trekking by foot, until you reach a fork .If you take a 4wd, it should take you about 30-40 minutes to reach the fork. There is a signboard at the fork, but I can’t remember what was written on it. Take the left fork, into an abandoned logging road. About 50 meters down the road, you should cross a big log bridge across a shallow rocky river, about 15 meters wide. Continue along that road. The river should be on your right. The trek is still okay at some parts, but some parts have landslides.
After about 2-3 hours, you will reach the first campsite, Lata Air Lawin . You should cross a small stream, about 1 meter wide just at the campsite. The campsite is on your right, down the slope and full of trees. There used to be a signboard, but the tree with the signboard was chopped down by loggers some time ago. At the campsite, there is a bigger stream further down. You can choose to camp on the logging road or to camp at Lata Air Lawin campsite. If you trekked in by foot all the way. it should take you about 5-6 hours to reach Lata Air Lawin. If you took a 4wd, it should take you less. If the logging road did not have any landslides, it is possible to drive the 4wd all the way to Lata Air Lawin. Lata Air Lawin will be your last water point if it is the dry season. There is another water source about 5 minutes form the peak, but is unreliable.

Second day
From Lata Air Lawin, the trek gets a bit tricky as the logging road gets more complicated. Coming up from the campsite, take the logging road going up . Continue going until you see an old hollow tree trunk lying next to the trek. Take the junction next to the hollow trunk. It should take you about 30-50 minutes to reach the hollow trunk from camp Lata Air Lawin. From there, proceed further and you will come to the jungle trek. Once in the jungle trek, you are quite safe, as there are no junctions anymore. The jungle trek is almost up all the way, with some very steep, lung bursting parts. Continue up until you reach a small peak with bonsai plants. Take a rest here. From this peak, it is possible to see the peak of Gunung Inas. Although it looks near, it is about another 40mins -1 hr to Gunung Inas , though you have reached the ridge, and the trek will not be so steep as before. There are another 2 false peaks to climb before reaching the summit.
Just before the summit, about 5 minutes, there is a small trek on the left. This is supposed to be the trek to the water point, but I did not have the chance to go and see it. The summit is quite clean and nice. There are a lots of tall shady bonsai trees, something like Gunung Chamah peak. However, the campsite is quite limited, because even though it is quite large, the ground is sloping. There is a Beirut, but it has been toppled by elephants. When I was there, you could still see the elephants foot prints, as well as the route they took to get to the peak. It should take any reasonably fit person about 5-6 hours from Lata Air Lawin to the peak.

Third day
From the peak, it should take you about 2-3 hours to reach Lata Air Lawin. The trek all the way out to Ulu Lawin will take about 7-8 hours from the peak. If you arrange for a 4wd to pick you up at the logging bridge, it will be much faster and easier, as you don’t have to trek along the hot, dusty and monotonous logging trek. Please remember to PACK ALL YOUR RUBBISH OUT !!!!!

Sumber: http://www.angelfire.com/trek/mofam/Mountain%20Info/gunung_inas.htm

(akan diterjemahkan kemudian) Terdapat percanggahan sama ada Gunung Inas terletak di Kedah atau Perak. Malah terdapat dua gunung yang bernama Gunung Inas. Akan dikemaskini kemudian.

Gambar-gambar adalah dari Ekspedisi Mendaki Gunung Inas bersama UiTM Perak.