Hiking @ Bukit Gasing, Petaling Jaya (Trail Guide)

Bukit Gasing is one of the hills that I frequently hike every weekend. This hill is situated at Jalan Gasing, 10 minute drive from Hospital Universiti Malaya. From Federal Highway, take the exit at Jalan Gasing where you spot the KWSP building on your left side, go straight and turn left when you see a Kopitiam. Bukit Gasing is known as an educational forest (Hutan Pendidikan) instead of a conservation forest (Hutan Simpanan) and is surrounded by a single-storey bungalow. The parking here is very limited and JPJ already redrew the line that only one side parking is allowed. So, if you wanna hike here, please do not illegally park your vehicle as you will get summoned by JPJ/MBPJ authority. 

Update May 2022: Even though this blog post is written 3 years back, I will keep updating it when there is anything new.

You can download this map for your reference. 

There are 3 routes/ attractions to hike. Namely:

• Suspension bridge
• Temple
• Steel bridge/ abandoned house

The suspension bridge is the toughest and longest time spent trail. The distance to the suspension bridge is around 2km per way (up and down the hill).

So, how to go from the PJ arch entrance of Bukit Gasing? Walk straight until you see the signboard above which gives you a rough idea of direction and your destination. Go left to the suspension bridge (& steel bridge) and right to the temple and the steel bridge (through the cemetery).

I believe most of the hikers are nature lovers like me. Spotted these mushrooms on the second visit.

Trail 1: Suspension Bridge

Update May 2022: Trail 1 to the suspension bridge and steel bridge at Tmn Rimba. Suggest doing some stretching here before starting your hike 

Update May 2022: This red signboard was not here 2 years back 😂

The first signboard you spotted after you climbed up the stairs towards the suspension bridge. Continue to walk straight until the demolished observation tower where people sit down to have a rest. Then continue to go straight until a fallen yellow signboard that is abandoned on the ground. Go left to the suspension bridge and right to the steel bridge.

Follow the signage above to your suspension bridge. You can change your mind at this junction to the steel bridge if you are a bit worry about your knee after the hike.

As you see, the trail is up and down the hill. But they make it properly with some wood sticks so they are like staircases. You only see these staircases at the very last stage before reaching the suspension bridge (after passing the Labah-labah signboard).

They also put on some tiles to make it flat for the hikers and easier to step on it. 

Lastly, we arrived at the suspension bridge. It was a long journey for us.

There is a limit of persons who can pass by the suspension bridge. And one can not stay too near to another to avoid an accident.

That's just enough for one person to walk through...

Trail 2: Temple

The trail to the temple is not very well maintained as compared to trail 1. But trail 2 is shorter and less tiring. From the junction, please walk to the right. Then you will see the signboard as shown below to the temple. Both ways also lead to the same place but the right one is a bit challenging.

We are panting when we managed to hike up the first hill. We rest a while and saw the roots and branches all over the place.

Beware of the monkeys waiting for you on the staircases. I saw a few climbed up the Telekom office building and sneaked inside through the opened window.

We climbed up the staircases behind Telekom and finally, we managed to get to the Indian temple. But the entrance towards the temple is blocked. We could not visit the temple. Well, we still managed to catch a glimpse of the KL/PJ view from here.

Previously we saw a group of people coming down the steep slope (with rope) from here leading to somewhere else. We were not sure where it led since we did not follow them as it was quite unsafe to take that unusual route.

You can walk through the tar road going back to PJ arch. On the way back, you will spot the 6 million PJ haunted house (SG house) on your left-hand side.

Trail 3: Steel Bridge

Trail 3 is also easy and suitable for beginners. Follow the signboard which leads you to Taman Rimba. The steel bridge is at the Taman Rimba park. You can either follow the signboard through the temple direction or the suspension bridge direction. For temple direction, you will pass through streams and an uphill Muslim cemetery.

We spotted the big mushroom on our way to the park at the temple direction.

Pass through the Muslim cemetery and lastly, we reached the Taman Rimba.

From here, one needs to walk through the field to the opposite side to get to the steel bridge. Outside of the barrier (right side) is the Taman Rimba Bukit Kerinchi parking slot.

The concrete steel bridge ~ some called it suspension bridge too. To avoid confusion, I called it a steel bridge.

The structure is much more solid and rigid compared with the suspension bridge.

On another side of the Taman Rimba park, we saw parents with kids having fun at the stream.

We decided to get back to the PJ arch through another exit to explore more. It leads us to this abandoned house in the Bukit Gasing jungle. We were unsure if we were going in the right direction until we met a Chinese family with 2 kids who guided us back to the exit way. The exit way is at the side of the pond which is not obvious (picture of the pond exit -updated May 2022).

So, we came out from the trail which links to the suspension bridge (trail 1). Thus, if you wanna go to the Taman Rimba (Steel Bridge), go to the trail just opposite the Labah-labah signboard (alternate route), it just leads you to the Taman Rimba there. If you follow trail 1 until the Labah-labah junction, this alternate trail is much easier to reach the steel bridge compared with the temple route as it is quite creepy to pass through the cemetery.

Update May 2022: Direction after coming down from Labah-labah signboard (pond is still there).

Update May 2022: Noticed that the right side of the fallen down yellow board could lead us to the steel bridge during our current hike. You will see this after passing through the fallen observing tower.

May 2022: After my recent visit, I found out that Bukit Gasing/Bukit Kerinchi is between the borderline of PJ and KL. Different parts of the hills are managed by different councils. Honestly, I think DBKL did a very good job of maintaining the infrastructure (serrated steel walkway/ platform) in the park that you can easily spot when you are going to the Taman Rimba/ Steel bridge. On the other hand, MBPJ has to take note of the maintenance of the structure, especially the fallen signboard & observing tower (or perhaps adding some new direction signboards) besides issuing the summons diligently to those who park illegally. To MBPJ: With all those collected money from the issued summons, you could use that to improve the facilities in the park🙈🙈. Just my two cents.

Take note:

• Free entrance
• Parking is limited, carpooling is encouraged! (Bukit Gasing- PJ arch entrance)
• Don't take the risk of parking illegally at the yellow line at Bukit Gasing, as the MBPJ authority comes frequently on Saturday and Sunday twice in the morning to give summon. Every time I come I see summon on every car's windshield 😂 I guess those cars owners are not my blog readers 😝 (May 2022)
• Park at Taman Rimba Bukit Kerinchi as there are more parking slot compared to Bukit Gasing side. But beware of the monkey at the steel bridge (May 2022).
• Avoid hiking after a rainy day as could be slippery.
• Apply mosquito repellent & wear long pants.

Good luck with your hiking journey!

> Here, is my photo collection of beautiful flora and fauna at Bukit Gasing: click me!