Mishaps @ Doi Inthanon, Thailand
We were in Doi Inthanon, a beautiful national park outside of Chiang Mai and Helen, as she often does when near protected nature, had a hankering for a big hike. So after a quick breakfast on our deck we set off on the bikes to the summit of Doi Inthanon; planning to hike through the cloud forest.
Cloud forests are extremely biodiverse ecosystems that represent only 1% of the Earth’s woodlands. They require the rare combination of warm weather and elevation. They tend to occur in mountainous areas where there is persistent cloud coverage in a tropical or subtropical forest. They are spectacularly lush environments; teeming with life. Adam was excited because Helen had been raving (some might even say bragging) ever since she saw a cloud forest in Costa Rica on a trip that Adam couldn’t attended because of “work.”
As we revved our bikes up the beautiful mountain road the clouds transitioned to dense fog and the temperature dropped to a San Francisco-like chill. At the summit parking lot we saw numerous Thai people wearing Chicago-worthy winter jackets and scarfs to keep them warm. With the bikes parked, we walked up to what looked to be the start of the trail according to AllTrails.
We walked along a barbed wire fence and it soon became clear that we were not on a hiking trail. Looking at our GPS it should have been only a stone’s throw away from our current location. We attempted a bushwhack, but were unable to find the trail.
Our best guess is that the trail was washed out during the rainy season. Instead of doing our big hike, we found a manicured nature walk. It was very beautiful, but not exactly the endorphin rush we were looking for.
Unsatisfied, we pulled out our phones and scoured All Trails for a good hike; we were in a national park after all. We found one that looked promising and rode to the trailhead. We parked and beelined for the start. A Thai lady hurried over to intercept us, calling “Excuse me, hello!”
“Would you like to hire a tour guide for 250 baht [~$7]?” She asked.
“No thanks” Helen replied.
“Tour guides are required to hike.”
“Can we pay 250 baht and walk without a tour guide?” Adam asked, thinking that was a good compromise.
“I’m sorry, but a tour guide is required” she said in a cheerful but assertive tone.
Adam looked at Helen and saw a fire burning in her eyes, “Can you give us a minute?” he asked.
We were both more than frustrated. We had planned two nights in Doi Inthanon so we could go on a long hike. Now, after we already paid an entrance fee, they were asking for more money. It just wasn’t going the way we expected and we were admittedly used to National Parks in America, where there are robust trail networks that you can walk through at your leisure. This was beginning to feel like a tourist trap, but after taking a moment to calm down we decided to make the best of it.
“Hi” Adam waved to the nice lady, “We’d like to pay for a tour.” After all it’s only 250 baht and having a tour guide can be a great learning resource.
We handed over the cash and the nice lady pointed us to a smiling tour guide. Our tour guide was older, somewhere between elderly and middle-aged. She was wearing very thin sneakers and a long skirt; not exactly hiking gear, but who are we to judge—she probably hikes this trail several times a day, right? We made an attempt at small talk and quickly realized this lady spoke almost no english. That’s okay, a quiet tour doesn’t sound too bad; maybe we won’t learn as much, but at least we don’t have to make small talk.
We walked to the trail head and started on our normal pace only to see our tour guide lagging behind. We took breaks to snap a photo or read an infographic which let her catch up and before we knew it the tour guide gestured that it was time to turn around. We were confused because it looked like the trail continued. After some help from a passing guide who spoke some English we learned that the next part of the trail was only for a different trip that we hadn’t paid for. Disappointed, we turned around. We figured we might as well get a quick photo at the bottom of the waterfall, before we made our way back up.
As we hiked the steep stairs back up the waterfall, the distance between us and the tour guide increased significantly. Until at one point we just stood waiting for a couple minutes while the poor woman caught her breath. Fortunately we reached the parking lot and our guide was put out of her misery. In the end the hike was only 1.5 miles. Plus side, we still had some more time to go explore.
Now at the parking lot, Adam remembered that there was a unique rock formation in the area that he wanted to see. He plugged the location into google maps, reset his trip meter so that he could track where the turn was, and we were off. We arrived at the turn-off to find a dirt road.
We parked the bikes at the start of the turn, “I’m not sure if my bike can do this” Helen stated.
However, Adam was filled with that special brand of overconfidence that said you’re a man, a little dirt road isn’t going to stop you. “Just hop on the back” he said, grinning.
So we trundled down the dirt road together on one bike, laughing when the budget suspension wallowed with the weight of 2 people over the large bumps, grimacing when the slick street tires spun through patches of mud, and holding on for dear life the whole time. Miraculously, the bike never tipped all the way over, but several farmers gave us odd looks as we passed.
Roughly 10 kilometers in we realized our pace was painfully slow and we risked running out of sunlight on the return. So instead of pushing on we turned around, returned to Helen’s bike and went home to our guesthouse.
We ate a tasty dinner at the guest house, and cheers’ed our passion fruit cups, laughing at how nothing we did today went as planned. The hike didn’t exist, we almost gave our tour guide a heart attack, and we never made it to the rock formation; however, somehow, it was still a fun day.
