TRAVEL. ADVENTURE. HIKING.

Hiking in Thailand’s Remote Wilderness

Adventuring out on a nature trail in one of the most remote locations in the country

Birds are singing, cicadas chirping, and insects humming. Now and then a leaf is tumbling down from the high treetops. The forest is buzzing. Full of life. But no signs of humans. Just our footsteps are to be heard rustling on the foliage of the forest floor.

We’re hiking on a nature trail in one of Thailand’s most remote regions bordering Laos. The Nan Province is located far North of the country and is characterized by the Nan River Valley which is surrounded by two massive mountain ranges.

On the eastern side of the province, the Luang Prabang Range raises up to 2,000 meters into the sky. Part of the mountains was declared a National Park in 1999 in an effort to protect its virgin rainforest.

Doi Phu Kha National Park was the park I stumbled upon in my research. While I barely found any information on it, I decided we had to go and explore this remote area.

The headquarters of the park isn’t far from the entrance and it’s where I found the only accommodation inside the park. A well-established hiking trail is written out, starting just below the visitors center.

The trail was leading downhill for only about 100 meters until we crossed this small river. After the water, we were facing a long uphill for the next kilometer or so of the trail.

I was positively surprised by the well-maintained trail. Stairs made out of rocks or tree branches and even a railing were assisting us along our climb up in the forest.

The “nature trail” was written out as being 4 kilometers long and every 200 meters a beacon was placed to show how far you’ve come. Despite being in a thick forest, there was no problem following the path. The trail was cleared from thick undergrowth and all kinds of vegetation. No trails were leading off this path.

On two separate occasions the forest opened up and we could catch a glimpse of the surrounding mountains through a clearing in the treetops. Nothing but mountains and rainforest was to be seen.

Lots of different vegetation was to be found along the trail. I’m no biologist but I could spot several banana palm trees and a variety of diverse bushes and tall-standing trees.

We focussed most of the time on the trail to make sure we wouldn’t slip on the clay-like soil. It hadn’t rained for days or maybe even weeks (months?) but inside a forest is always lots of moisture and the ground stays slippery. Especially due to all the dead leaves covering the path.

Not to miss the beauty all around us, we stopped every few meters to lift our eyes off the ground. Looking up into the sky we could see a thick layer of green above our heads.

Some trees were standing out from others. Either due to their incredibly big trunk or their sheer size reaching for the sky. You feel small and vulnerable standing next to one of those massive examples of nature.

Vines in all sizes were hanging from the treetops or growing up along larger trunks. Sometimes we used them to hold onto while avoiding sliding down a slope. On other occasions, we had to climb over or under the vines.

A different type of tree attracted our attention with its flat but high out of the ground growing roots.

There are so many interesting things to see in a virgin rain forest like this one. All you have to do is open your eyes and look around.

While we didn’t see much wildlife apart from some lizards, birds, butterflies, and other insects, we did hear a large variety of them.

The person walking in front always had a spiderweb-stick in their hand. That’s how we called a thin but long stick we used to clear the area in front of us not to be covered in spiderwebs ourselves.

I don’t like spiders. I really don’t. But if they are small and out of my reach I don’t care. Not like this one. Almost the size of my hand it was luckily hanging off the side of our trail and we only saw it walking past from the side.

While it’s not yet flowering season since the rain hasn’t started in the north of the country, I did get to capture a few blossoms and weird-looking stems.

The end of the trail was quite flat and easy to walk on. A few more meters to go and we were back out of the thick forest. Ending up at the campsite we got a stunning view of the forest we had just walked through.

After a short rest back at the camp, we went to the only restaurant not only at headquarters but inside the entire park. They were closing the kitchen at 5 pm, so we had to eat our dinner at 4 pm knowing we’d get hungry again in a few hours' time when we only would have chips and peanuts at hand.

However, at least for now, we got a good meal ordering three different dishes off a menu that was entirely written in Thai. We got some steamed vegetables served in a soup, steamed rice with spicy mince, and a Thai-style omelet made from veggies and eggs.

After this three-hour hike and a filling meal, we spent the rest of the day at the viewpoint next to our bungalow. We watched a stunning sunset until dropping temperatures eventually forced us to go back inside.

For the first time, we experienced temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius in Thailand. If you do not have warm jackets, that is pretty cold. While we knew it’d be cold up here, we brought the warmest clothes we had with us. One pair of long pants and a hoodie. That was all we had.

More about our stay in the park and the sunset at the viewpoint:

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