Kaeng Krachan - General Notes

This is a general notes thread to look at information available on Kaeng Krachan National Park to try and understand the locations of its internal sites better...........

Notes.......

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UP AND DOWN Times

From KM 18 (just after Baan Kraang) to Paonoenthung there are restrictions on the time you can drive up the mountain road and down the mountain road - this is a safety measure.

Times for driving up are 6 a.m. till 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. till 3 p.m

Times for driving down are 9 a.m. till 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. till 5 p.m

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1) Thai Forest Booking general info ADMIN DEAD URL NOTED AND DELETED

2) Notation here of two more tracks (ex Thor Thip) 1) from the lower camp site and 2 from the upper camp site www.thaibirding.com/locations/west/kk.htm


3) Possible notations on tracks

(ED Note: Bang Krang campsite at 15 km marker and Phanoen Tung campsite at 30 Km, Thor Thip set off point 36 km)

a) Panoen Thung mountain At 1,207 meters above sea level, this is the second highest peak in the park. On the mountain top, grassland (about 500 square meters area) and evergreen forest make a good camping spot, with cool temperatures year-round. A 6+ kilometer hard trail (about 5 to 6 hours) to the peak begins at Panoen Thung at km. marker 30.

b) "Thorthip waterfall This 9 level waterfall, located deep in the forest, can be reached by a steep 4 kilometers trail from the end of the Nam Tok Thorthip road (km. marker 36), 55 kilometers from the headquarters. A campground has been built nearby at the confluence with the Phetburi river. (ED Note: we have a track to this already loaded as a GPX in the forum)

c) Tharnthip and Hinlad waterfall These two waterfalls cascade through deep forest. They are located on a tributary of the Phetchaburi river about 5 kilometers upstream of the Thortip confluence, and can be visited as part of a 3 or 4 day loop trekking along with Thortip waterfall. (ED Note: Maybe there is a direct track not via Thor Thip?? - Unknown)

d) Pranburi waterfall This 3 level waterfall is located on the upper Pranburi river, in the valley just south of the steep hill-climb at kilometer 18 - 23 (ED Note:?? so its at 17-18 Km?? I recall a track to the left of the road) on the Khao Panoen Thung road. It can be visited in one-day hike.

From another site ....Pranburi Waterfall is 3-tiered with flowing water all year round and is close to the Wang Won-Tho Thip Waterfall route (around kilometer marker 23).

e) Mae Laliang (Salaeng) waterfall This 3 level waterfall is located 5 kilometers west of the roadside campground at kilometer 27.

Source: www.trekthailand.net/central3/index.html

TAT area map and details




"Rewarding treks include a daylong walk to Phanoen Thung Mountain from KM 30, and an 8-km loop trail from KM 36 to Tho Thip Waterfall and K.U. Camp on the Petchburi River. A longer 25 km trail runs from KM 27 to Mae Sariang to a point on the road near Ban Krang Camp. It is possible to engage in white-water rafting from Bong Luk to the Petchburi Reservoir. To preserve crocodile habitat, rafting is no longer permitted from K.U. Camp to Bong Luk. Contact the park headquarters to arrange ranger guides for any of these trips."

(ED note: have confirmed camping at KU camp has been suspended unless by specific permission of DNP)

Contact information:
Kaeng Krachan National Park Visitor Centre
Mu 8, Kaeng Krachan sub-district,
Kaeng Krachan district,
Phetchaburi Province
Tel: +66 (0) 3245-9291, (0) 3245-9293
Fax: +66 (0) 3245-9293

Kaeng Krachan National Park Headquarters
Tel: +66 (0) 3245-9293

(ED note: have confirmed that the Pakarang Route has now been relocated and that it cannot be driven - it is now a walking track that can be accessed at Ban Krang Camp - see specific trail route posts for the GPS data of this track as confirmed in Nov 2009: Add: In 2014 the road was reworked and re-opened but only to official vehicles as a 20 km loop to support a new ranger station.



[NOTE the road shown going NW before the 10 k marker does not exist (it can be accessed from outside the main entrance with special permission).








1 = Headquarters Note: Not in the "park" per se
2 = Kaeng Krachan district
3 = Kaeng Krachan dam lake
4 = Panoen Thung camp (km. 30)
5 = Panoen Thung peak (1207 meters)
6 = Thor Thip waterfall
7 = KU camp (rafting start point) Note this camp and the rafting do not exist anymore
8 = Petchaburi river
9 = Pong Luek Karen village
10 = Muang Kao
11 = Pranburi river
12 = Pa La U waterfall

"Hanuman Plain or Khao Pakarang (corol mountain)  It is a rocky mountain looked very strange like coral. The area has a lot of monkeys, langurs and gibbons. And the area is also a good view point for enjoying scenery."





UPDATE: I walked the "Hanuman Plain" but did not see much evidence of langur or gibbon see here for details

Updates to Bang Krang Camp site has been made during the close season of 2009. the camp site is now significantly larger and with additional facilities. The roadway to Phanoengtung has also been upgraded and I actually saw a saloon car at the Tor Thip carpark! I still would not drive my own saloon up there though but you can now make it up in a rental although its still a little hairy and conditions may worsen as more vehicles now use the road for the winter season.

Baanmaka has made a good attempt at a map of the main park section and its routes, the best I have seen so far. At.............

www.baanmaka.com/en/en_frame/bir ... pguide.htm

BTW their little resort is really good well made and well kept and as close to the main entrance as you can currently get for a hotel. Well worth staying there IMHO. Highly recommended.

BTW 2010 has a lot of visitors to KK. I have been shocked by how many are there at the weekends this cool season - absolutely packed. Which is not really a good thing IMO (well lets be honest - not good for me as I like peace and quite like the old grump I am becoming).

There has been a lot of maintenance of the Thor Thip track, as well as KU, also and it is very easy to follow now.

TAT have been pushing the Phanoen Tung site this year and a lot of people are visiting.

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UPDATE

Second Week of December I decided to try for the Mae Salaeng waterfall site, as I figured that the chances of bumping into anyone there was very small. According to the instructions you go to the 27km marker and start from there. The 27k marker has a small "car park" and a "bird" signpost. Finding that was easy but after following the track for about 1 km it stopped at the wellhead and pump for the Panoenthung camp site and there was no sign of the track continuing on. We spent about 30 minutes searching and then searched every possibility of the track branching off on the hill. We did not find anything and had to abort.

If anyone knows more about how to find the Saleang track, or anything about it whatsoever, pls do let me know.

According to my military maps, there is a second road / off road track that goes right into the heart of the park, it follows the Petchaburi River up from the reservoir.

I wonder if you have heard anything about that road. I think you said somewhere that there is a second road to the NW of the one that goes to the KU camp, possibly this is the one, you said you needed special permission to go in there. There are it seems lots of habitations by the side of the road, so you would think a fair amount of traffic going up there.

I attach a screen shot of my map again.

Yes, I found this road by accident one day, it leads to a Kariang village with about 300 residents apparently. Theres a small guard post and ranger station at the start of the track/road but they would not let us drive through without permission. I never did get time to go back and investigate more.

I found a gps trail on gpsies.com from someone going up that other road : www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=hkzvjzhsovsdasgk

So it seems it is possible to get up there at least sometimes.

This road would take you into the center of the park and presumably there are lots of trails around the Karen village. Hope I have time to check it out.