Pha Boom - Not maintained but beautiful


After warming up with the two little peaks, I wanted to climb the impressive Pha Boom. The entrance gate is locked and you have to get the key - and pay the fee - in the Gecco Restaurant near the south end of the main street. The lady who works there said it takes 2.5 hours one way, so to be sure I started early (mid-day) to be back safely before it gets dark. It only took me 1.5 hours to reach the upper viewpoint and an hour down, but at times it was a scary hike.

The lady at the Gecco wasn't mistaken about the time only. She said there was a well-visible, good path all the way up and it is safe to climb it alone. She never climbed it herself, it turned out, that's what she was told, but she was told something that is not true at all. The path is very steep and not well-developed, and involves a lot of scrambling, but that's not the real problem. The problem is that the path disappears at times and you get confused which way to go.

The hike starts with crossing a river, and a local came along to open the gate. He said he would be back after five hours to open it again, as he was supposed to lock it behind me. There supposed to be three viewpoints along the way, but the first is not a viewpoint, just a "window" in the jungle offering a view on the village; there is a similar point with a bit of a view further below, so it is either four viewpoints or only two, depending on how you define a viewpoint. Shortly before the first real viewpoint, a rocky outcrop with an unobstructed view (although it is still only on the village and the north), the path was so overgrown at places that it was difficult to differentiate it from other openings in the vegetation. At one point someone recently marked a warning sign showing the right direction and left the thick marker pen up there which was still in a working condition. Then, after reaching the viewpoint, the path disappeared all together - it took me some searching and clearing the bamboos and bushes before I spotted the vaguely visible path again. Every now and then there was a piece of rope, which assured me I was still on the right track. Then I got to the upper viewpoint (it is not the highest peak of the mountain, although from the village it may look so), which is again just a rocky outcrop - no bamboo hut as on all the peaks I climbed before in Laos, not even a flat surface to sit on, only razor sharp rock. And this area was so overgrown, that after my rest and enjoying the view, I couldn't find the way back at first. It was a familiar experience which made me a bit anxious, but after trying a few directions that seemed to be a path, which took some 10 minutes, finally I could locate the real path. Once on it, I felt somewhat relieved, but I still had to be very focused until I reached the lower viewpoint. I cleared the vegetation at confusing places as much as I could with my bare hands, and when I found the marker pen, near where I first got confused on my way up, I also made a sign. From here it was now easy, at least in a sense that I could see where to go. I got back to the gate much earlier than 5 hours, and I thought I have to climb over it to get out, but it wasn't locked. So I just opened it and closed it again, crossed the river and went back to the Gecco.

Back at the Gecco I explained to the lady that it is a very dangerous hike the way it is, that they had better do something about it before letting others go up. They collect the admission fee, which is supposed to support a family or families at such trail heads (more about it in another post), but they have to maintain the path in exchange. They promised that someone will go up and clear the path. Anyhow, it was a very enjoyable hike, although I wasn't feeling 100% safe until I got back to the bottom. The views are beautiful from the top, and if the path indeed got improved, it is a great choice for those who want a challenging, real hike.

















































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