Escape From the City Mountain Bike Series with @theexplorer (Part#4) - Khao Kheow

Khao Kheow translates to 'Green Mountain' and this latest mountain bike adventure takes us to Chonburi province in Thailand, which is an hour and a half drive south of Bangkok. So, one of my biking buddies and I rented a truck and headed off early in the morning to avoid the traffic and more importantly the unbearable heat of the midday Sun. We were in search of more trails hidden within the 'Green Mountain'.

If you read my first two trail adventures:

https://steemit.com/travel/@theexplorer/escape-from-the-city-mountain-bike-series-with-theexplorer-hua-hin-part-1-of-2

https://steemit.com/thai/@theexplorer/escape-from-the-city-mountain-bike-series-with-theexplorer-hua-hin-part-2-of-2

You will have read about my struggles to find the trails I had planned to explore, and this exploration also tested my will, but an explorer never gives up!

The entrance for our gruelling trek to new mountain bike pastures took us to the entrance of the open Zoo. The zoo goes up and across the side of the mountain, meaning that we had to pay the entrance to the zoo just to park our vessel, but in the name of trail finding it was worth it. According to various websites I read, there is a way around the back to get in, but this would've meant doing the trail in reverse, with less downhill off-roading action and that wouldn't have been half as fun!

Image Credit: Klook.com

As we found a parking spot and unloaded are bikes, we were greeted by a huge flock of birds to the right of our truck, a pleasant greeting to send us upon our way in discovery of new trails.

Through my trail research, online sources said that we would need to head up the main road towards the animal training centre and there would be a dirt track on the right wide enough for a 4x4 vehicle. Little did we know that we would barely see the track as it twisted 180 degrees going up to another side of the mountain, which led to us diverting far off route!

Although all was not lost, the diversion was a torrid affair but it did lead us to some alternative natural treats. During our diverted journey we came across an enclosure full of beautiful deer. They seemed a little surprised to see us, possibly because few venture as far up as we did!

Our detour, or my error? Also presented us with a beautiful view of the coastal area of Sri Racha, the location where the famous hot sauce originates from.

We rode and pushed up the steep roads in search of our dreamed trails, sweating and tiring from our pursuits, but we didn't give in! We decided to make our way back down the road and while we were flying down the mountain, it was then I spotted the dirt track road, which was now on my left-hand side as we had changed direction, finally we were on track!

The following two pictures were from the start of the trail, we had no clue what condition the trails would be in, but we were finally on track- singletrack to be precise!

The track was a mixture of dirt tracks, rocks and sand. After the first section of the track we were lead onto a technically challenging stretch of track, ridden with rocks, we were riding down a steep bone-shaking stream bed, which was reallly tough to hold on, but more than worth it after our efforts to find the track!

The following photos are of proceeding mellower sections of the track. I was unable to take photos from the brain rattling section, as I was concentrating hard to stay on my trusty Specialized Steed which served me well!

The following photo was a great resting spot at the end of the trail, which was more than needed! This trail was a lot sandier than the Hua-Hin trail and really absorbed the last amount of energy we had!

After my trip I had a chat with a fellow mountain biker, who told me that there are GPS maps online of the Green Mountain area and also routes on the Trailforks App. It was a great ride once we found the trails and they were a lot less overgrown than in Hua Hin. I would recommend going, but would advise to do plenty of research and make use of GPS mapping online if you can.

Thank you again for reading my blog, my next biking episode should be around the same time next week! If you enjoyed reading and would like to see more please upvote and follow for more adventures on and off the bike in Thailand.