Pa La Tha waterfall

[heilong]

Umphang, Ban Kru Sun coffee shop again. Ford Falcon 500, condition not great.

This day my gf Mio joined me again, we went down to Pha La Tha village, which is the last village when you go south on the 1090.
Crossing the river at the river is possible by a very sturdy bridge (not on the map), and from several trails go to different direction.
I was trying to go to the direction of Thi Lo Su waterfall (I heard there is an alternative route leading to it), but the trail became
so indistinct that it was really hard to follow. Everything looked like a trail after forest fires, we had to walk many times to find the
trail, again and again, so we just decided to get back. I'm pretty sure there was a trail going *somewhere*.

When we got tired following the elusive trail, we went to see the Pa La Tha waterfall. It's not so big, but quite pretty.

Enjoying a nice jacuzzi

After the waterfall we headed further south on the 1090, until we reached Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Preserve Area.
I was a naughty boy and didn't stop at the gate, just continued through. We followed the shorter one of the two roads marked "unconfirmed"
and confirmed it All good doubletrack good enough for a 4x4 car. The one that they sent to catch us and escort us back to the office.
Where they told me I'm a naughty boy but luckily no further problems. Apparently you can come to that place and camp not far from the entrance,
but it's not allowed to go further, where it's dangerous because of tigers, elephants etc. Unfortunately Mio didn't really snap any good pictures there.

http://heilong.razorscript.com/photo/2013/gpx/t00100_20130411_pha_la_tha_waterfall.gpx

 

[Ally]

You have captured some very natural conditions there, I am really enjoying your reports.

Thanks for sharing.

Ally

 

[KTMphil]

That cool water must have felt delicious after the hot trails, nice exploring Gene & Moi

 

[heilong]

Thanks Ally and Phil.
Yeah I love to take a dip after hot riding!

 

[Captain_Slash]

They definitely take a dim view to anyone doing that Gene, I did the same thing but unfortunately they were coming back up and escorted me back.

In their office they didnt find it amusing at all telling me how dangerous it was, any old bullshit to deter you

I took the track south at the tower for a few km but I see you headed east from the tower

 

[alexuk]

Nice waterfall. good place to go hiking?
or do the tigers still eat you?

 

[heilong]

Yeah, I went east from the tower, then there was another tower (looked the same) not far from the fork in the road. Apart from one set of car tracks going somewhere across the field, which I didn't follow, there wasn't really anything interesting on that road.
Too bad you didn't check out the southern route.

Nobody preventing you to go hiking to and around the waterfall. Actually there were no officials or park rangers or whoever there... Where do I buy a ticket?

 

[Lone Rider]

When we got tired following the elusive trail, we went to see the Pa La Tha waterfall. It's not so big, but quite pretty.

After the waterfall we headed further south on the 1090, until we reached Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Preserve Area. I was a naughty boy and didn't stop at the gate, just continued through. We followed the shorter one of the two roads marked "unconfirmed" and confirmed it

All good doubletrack good enough for a 4x4 car. The one that they sent to catch us and escort us back to the office where they told me I'm a naughty boy but luckily no further problems. Apparently you can come to that place and camp not far from the entrance, but it's not allowed to go further, where it's dangerous because of tigers, elephants etc. Unfortunately Mio didn't really snap any good pictures there.

Just got a link to a short video on tigers in the Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Preserve Area (Western Forest Complex). The Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Preserve is south of where road 1090 stops referred to by Heilong/Gene in his post on the Pa La Tha Waterfall and his ride further south on an unconfirmed track - see also the map below:

So watch out, not only over there but also at other places, and please don't sneak around barriers and signs indicating hat you should not go any further - there is often a reason for these barriers/signs which may not be obvious to us as casual visitors.

Copyright Video - L. Bruce Kekule