For today’s adventure we are venturing out south of the city to Doi Inthanon National Park. Doi Inthanon is Thailand’s highest peak at about 2500 meters above sea level, and we have been out to the summit before but this time we are going to skip the summit, and go to some of the waterfalls that are inside the park area. Not only are the falls themselves quite scenic, but they usually have some trails around that we can hike up to do some exploring or take in a viewpoint.

Riam picks us up at 9am and it is off to the mountains and about an hour later we have left the city behind, and are basically in the jungle.  Our first stop is at the Siriphum Waterfall, known for it’s ‘twin’ falls.  When we arrive at the base of the falls there is a small village here and sort of a park-like setup.  A small entrance fee of 20 Baht per person is required in addition to the fee we have already paid to enter the national park.  Most people come out to Doi Inthanon as part of a larger tour and the tour groups are mostly focused on the summit and maybe one of the other falls, so when we arrive we are the only people here. It is nice to not have to share the place with a lot of other people and because we are not on a group tour we can take our time to explore around a bit. The Siriphum falls are ok, but we have seen more impressive waterfalls in SE Asia so after a bit of hiking around it is time to move onto the next stop.

The next falls are the Wachirathan Waterfall and this is the one that most of the day tours will stop at.  There is a road that goes right to the base of the falls and the large parking lot here is an indicator of how popular this stop is.  Luckily for us we are traveling ‘out of sync’ with the large bus tours and when we arrive there are only a couple of other cars in the parking lot.  A very short walk up a grassy hill takes you right to the base of the falls and the scene is quite impressive – I can see why this site gets much more activity than the Siriphum falls at our first stop.  There is a trail that goes down alongside the river and we wander down that way for a few photos and some other nice views of the falls and the riverbed going through the jungle – I think all the time about how to describe what we see in places like this, but the words and pictures are never enough to capture the experience.

Back up at the base of the falls we see a trail that goes up towards the top of the falls – we have done a few of these hikes before and are often rewarded with an amazing view from the top. The trail is in really good shape compared to some of the hikes we have done, and aside from being uphill and a lot of stairs it is actually more of a nice walk than a hike. Sadly, after getting to the the top of the trail, the only reward is short access back to the road that we came in on – any view of the waterfall is obscured by a lot of thick jungle. 🙁 We are starting to see more people here now as the group tours are starting to arrive, so we head back down the trail to the base of the falls where we get a cold drink and load up for the next stop.

Our final stop of the day is at the Mae Ya Waterfall. These falls are also inside the Doi Inthanon National Park, but we have to leave the main entrance and go across a valley to re-enter the park from a different entrance. When we arrive at the falls  we see quite a large parking area, but it is completely empty – not a single car, minivan, or motorbike to be seen aside from us!  There are some park buildings here but they too are empty and I am starting to think that maybe these falls are going to be a dud.

Luckily there is a phone booth here (who even has phone booths anymore) in case you had to call someone – oh wait, on closer examination Mrs. Columbus discovers that the phone like the parking lot is completely dead. Maybe this is where old phone booths come to die….?!

The trail here is one of the best we have been on, and for about 80% of the journey it is basically a road.  If not for a gate at the entrance (by the phone booth) you could easily ride a motorbike or drive a small car up most of the way. A few hundred meters up the trail we reach the top, and the reward is much better than we anticipated. I would say that the scenery and quality of the falls here are much better than either of the others we visited earlier in the day. It is a little puzzling to me way this spot gets so little traffic compared to the others, but I guess their loss is my gain as we truly have the entire place to ourselves and we can take some photos, explore the area, and just relax and take in the serenity.

Before we know it the day has come and gone, and it is time for us to make our way back to Chiang Mai.  We have had a great day out in the park, and aside from the one waterfall on the main road we have been to places that most tourists don’t go to so we feel like we are seeing a bit more of ‘local’ Thailand – one of the advantages of being a repeat visitor I guess 🙂