Thailand's 3rd highest mountain, north of Chiang Mai.

We stayed at the Chiang Dao national park headquarters, camping on the floor of their meeting room. We were driven to Den Ya Kat by 4WD and we had to hire a porter via the national park office. On the first day we hiked up to the huge campsite, "Ao Salung" below the summit. We set up camp there then hiked up to the summit of Doi Luang Chiang Dao for the sunrise.

This is a very popular "bucket list" hike for a lot of Thais. We did it on a weekend in January and there were about 300 people up the mountain, even though I've heard it's supposed to be limited to 150. Many of the hikers seemed ill-prepared and in inappropriate footwear. The summit was a photo-frenzy, the "money shot" being holding the Thai flag. Nevertheless it was fun, and a good community spirit, but go mid-week if you want to avoid the crowds.

The following morning we hiked in the dark up to Kew Lom Tai for the sunrise. Then we packed up camp, hiked down to Pang Wua where we were picked up and driven back to the national park office.

We wanted to do this independently but it would be very difficult to do so. The national park and commercial trekking companies have it tied up. There are checkpoints on the the roads to the start. However it was nice to go along with it and have a porter to carry some of our gear.

My video of the trip is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KusUInkbeM