Khun Chae National Park

Khun Chae National Park, located one hour northeast of Chiangmai, was declared a national park in 1995 due to its important water resources, extensive forests, wildlife, beautiful waterfalls and scenic views. Deriving its name from Khun Chae Waterfalls, this 270 square kilometer national park has been inhabited for approximately 100 years by Thai villagers. Recently, Karen and Laha hill tribes have settled near the borders of the park.

Khun Chae National Park is located in an area where the exposed base rock is of two different types, igneous and sedimentary. Most of the park is covered with granite, an igneous rock common in Northern Thailand. Granite looks like large grains of shiney salt and black pepper. The white part that looks like salt is really quartz and feldspar. The black part that looks like pepper is mica. Anotherigneous rock found in the park is called tuff which was expelled from a volcano as lava, but cooled relatively quickly into a gray, fine grained rock. This volcanic tuff can be found in parts of the eastern side of the park. The sedimentary rocks; sandstone, siltstone and shale are derived from sediments deposited in water and hardened into solid rock over vast periods of time. The sandstone found in Khun Chae is gray, with small grains of sand mixed in a dense, hard rock. The shale is buff colored, soft and splits easily along parallel lines. The landscape of Khun Chae is very steep with many creeks often dropping precipitously into a number of waterfalls. The steep terrain is caused primarily by the high volume of seasonal rain, and highly erodable soil.

Maetow Waterfalls

Maetow Waterfalls have seven levels, the highest of which are about 40 meters, the lowest, though just a few meters high, are lovely and have water during the dry season. From the park headquarters, the trailhead to Maetow Waterfalls is approximately 30-40 minutes by vehicle. From the trailhead, all seven levels of the falls can be reached in approximately two hours.

Khum Chae Waterfalls

Khum Chae Waterfalls consists of six levels, each having of its own unique charm. A picnic area/campground is located at the trailhead to the waterfalls and a rustic guest house is available for overnight stays. Khun Chae Falls are a two hour drive from the park headquarters and a one hour walk from the trailhead.

Doi Mot

Doi Mot: The trail to Doi Mot passes through a spectacular wet evergreen forest. A lush, dense, multiple layered forest covers a clear cool pond, surrounded by a thick growth of ground plants including epiphytic and ground orchids, ferns, mosses and other plants that love shade and a wet environment. The top of the mountain, at 1700 meters, affords spectacular views of the forests and landscape of the surrounding area. Visitors can see Chiang Mai Province to the west, Chiang Rai province to the east, Doi Lahnga in the south and to the north, Doi Phangome.

Doi Lahnga

Doi Lahnga: At just over 2,031 meters, majestic Doi Lahnga is Thailand's fifth highest peak. The trail to the top of Doi Lahnga enable visitors to see many spectacular views of Khun Chae National Park, and the surrounding area. Doi Lahnga and its many sister peaks are located on the extreme southern boundary of the park, adjacent to Jae Sawn National Park and Mae Dahkry National Park.

Mae Chang Khao Reservoir

Mae Chang Khao Reservoir: near Ranger Station 1 provides a relaxing setting for picnickers looking for a different twist. Picnickers ride out into the middle of the lake on a bamboo raft and enjoy their meal in the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of a freshwater lake.

Doi Pha Ngom

Doi Pha Ngom is a mountain range in the middle of the area that lies west to east. There is an erected cliff protruded to the west and has montane forest mixed with mixed deciduous forest in which appropriates for recreation, trekking, and enjoy seeing scenery.