[Sabah trip, 28-Mar-2006] Well it’s the big day.. Mount Kinabalu hiking day.
We had to wake up at 3am and started our journey from Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary back to Mesilau Nature Resort. It was a ~5 hours drive and we arrived at the starting point of Mt Kinabalu Mesilau Trail at around 830am.
We waited a while for our guide Duis, bought our walking stick (RM3) and started our hiking.
For information, there are 2 trails to go to the Laban Rata mid-checkpoint of Mt Kinabalu, the Timpohon Trail and the Mesilau Trail. Mesilau (~7km to Laban Rata) is actually about 1km longer than Timpohon but it’s said that Mesilau is easier to climb and much beautiful.
Heck.. whatever. Our guide told us that we would probably need 5-6 hours to reach Laban Rata, and since that my friends were all hyped up and decided not to hire porter to carry our bags, I followed the team and carried my own 7kg loaded bag.
Carrying the bag was a mistake for me, I felt exhaustion just after an hour walking.. obviously I didn’t share the same fitness as my mates. One of our girl actually carried 13kg and made it to the top, brava to her.
Anyhow I was lucky that the guide offered to carry my bag, charging the same rate as the mountain porter (RM7-8 per kg). Thanks to him I still managed to continue walking with my mates’ pace.
Just as I thought things were getting better and started enjoy some scenery.. the sky turned dark and in minutes it started raining. It was just 11am, we are not half way through yet..
At first the rain was dropping mildly, we had to slow down our pace a bit. Our guide had estimated a delay on arriving Laban Rata, probably will reach there by 4pm.
We walked and we walked and as the attitude increased I began to feel the shortness of breath, the air was getting thinner.. and cooler too.
Things turned from bad to worse at around 2pm.. the rain started pouring without mercy. It’s not like a storm or something, but enough to soak everyone wet even with raincoats.. and it was cold.
The heavy rain slowed our pace further, most of us were still 1km away from our first destination at 4pm, that’s after 7 hours of hiking. Gosh I had not been enduring this kind of physical challenge since I was aged 17.
The trail was actually the steepest in the last 1000m, I seriously felt the difficulty of thin air and began to trail behind my friends, I didn’t ask them to wait for me as it’s plain useless to have everyone soaked in the rain waiting for the last man. I still had the guide to accompany me anyway.
That must had been my longest journey of my life, I actually took almost 2 hours to hike the last 1000m.. hell knows how did I made it, even I myself was not sure how I spent that 2 hours, it’s so blur and exhausting, but yes I at least made it to Laban Rata.
I joined my friends and had a great dinner, took a hot shower and jumped to bed. That’s still plenty to conquer for the next morning, the peak was the ultimate destination.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Great post. Been to KK but didn’t get the chance to climb up the mountain. Some day. Some day.
April 12th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Thanks.. someday, maybe we can go together lol
April 13th, 2006 at 12:35 am
“….is actually about 1km longer than Timpohon but it’s said that it’s easier to climb and much beautiful.”
um dude…timpohon is very ugly view. Like dark dark forest but much easierla. Its the trail you go down on, remember? Mesilau is infamous for its difficultylorrrr so
April 13th, 2006 at 10:38 am
I mean Mesilau is more beautiful.. and yes Timpohon is ugly lol.
So Timpohon is actually easier to go up? Interesting, why did we arrange to go up from Mesilau.. arghh.
For me the real challenge was when the air get thinner, that’s after both trails meet.. so for most it probably doesn’t matter much which trail to go up.
April 20th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
hi i jz came back from hiking kk a few day s ago n i gotts agree
mesilau is way much more beautiful, u’ll die if u used d timpohon trail 2
go up cuz it’s all steps, coming down is also much worse. i would hav prefer d mesilau trail when goin up n down.
April 21st, 2006 at 1:37 pm
There’s only one issue going down from Mesilau, remember that there’s a part where people will need to hike up again for an hour or so.. probably not a good idea after a long day of hiking up and down the mountain.
April 21st, 2006 at 6:43 pm
well yeah u got a point. that would b 2 tiring. but if u stay one more nite up in laban rata after descending from d summit, u might be able 2 go down d mesilau trail,it is more beautiful n u can takes pics of it while going down
April 21st, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Paying another extra day of accommodation and for guides might be a bit over just for taking photos of Mesilau.
Perhaps train harder and walk up easier with Mesilau Tail next time, then got extra time for pictures.
April 22nd, 2006 at 1:12 am
then u gotta train real hard. on d way down 2 timpohon , 1 of our guides told us that d europeans took jz bout 2-3 hrs 2 reach laban rata from timpohon. we also met a few on d way down. they started at 8.30 n reach laban rata at 11 smtg. really super
April 22nd, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Those Caucasians are fast, strong muscles and long legs help. You know that there’s a periodic Mt Kinabablu Climbing Competition? The record is actually below 3 hours to climb up the peak and back to the starting point at Timpohon.. cool leh?
April 22nd, 2006 at 7:44 pm
ya i read bout it. my tour guide also told us. the guy made it up n down in 2 hours plus. aiyoh i wonder how long he train?? must be really CL (chialat) :C
he must hav flew up there. Whew!!
April 23rd, 2006 at 3:17 am
I just wish I could get up to Laban Rata in 3 hours, that will be good enough lol.
April 23rd, 2006 at 4:12 pm
sure u can. training for a year or two n don’t stop 2 rest when u go hike up again. simple. ;D
by d way wat happen 2 ur webpage yesterday? d msg ‘ this page has expire’ keep showing up :0
April 24th, 2006 at 11:54 am
1 or 2 years training not enough lar. Did something happen to my website? Not sure, could be some server glitch.
April 25th, 2006 at 1:34 am
hi, i hope u guys don’t mind i join in…..
i was hiking the Mt KK one month ago. but feeling during hiking still deep in my mind. Y…? hey man, we took almost 10 hours to reach at Laban Rata. wat a long long long journey. but for me, it worth….. n is a very good experience.
the place u took the photo above is really impressed me… wat a cool scene……
April 25th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Hi Son.. won’t mind at all, glad to see you here in fact.
One month ago.. that’s about the time I got up there. It’s definitely a worthy experience.
Did you make it to the peak?
April 26th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
yup..i did… but i miss the sunrise.( we reached the peak around 7am ). when we reached at Low’s peak, most of the hiker started to get down from the peak. My friend who reached first at peak told me, the peak was crowded with hikers before we reached there( since the space at the peak is very limited). All of them is waiting for their turn to take photo with the “superstar” -> the sign board.. hahaa…… so m i…………..
April 27th, 2006 at 2:58 am
Congrats Son.. at least you made it to the top, that’s wonderful
April 27th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
thanks… but i plan to hike the Mt. KK again… this time i wish to take shorter time to reach at Laban Rata (may b within 5 hours through the mesilau trail). so i have more time for rest. My last trip to Mt. KK, we reached at Laban Rata at around 9.30pm. we rest less than 4 hours before continue our journey up to the peak. The route to Peak really challenging my mind. it seems like no ending point. i keep on asking myself…..”i do this for what?? why not stay at home?? stupid!!”. hahaa…. finally i knew why when reached at peak. what i felt were satisfaction and excitement…….. but i suffered with toes pain when going down from peak.. anyway, i know “no pain no gain”….
April 27th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
930pm? WoW you must have missed the dinner then? And so few rest.. it must be cool to conquer the peak given the difficult condition, extra satisfaction perhaps.. the greater the pain, the better the gain lol.
Actually most people that hiked Mt Kinabalu wanted to go back again, I finally understand what CK said before I went to Sabah. It’s a bit of addiction perhaps.
I MUST go again, I need to make to the peak next time.
April 27th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
yup…. missed the dinner and also the sunset view at there. we just ate “maggie mee” then went for sleep without taking shower. we didn’t take any shower in two days at Mt. KK. haha….. all smelly…..
ya… i felt very excited after conquered the peak. In my mind, nothing is impossible….hahaa…!!!
i do agree with the addiction you meant. i think i got the addiction also..
may b next year… i will challenge it again…
Jee, sure you can make it to peak….. and feel what i felt….hahaa..!!!
April 29th, 2006 at 7:08 am
lol maggie mee at Mt Kinabalu.. must be extra delicious.
Well perhaps you can consider other peak as well.. Mt Tahan could be a challenge in different sense.
April 29th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
mmm…. i just read some articles from net about the Mt. Tahan. it looks more challenging than Mt. KK. it requires more days to conquer.
i think will try it next time…. thanks for your suggestion.
have you try it before???
April 30th, 2006 at 12:05 am
I only knew 2 friends in person that made it to both peak.. both agree that Mt Tahan is much more physically and mentally demanding.
For them, Mt Kinabalu is rather easy other than the thin air problem, whereas Tahan have no altitude problem at all, the peak is just some point higher than where we started trekking from Timpohon or Mesilau.
Mt Tahan however, according to them will be days of hours of trekking and walking.. 5 days on and off if not mistaken. It’s actually hiking up and down a few peaks of other mountains before getting to the peak of Mt Tahan.. and then that’s the journey back.
Sounds interesting right lol?
April 30th, 2006 at 4:51 am
yup…. it sounds interesting…!!!
but i think i’m stil not ready go for it….. since my stamina haven’t reach the standard yet….. probably requires one year training….
hopefully i could make it in mid of next year…..
thanks for your info.
May 1st, 2006 at 3:30 pm
You are welcome Son.. all the best
July 17th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Hi all, well, nice to read all those words. In fact I am going to climb Mt Kinabalu for my 3rd times (after 8yrs). This time wanna try Mesilau trail, I hope the scenery is really more beautiful than Timpohon trail as wat everyone here mentioned.
Well, I have just started training 2 weeks ago… not sure if I can made it this time. Too little training.
July 17th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Helen… Mesilau definitely have better scenery. You can make it, good luck
September 28th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Hi, Helen,
Good Luck to you !
Swimming is one of the very good trainning also.
September 28th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
I wonder how Helen is doing.. already made it to the top again perhaps.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:12 am
It took me 16.5 hours to reach Laban rata thru Mesilau Trail. What an experience. But it’s worth it.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Cathy… 16.5 to Laban Rata? I thought the guide would bring you back to the base if he knew that you are not going to make it quite on time…