Continuing from the intersection between Mesilau and Timpohon trails. Now there is only one path leading to our rest house, Laban Rata... and the road is treacherous indeed....
This path strongly contrasts the 'feel-good' Mesilau trail: it is now rocky, muddy and slippery. Even the scenery takes a more sombre mood...
But there's still the odd-looking plants once in awhile..
Looks like a flower from far, doesn't it? Turns out to be leaves cleverly arranged!
The erratic rain causes the trail to be slippery, and we need to hold on to the side railings to move forward.... well, 'we' excludes the guide, Rudy, who seems to be able to 'stick' to the path effortlessly :-S
This path strongly contrasts the 'feel-good' Mesilau trail: it is now rocky, muddy and slippery. Even the scenery takes a more sombre mood...
But there's still the odd-looking plants once in awhile..
Looks like a flower from far, doesn't it? Turns out to be leaves cleverly arranged!
The erratic rain causes the trail to be slippery, and we need to hold on to the side railings to move forward.... well, 'we' excludes the guide, Rudy, who seems to be able to 'stick' to the path effortlessly :-S
Unfortunately for Pang, the soles on his shoes came off during the climb and he had to use strings to pull them together. This means he will not be able to continue the climb to the peak the next day..:(
About 1/2 hour later, we reached a clearing where--
--whoa, whoa, whoa!
We can see the rocky mountain from here!
Time is 5PM... this sight definitely boosts our motivation to climb! We can hear the sound of water rushing down from the mountain peak from the constant rain....
As we continue our trek up, the misty peaks can be seen...
But our resthouse is still quite a distance away......................... :'(
The hike up is relentless... the incessant rain and rapidly dropping temperature hampers our progress. We made many stops to regroup.
This part of the trail is very much in contrast to the earlier hike, the trees here are sparse. Looking upwards, we have the mountain...
and looking downwards we have a magnificent sea of clouds...
The distinctive shapes along the peaks of Mt Kinabalu...
Finally, close to about 7PM, we finally reached Laban Rata... what a sight for sore eyes!
At this point, my mind was almost numb. Physically still ok, but the mental torture of the last few hundred metres or so is unbelievable. It's like you are pushing and pushing onwards, but the damn place never arrives... worse, it's already 7PM, and getting dark and VERY cold (it was about 15 degrees C outside). And one moment of carelessness caused me to step on a pool of muddy water when we were like 100 metres to the resthouse! Oh, what pain..... freezing water in my shoe... Wet and cold and dirty, never a good combination!
We quickly gobbled down whatever Laban Rata's resthouse had to offer. Some buffet dinner, but I could hardly think straight anymore.................
but WaiMaie still seemed pretty fresh though!
The distinctive shapes along the peaks of Mt Kinabalu...
Finally, close to about 7PM, we finally reached Laban Rata... what a sight for sore eyes!
At this point, my mind was almost numb. Physically still ok, but the mental torture of the last few hundred metres or so is unbelievable. It's like you are pushing and pushing onwards, but the damn place never arrives... worse, it's already 7PM, and getting dark and VERY cold (it was about 15 degrees C outside). And one moment of carelessness caused me to step on a pool of muddy water when we were like 100 metres to the resthouse! Oh, what pain..... freezing water in my shoe... Wet and cold and dirty, never a good combination!
We quickly gobbled down whatever Laban Rata's resthouse had to offer. Some buffet dinner, but I could hardly think straight anymore.................
but WaiMaie still seemed pretty fresh though!
After dinner, we had to hike another 15 minutes to our resthouse, Gunting Ladagan........reluctantly we moved out of Laban Rata's heater and into the freezing chills of the night.... brrr.....
Rudy said he'll meet us again at 2.30AM the next morning for....
Assault on the Peak!!!
Did we make it???
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