We woke at 6am, all ready for our hike up to the base camp at Mt Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Asia at 3272m. After a light breakfast and a sudden realisation that we had to fit lunch into our daypack (another attempt at packing, it was starting to feel like I was on The Amazing Race), we drove to the front gate, signed the registration book and started walking with boundless enthusiasm. Well, everyone else walked with boundless enthusiasm, I just kind of plodded along. With enthusiasm.
It was 6km altogether, which sounds deceptively easy, and it was, for a little while at least. There was a downhill section, surrounded by tropical rainforest – palms surrounded a boardwalk of flat sections and occasional steps, and the blooming flowers on the side of the road were beautiful, with tiny squirrels darting to and fro off the path. Then the flat section ended and all there was between me and the top of the mountain were ten trillion stairs (I may be exaggerating). Slowly our group of 12 spread out until I was walking alone at my own pace, with nothing but my steady breath and birdsong for company. The boardwalk turned to rock steps for a few kilometres, and when it started sprinkling with rain I was grateful for the cool water on my face. I was also pretty impressed with my solution for wet-weather hiking – jacket tied around my waist, and raincoat over my daypack and half closed around myself. When you added my nifty walking stick into the equation, I looked like a hobbit. Which would have been ridiculous, but you can pretty much get away with any kind of outfit when you’re hiking. It’s all part of the awesomeness of travel.
There were rest shelters every kilometre or so, where I sipped water, ate chocolate and sandwiches, and caught up with whatever group was resting at the time. The trail emerged from the rainforest into the open air of the rocky mountainside, and I couldn’t help but look back over the amazing views – cloud forests covering lush green mountains. I felt on top of the world.
I emerged at base camp, 5-hours 15-minutes later, and very glad to sit down. A quick baby wipe shower, a change into dry, warm clothes and a hot chocolate later, I was feeling fantastic, especially when the clouds started misting over outside and it started raining. Our lodge at Laban Rata was simple but beautiful, kind of like a ski lodge, and we all felt as though we had made it most of the way quite easily.
By about 3.45pm, the last of our group had arrived and we played scrabble to wile away the few hours before our early dinner at 4.45pm (I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited to have dinner at a quarter to five). After we stuffed ourselves, glad to see we hadn’t lost our appetite due to the altitude, there was some scrabble and a quick team briefing about tomorrow’s summit climb before bed. “Don’t get to the top too early, there’s nothing to do but wait for the sun to rise,” our mountain guide told us. With a 2.45am start, that sounded like a good plan to me.
-Sarah
Sarah