July 8th, 2016

Day 100: Mulu National Park – Day 3

We wanted to get a head start on our Pinnacles trek in the morning, so we planned to be up at 5:45AM, and on the trail by 6:00AM. Turns out, a group of Chinese tourists is a better alarm clock than any smartphone app – at 4:55AM the coughing, and talking, and trips to the bathroom started. Igor was so pissed off he actually tried to, “SHHHHHH!” them! (It didn’t work.) After trying to sleep through the increasing racket for 30min, we all finally decided to go ahead and get up too.

Igor, Lindsay and Australian Alex are ready to go on time, but for some reason our guide, Ishmael, waits for the Malaysian group of 8 to start ahead of us. We’re a little annoyed, as their pace is much slower than what we would have done. After following the Malaysian group at a leisurely pace until the halfway point, each Malaysian hiker started to step aside for a break, and we plowed on ahead. The second half of the trail is significantly steeper – the last 400m of which requires the use of ropes, ladders and metal staples! – but we were so excited to get to the top, we made it to the summit by 9AM, and had the entire vista to ourselves for a good hour before we headed back down, passing the Malaysians near the top.

Of the Malaysian group, all but one of them made it to the top. The last guy – a KL police officer – got vertigo halfway through the ladder & rope section and couldn’t go any further. Poor guy – he was 15min from the top! Ishmael helped him down from the dangerous section, shaking his head later and musing, “How can he be a police offer, eh? Police must be brave!”

 

An early morning start for our Pinnacles trek – LET’S TO THIS!!!

 

We are keeping a pretty slow pace on the ascent – which allows us to spot another Twin Banded Tree Snake

 

The “Mini Pinnacles” at the halfway point. We found out later that the Chinese group (who woke us up at 5AM!) didn’t start their trek until 7AM, and gave up at the halfway point. *coughlamecough*

 

Happy to be blazing the trail – even if it suddenly got really steep

 

Climbing ladders and ropes for the last 30min of the trail was super fun! We felt like little kids playing on a jungle-gym!

The reward for our grueling hike – The Pinnacles!

A full view of The Pinnacles

 

We had The Pinnacles to ourselves – plenty of time to climb around and take pictures

 

Admiring the view of The Pinnacles – you can even see the Mulu Airport in the distance

 

The real challenge was climbing back down the trail. In our older age, we find that going down mountains is all of a sudden tougher than climbing them. Aussie Alex was booking it down the trail (he had a hiking pole with him – smart), while Lindsay was at the back of the group. She wasn’t going *that* slow, but our guide Ishmael still called her “weak” and suggested we stop for ta 15min break – a point Igor likes to bring up again, and again, and again…

When we returned to Camp 5, we found the entire Chinese group hanging out near the river – someone was playing a guitar, and they were all singing and drinking beer. There were only two beers left in the camp pantry, which Igor and Alex quickly bought up and buried in some rocks in the river to cool down. We had the rest of the day free to relax, swim in the waterhole and play cards.

 

Taking a well-deserved dip in the waterhole after a long hike

 

Enjoying a “jungle massage” in the rapids

 

The beautiful limestone cliffs surrounding Camp 5

 

Playing cards & practicing magic tricks at Camp 5

 

Heading off to sleep in the Camp 5 dorms – it’s a bit cozier tonight with 4 new tourists