After trudging downhill the entire way back to Timpohon Gate, through muddy and waterlogged trail, our clothes were drenched from the inside by sweat and the outside by rain. The worst were my running shoes, but once you’re totally soaked, trying to find high points in the trail is no longer a priority and you can fearlessly step ankle deep in mud.
My gloves were also soaked through, but I kept them on since it gave me something to protect my hands since I was using my arms to clamor down rocky and rooty wet bits of trail. I barely drank any water going down since I wanted to keep my hands free.
We DID see two amazingly huge (18″ and 5″) Mt. Kinabalu giant red leeches. A girl was standing next to it in a puddle of water and pointing at it. Bright orange, segmented and with a flattened larger area for its head, we moved by slowly. Apparently, they only feed on worms. I couldn’t take a photo since my hands were soaked and taking out my camera meant it getting rained on, which I somewhat regret in hindsight. This animal is native ONLY to Mt. K, so my memory of meeting this will have to suffice.
The descent was truly hard on my knees as each step was a good 12-18 inches in height. My husband gave me his walking stick (he inherited this from a passing porter!) and it helped with my stability. Still, by the time we got to the gate, my knees and thighs were tired and sore. I guess I wasn’t the only one, though. My cousin and her husband were also achy and sore.
Our tour sent the driver to pick us up at the gate, which was a pleasant surprise. When we went up to the gate, we took a short bus ride with some other hikers. The driver helped us pick up our left-luggage from the lodge headquarters and we all changed into dry clothes and flip flops. We were all a bit tired of eating buffet food by then and decided we should drive back to Kota Kinabalu rather than take our last lunch on the mountain.
That night, we went to Old Village, a large stall in the outdoor covered found court. Pics above show the live seafood tanks and the star of the show, a truly prehistoric horseshoe crab!
Personally, I thought the horseshoe crab was too amazing of a creature to eat.
We decided to order BBQ tiger prawns with garlic and chilies. They were sweet and quite juicy, each of us had one and it was as succulent as lobster tail. We also had sauteed celery greens, sautéed chicken with sweet, spicy sauce, and sambal rice. The manager made us a special spicy sauce (he said it was his favorite) using condiments at the table: raw chopped garlic, spicy fresh chilies, white vinegar, and homemade hot chili sauce, all mixed and mashed together. We probably had at least a 24oz beer each if not more!
Back at the hotel, we drank a few electrolyte drinks called 100Plus, beer, and played a card game called “Golf”.
When I started my Garmin, it couldn’t locate satellites. So I turned on my Strava app. The first graph is both the first day ascent to the Laban Rata guest house + final ascent to Low’s Peak, with a return to Laban Rata. I was so happy to get down the granite cliff top, I triumphantly stopped my Strava tracking! Whoops. Still had the rest of the mountain to go down. Haha. Yes, you will be slightly delirious if you hiked this trail, too!
Bamboo Girl 