6:30 was the time to wake up today; to pack the stuff we’d need for the journey up/down, and overnight stay at the hostel, go for breakfast and set off at 8:30.
Breakfast at the restaurant was a simple buffet affair, with lots of other groups around us also getting ready to head out. We were given our passes (which we’d need at each checkpoint to prove we we’d paid for permits and whatnot) and our packed lunch, which consisted of some shitty-jam sandwiches, apple and bottle of water.
The sandwiches were pretty horrible-looking and a few in the group elected to leave them behind. Some of us were having problems packing everything we needed into our bags, and Fred gave me his bottle of water and apple.
There were quite a lot of GoPro cameras being waved about which has since put me off using mine a bit.
After breakfast, we got on the bus to Timpohon Gate (1866m) which was actually a fair way from the entrance to the park - you wouldn’t want to walk that distance on the way back!
The trail was steep to begin with - up lots of well-built walkways and steps. There was no need of any guides at this point as it was a single trail up, which was well-sign posted, and Donny let us all walk at our own pace. We largely split into two groups and Donny stayed at the back to check everyone was okay.
By 11 o’ clock we’d reached 2634m and stopped for lunch.
The trail wasn’t really so bad. It was hot and humid, and there were little refuges all the way, with toilets, benches and info boards about the local flora and fauna. I didn’t realise till I was doing some research just now that the big green tanks you see in the photos are filled with rainwater. These were also at every refuge, but we were told to take our own as there was no knowing what might’ve gotten into those tanks (like dead rats, says Donny).
As we were climbing, we noticed the clouds were closing in. We must have been literally on the edge of a raincloud as we (the first half-group) managed to make it into Laban Rata just as it started to rain, at 13:20. Unfortunately, this would mean the others would be suffering the rain, but it wouldn’t be too long before they all, too, made it in.
Upon arrival, you step into a big cafe affair, which looks completely at odds with the nature you’ve just hiked through. There’re lots of pictures covering every wall, and the place is crowded with trekkers looking like they’re on their way to camp at a music festival. An open kitchen takes up fully a quarter of the room, and the smells were incredible after our terrible lunch and long hike. For some reason, I remember the smell was of pancakes …
Officer Andrew picked up our keys to our shared dorms and we were handed 2, plus the key to Donny’s room. We would later learn that there was a bit of a fuck-up - the twelve of us were meant to bedding down together in a big room, but some mis-organisation had put six of us in one room, six in a bigger, shared room, and Donny elsewhere. This pissed Donny off somewhat when he found out, and went to have some stern words with someone at the desk.
It was pretty tempting to go off for a nap, but given dinner would be but a few hours away, I knew it’d be futile. So we all went off to pack/unpack and wash and things. Shower was amazingly cold and there was only two showers and two toilets in the gents for the hundred people (capacity) staying at Laban Rata, but I managed to get a wash in. After the humid day of trekking covered in bug spray and sun block, it was a welcome relief.
Dinner was to be 16:30, with briefing to follow. We would set off for the summit at 2:30 in the morning, so we wouldn’t get much chance to sleep tonight. As it turns out, I wouldn’t sleep much anyway - I was having an (unfounded) worry about bedbugs and felt a bit too chilled to fall asleep.
Donny introduced us to our guides: Sapinggi Sr., Billy Sapinggi, and Felix.
The rooms themselves were basic but acceptably clean and spacious. Considering everything here was carried up by porters, we didn’t have any right to complain. We went to bed at 19:00. Dr Andrew stayed up with Fred, Danielle and some English girls we’d met on the way up to play chess, and went to bed around 10.
I think maybe Dave and Officer Andrew slept - everyone else managed snatches of sleep, and Jackie didn’t sleep at all. Regardless, we were all up by 2:00 and raring to go in half an hour.
A hundred people were all setting off to the summit about this time, and it took a while to clear the congestion. The sky was dark and the air was clear. Head torches were flashing everywhere as everyone got used to walking up the steep wooden steps in the dark.
I regaled (pissed off) everyone (Dave) by talking endlessly about how there would always be a Justin Bieber-like figure for teenage girls to adore. This went on for half an hour before everyone (Dave) just ignored me and we walked on into the darkness.
About 4:00 we reached Seyat-Seyat hut. I forget what the significance of this hut was, but it was a checkpoint to make sure we were running on schedule. We were half an hour early.
It was probably round about this point that the vegetation morphed into a rockier landscape and we would start having to follow the guide rope up. I found this quite fun. A series of ropes lead up to the summit, which you use traverse the trickier sections of rock.
The group reached the summit right on time (and about thirty others), for sunrise around 6:00.
Everyone took many photos, while jostling for position on the big pile of rocks. We stayed up there maybe half an hour before heading back down again.
It wasn’t really till now, in the daylight, that we could appreciate the beautiful scenery of the mountains around us, and forest below. We returned to Laban Rata for 8:00. Some more food, some rest, some coffee, packed up our gear, more coffee. We waited for everyone to collect together, and we left at 9:45 to get back to the bottom.
The next few hours were to be torturous. All the walking we’d been doing over the past eight hours were starting to take their toll not only on my knees, but all over my legs. Getting down all the steps was starting to prove very difficult for me.
My mental resolve was starting to break and I’m ashamed to admit I snapped in anger more than a few times. My jellified legs were seriously having a hard time keeping me upright and the minutes were counted as we neared Timpohon gate. Jackie kept me company the whole way down and were it not for her, I probably would have taken much, much longer.
It’s quite hard for me to convey just how hard this descent was for me - despite my experience with Everest Base Camp and Kilimanjaro, neither compared to this. I think my legs were pushed to endurance. The aches and pains would last for days, not only for myself, but the whole group (though I suspect it took me longer to recover than everyone else).
We finally reached Timphon Gate at 13:20 where we signed out of the trail. There was a surprising lack of people around us - maybe two others, and none of our group. We took a minibus at the bottom to get back to the lodge, where we awaited the other members of our group and had lunch before getting on a tiny minibus to Poring.
Got bus to Poring - arrive at Round Inn at 3
16:15 Hot Springs, rubbish
Dropped off laundry
18:00 dinner (chicken curry + sizzling beef), early to bed
lizard in room - slept with aircon, dripped on my head