Mount Kinabalu
What can I say? We came, we saw, we climbed. It was tough, but I liked it a lot and the scenery made it all worth it.
We left the town of Kota Kinabalu (at sea level) early in the morning, and took a 2.5 hour bus ride up into the mountains. We started hiking at around 1800m elevation and arrived at the hut late in the afternoon, at over 3000m elevation. The next morning we woke up at 2am and started our hike to the summit, at almost 4100m.
This is the first day of hiking.
I had to make excuses to stop and rest. One of them was to take photos of the Pitcher plants.
After a few hours, we could see the tree line. It looked close, but it definitely wasn't!
This is the view we had from the lodge where we stayed the night. We were happy to be there, but it was quite cold- I slept with all my layers on and the sleeping bag over my head.
The next morning was a different story. I was not impressed at waking at 2am and feeling nauseous and insane from the altitude soon after I started hiking. I got over it though, and kept hiking.
A few hours later, we made it to the summit in time for the sunrise.
Here's the shot that everyone has to take when they make it to the top of the mountain:
Here's an awesome picture of the shadow that the mountain casts on the west as the sun rises. This is my guide Apson (we were forced to hire a guide!)- he was very cool. The hike was like a stroll for him, since he does it at least once a week!
Once the sun rose, we could see the other beautiful peaks around us, and all along our way back down to the hut.
Descending was tough but very fun. We could actually talk and enjoy the amazing scenery.
And the way the terrain changed was really cool.
I was never able to get a decent photo of the entire mountain from far away because it is usually clouded over. We were lucky that it was sometimes clear, but even on our way down the clouds were quickly coming in.
Ahhhh! Finally, the last step! For some sick reason, the descent ended with a 10 minute hike UP!
And since I was never able to get a picture of the mountain from afar, I stole this one from the web.
