consolidated e excess belongings into a black garbage bag & left them at e reception to be sent over to e Park HQ, had breakfast & collected our packed lunches before setting off to meet our guide, Japili Yasin. Gabriel was already armed with a camera at e bottom of e steps leading up to Tambang Gate, waiting to take a group photo of us for use in publicising Mesilau Nature Resort....when you have a ~10% occupancy rate you won't mind using a ragtag bunch like us for publicity =P
as e rest headed up to Tambang Gate, two navy blue moths with a bright orange band across each wing & iridescent light blue bodies (Milionia pendleburyi, endemic to Borneo) were spotted on some logs, & Yangchen found a large green stick insect among some creepers on e stone wall. promising start =)
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| leaving Bishop Head hostel (SC) | e Mesilau pinnacles reveal themselves above e restaurant (HY) |
no one has successfully scaled these pinnacles as yet (IV) |
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| breakfast at Renanthera (HY) | with our guide, Japili Yasin, at e bottom of e steps leading up to e Sabah Parks Operations Office & Tambang Gate (SC, taken by Gabriel) |
stick insect spotted by Yangchen below e Sabah Parks Operations Office (SC) |
e Park Operations Office has a weighing scale for porters to determine how much they should charge climbers (RM10/kg, max 10kg/porter), & walking sticks are sold for RM3-5 (price depends on e type of wood, rattan & something else that I forgot) at Tambang Gate. set off from Tambang Gate around 8.30am at too fast a pace, & before we even reached e 0.5km mark some were out of breath =P
e first section is uphill, uphill & uphill until e crest of a ridge is reached. plants seen included e cream, lavender & blue berries of Diplycosia memecyloides, similar but smaller berries & tiny (less than 1cm diameter) purple & yellow flowers of Dianella ensifolia (pointed it out to Swee Cheng but forgot to photograph it myself *duh* someone else's photo of it), & orchidsorchidsorchidsorchidsorchids....e whole place was dripping with them, although most were not in flower. leaves & pseudobulbs sat on any horizontal surface & clung onto any diagonal surface available on tree trunks, branches, fallen logs & rocks.
spotted some orchids with seed pods, & a snowdrift of powder-like seeds floated out when we tapped them, strangely reminding some of dandruff. along e way we passed bundles of black hoses left along e trail, which were probably meant for e plumbing at new pondok that was being built somewhere between e 0.5km & 1km markers.
also started to pick up litter found along e trail, collecting bits & pieces like empty cardboard camera film boxes, plastic bags, plastic bottle caps, cigarette butts & a 100-Plus drink can. e Mesilau trail is far cleaner, quieter, emptier & less eroded than e main summit trail, & e pondoks don't have squirrels accustomed to scavenging for human food, but still e tiniest scrap of litter is enough to spoil e experience for others.
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| Ivan on e first uphill section of e Mesilau trail (AK) |
Teck Chia, Ivan & Swee Cheng (AK) |
Yangchen on his hunt for Paphiopedilum spp. (AK) |
from e top of e ridge, e trail descends steeply. came to a lookout point on some sort of a cliff edge above e valley below. by now e Mesilau pinnacles were shrouded in cloud, & a waterfall was spotted cascading down e only patch of bare rock on slopes covered with lower montane vegetation. somewhere further on we finally came across a pondok, but it was newly built with no water supply nor toilet, yet to be named, & not marked on our map. also, e first orchid flowers finally appeared to appease Yangchen.
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| view of e lower montane oak & chestnut forest from Mesilau trail (SC, AK) |
lookout point on ridge (SC) | |
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| waterfall (AK) | view from lookout point (SC, HY) | |
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| at e lookout point (IV) | Ivan, Japili & Kaimin (AK) | Yangchen & one of e 20+ species of orchids that we came across (AK) |
e trail started to climb again, & e first necklace orchid flowers were found - big fat yellow, white & brown blooms of Coelogyne radioferens attached to a tree branch. Angeline also spotted what was first thought to be a large colourful beetle clinging onto e underside of a leaf, but turned out to be one of those Milionia moths (first seen at Tambang Gate) that had just emerged from its cocoon & was waiting for its new wings to dry out before it could fly.
by now Japili had more or less gotten used to e way we moved at a snail's pace, scrutinising e ground we walked on, combing e vegetation on both sides of e trail, examining branches & fallen logs, craning our necks upwards to scan e treetops & looking back to check if there was anything interesting that we had missed. somewhere around e 1.5km mark we finally hit Pondok Bambu, e first 'official' pondok along e Mesilau trail, but we had stopped so many times to admire & photograph stuff so there was no point in resting here.
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| orchid inflorescence (SC) | Milionia pendleburyi montane moth endemic to Borneo, freshly emerged from chrysalis & waiting for its wings to dry (AK) |
with Teck Chia along Mesilau trail (AK) |
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| Coelogyne radioferens, a necklace orchid (HY) |
unidentified orchid? (SC) | Teck Chia at Pondok Bambu (AK) |
e trail started on its longest descent down into e valley, & we had to avoid stepping on poop left behind by some small animals. e first pitcher plants were spotted, & e ridge fern Dipteris conjugata started to crowd e sides of e trail in abundance alongside giant trees. at e bottom of e descent was a little wooden bridge & e first of 3 waterfalls along e Mesilau trail. mushrooms & e Kinabalu balsam Impatiens platyphylla were also seen in this rather dark & damp section of e trail. on rainy days some parts of e trail in this valley would probably turn to black squishy mud. Pondok Nepenthes was reached around e 2km mark.
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| first of many pitcher plants along e Mesilau trail, Nepenthes tentaculata based on e bristles/filaments on e lid? (AK) |
big fat tree along e steep descent into e valley; compare it with Teck Chia at e bottom right corner (AK) |
epiphytic ferns (AK) |
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| first of 3 waterfalls along e Mesilau trail (HY) |
Impatiens platyphylla Kinabalu balsam (AK) |
squeezed into Pondok Nepenthes (AK) |
Kipuyut bridge is one of e major landmarks along this trail, & we had been looking out for this suspension bridge all this while. from Pondok Nepenthes e trail descended even deeper into e valley until e waters of e West Mesilau river flowing over rocks could be heard. after 3 hours of ups & downs we had achieved almost ZERO net vertical displacement - Kipuyut bridge is just roughly 70m higher than Mesilau Nature Resort in terms of elevation =P
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| jambatan gantung Kipuyut (AK) |
on Kipuyut bridge over West Mesilau river, elevation +2073m (SC) |
third waterfall along e Mesilau trail (HY) |
another wooden bridge was crossed, this time over a smaller tributary of e West Mesilau river. from there e trail just keeps climbing uphill. started to notice a little creeper plant with bright red berries (Nertera granadensis) covering e ground & rocks along e trail, & after passing Pondok Tikalod near e 3.5km mark, we came to a section where there seemed to be Milionia everywhere. e little gems of nature make this unforgiving part of e Mesilau trail far nicer than e less steep but far more boring section of e main summit trail between e intersection & Laban Rata.
it was 1.30pm by e time e top of a ridge was reached after particularly steep climb before e 4.5km mark, & it was decided that we would just sit down right in e middle of e trail for lunch in e clouds. not as if there was any other soul on this trail today whose path we would block =P e stunted vegetation in e cloud forest zone didn't do much to block e strong winds, & lunch was nicely chilled by e cold air.
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| third bridge along e Mesilau trail (AK) |
smaller tributary of e West Mesilau river (HY) |
Pondok Tikalod (AK) |
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| more Milionia, resting on ground covered by e creeper Nertera granadensis & one of its bright red berries at upper left (HY) |
wonder if this is Dawsonia, e largest moss in e world? (AK) |
Ivan & Kaimin at e top of e super steep climb to somewhere before e 4.5km mark (AK) |
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| lunch stop just before e 4.5km mark (IV) | e most surreal & beautiful part of e Mesilau trail aka. e 'Garden' (HY) |
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after lunch, Japili was nowhere to be found. walking ahead past e 4.5km mark to search for him, I found him at Pondok Lompoyou. we had expected far more basic facilities & were surprised to find that e pondoks actually had flush toilets, save for some along e newer Mesilau trail that still lack a water supply. quite comical when trying to imagine porters carrying ceramic cisterns all e way up e mountain trail for constructing squat toilets at all e shelters =P
Pondok Lompoyou is at e start of e most beautiful & surreal part of e Mesilau trail that e rest would start referring to as e 'Garden'. e gnarled branches of e stunted trees were all heavily draped with hanging mosses & lichens. too bad for Japili who probably thought that we were going to speed up after lunch - here at one of e easiest sections of e trail, we slowed to a crawl to capture e scenery with even more photos. it was almost 2.30pm, & 6 hours after setting off from Tambang Gate we had yet to complete e 5-hour journey to e intersection. at this point Japili finally started to nod whenever someone asked him e ultimately redundant question that we had been asking him since before e 1km mark, 'Are we very slow?' =P
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| Pondok Lompoyou (HY) | e Garden (HY, taken by SC) | down e Garden path with Ivan (AK) |
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| more of e Garden (IV, HY) | loving couple in e Garden (AK) | |
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| Yangchen in e Garden (HY) | Teck Chia, Ivan & Angeline coming up along e Garden path (HY) |
view from e Garden (HY) |
e rest started to race ahead to e intersection while Swee Cheng & I continued to photograph stuff, looking out for e pitcher plants that Gabriel had told us about, with Teck Chia & Japili behind us. more orchids were spotted, as well as ground pitchers. looking out on e left side of e trail, e first signs of e main summit trail that we were going to join further ahead appeared in e form of e RTM transmission towers that were barely visible through e thick mist. somewhere before Pondok Magnolia, e last pondok along e Mesilau trail, we found tonnes of aerial pitchers hanging above our heads, perched on tree branches. singing & hammering were also heard in e distance.
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| even more orchids (SC) | looking across to e main summit trail from e Mesilau trail: e barely visible RTM station towers (AK) |
ground pitchers (HY) |
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| yet more orchids: by this point Yangchen had lost count of e exact number of species spotted (HY) |
aerial pitcher, one of e tens hanging above us at this section of e Mesilau trail (SC) |
Pondok Magnolia, e last pondok along e Mesilau trail before e intersection (AK) |
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| more ground pitchers (HY) | Mesilau trail insists on showing us one more species of orchid before we reach its end (HY) |
another aerial pitcher as we come to e end of e Mesilau trail at its intersection with e main summit trail (HY) |
