Having recovered somewhat from the effort of climbing from the Park HQ to Laban Rata I decided to take a stroll.
The typical tourist trek to the summit of Mount Kinabalu is to hike from the park HQ to Laban Rata on the morning of Day 1, then rest up and acclimatise for the trek to the summit on Day 2. The goal is to be on the summit to watch the sun rise which typically means leaving Laban Rata and climbing through the darkness. Of course, climb here = trek. The well work route requires no technical climbing gear nor technical climbing skills.
I decided I'd proceed up the mountain for another 30 minutes to get a feel for what was ahead and then return to Laban Rata for the evening. Today you have to have overnight accommodations booked before you even leave on the ascent from the Timpohon Gate but I don't recall the climb being so regulated back in 1989.
On the trail above Laban Rata I took this image as the sun dipped lower in the sky. You might be able to make out part of the trail, climbing at a slight diagonal from about mid-way up the right hand side of the image towards the notch in the center of the image. If you click on the image it takes you over to my Smugmug site where you can view a larger image. Just to the left of the notch you can make out a sign that pointed the way to the summit for the way up and Laban Rata for the way down.
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