Mount Tombuyukon 16-19 December 2017

Mount Tambuyukon is the third highest mountain in Sabah and Malaysia at 2,579m. But hikers have dubbed it the most challenging one after Mount Trusmadi via Sinua Trail and Mount Kinabalu. What do I personally think? Its definitely the hardest to date but it was also the most memorable one for me. The climb is a total of 28km all round trip and it begins from Monggis Substation which has camping ground facilities as well as bunk beds and facilities such as toilets and kitchen. It is about an hour drive from Sabah Park to reach Monggis Substation. You can actually used any car to drive as the road is asphalt and in good condition. The only part of the road that you need 4wd vehicle is the small road through the village leading into station Monggis which is a few hundred meter.

Our group consist only of 5 person..we did everything ourselves..from the booking with Sabah park to the planning of the itinerary and dates (Mostly all the hard paperwork was done by John). There was not much blogging done on Mount Tambuyukon since not many people wanted to hike it because of its reputation. But if you are an active person who jogs/hike weekly, mind you..not the hardcore hikers since i myself was quite busy this year and had to minimize my outdoor hiking..you can definitely reach the peak as long as you are head strong and don't give up. Hiking with fun people is also an added bonus since you need all the support to stay sane while hiking Tambuyukon. The  few available blogs out there was what really help us to plan our hiking trip. We set our date and our penghulu, John called Sabah park headquarter and inquired about the process. We were asked to write in to Sabah Park and request permit to hike Mount Tambuyukon, stating our full name, ic no and the the dates..afterwards its just the matter of following up our request. We picked 16-19 December 2017 for the hike, a 4 days 3 night adventure as I was more confident with a 4 days hike than a 3 days hike as long as all of us reach the summit. My friend was initially worried because we did not get an answer regarding our dates after some time..to which I consoled him "Tiada orang clash tarikh kita tuh..Orang gila saja mau naik Tambuyukon, kitalah tu orang gila". After following up few weeks later via phone, we were actually granted the permit and just needed to confirm finale details like potter service,etc with Sabah Park one week before our climb. All payment was done at Sabah Park on the climbing dates.

The road leading to Monggis station

The morning of 16 December 2017, we assembled ad Sabah Park, Kundasang and went to register our names. John already reminded the group to bring along our own copy of IC for registration to fasten the process. We did all the registration process at the same counter as the Mount Kinabalu registration..just like Mount Kinabalu, we were given name tags to wear and had to fill in an indemnity form. For 5pax, we each paid RM449.20 at the counter for permits,insurance,etc. Afterwards we had our breakfast/lunch at the nearby restaurant before driving to Monggis station using google map as our guide. We reached Monggis station around 1pm and towards the very last minute removing stuff we decided not to bring. My extra cooking utensil apparently did not make the cut. At the station, we paid the cost for guide, potter service and certificate, which is RM110 per guide per day for 3pax. since there is 5 of us..we paid RM110 X 2 person X 4 days for a total of RM880. The potter fee is RM7 per kg times the total days of hike while the certificate is RM5.30 per person. Us gals opted for the potter fee to carry extra water, extra clothes, extra Pacat spray, our tent and most of the group food supply. It was easy for us to plan out the itinerary together since all of us know each other quite well. I sorted out our food menu so that we would at least have an idea of what we can cook and eat each day.

Monggis station

That's us still packing at Monggis station

Group photo before starting the hike

At 2pm, we took out group photo and headed out. The weather was good and the first day we wanted to camp at Wuluh Camp around KM6 but the guide told us that the recent rain had made the area unsuitable to camp for a big number of people because of the fallen tree. So we ended up camping somewhere between KM5 and KM6. It was around 4.30pm so we had plenty of time to properly clean the site and set out our camp. It's a good thing to have handyman in the group to set up our kitchen camp using canvas that was bought along. I was really glad that we had bought 2 canvas along just in case and they prove to be very useful since there is no proper hut after KM4. John who has the most experience in the jungle bought ropes and parang and all that Bear Grylls stuff.  Tambuyukon trail is not your average hike and the guides assumed you can very well take care of yourself. So having complete hiking gears and extra stuff like cooking gas, cooking utensils, pots and pan, cooking oil and ingredients,etc does not hurt. We cook dinner together after setting up camp and then retired to bed. I woke up near midnight to the sound of rain and the side of our camp was wet as it continue to rain until early morning. The good thing is us girls bought along padded mat for our camp so we were not soak wet. The other guys were not so lucky as the rain made the bottom of the camp soak wet.

The guys constructing our kitchen camp

It's looking good guys

Sapu..sapu all the twigs away so that we can sleep on flat land

Our campsite on the first day

Cooking in the jungle is actually quite fun

The second day 17 December, we woke up early and cooked our breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was instant bubur while lunch was nasi goreng. Then we packed our tents and started trekking around 9am and aimed to reach Musang Camp at KM10.8. It started to rain not long after that so we wore our ponchos to minimize getting soaked wet. We had our lunch and hot drinks at Kepuakan Camp located at KM8 which is just beside the river before continuing on to Musang Camp.

Lunch at Kepuakan Camp

Boiling water with this pot to make drinks because we had forgotten to bring a kettle.Hahaa

We reached Musang Camp at KM10.8 soaking wet around 3pm and the guys set up our kitchen camp. We made maggi kari to warm up before setting our tents. Mother nature is your toilet after KM4..there is a specific area at Musang Camp that people did their "business" because we saw tissues on the ground.

Hot maggi with eggs..the best on a rainy day!

Our campsite at Musang Camp. The guys made us a roof with garbage bags.

The rain continued until night time and the surrounding area was so cold even warm coffee was not enough. It was one of my worst night ever since everything was soak wet from our sleeping bag to our clothes..our hair..everything. All of us hardly had any sleep that night and yet we had to wake up early the next day to trek to the summit. Thankfully the rain stop around 10pm.

Our kitchen camp at Musang Camp

On the early morning of 18 December 2017, everyone looked haggard from lack of sleep but we could still laugh at the situation. Meurel looks extra pale though and he also lost one of his contact lens so he only had one good eye. I bought along my daily lenses but our degrees were different so I could not help him out there. We ate chicken floss sandwiched for breakfast before beginning our hike at 3am. Actually the first 10km hike was not that bad..it was the 4km hike to the summit that was really tough. The first 2km consist of mossy forest where you have to crawl and used tree roots to hurled yourself up..the last 2km consist of rocky terrains that is much...much harder than scaling Mulu Pinnacles rocks. I felt the first 2km was fine for me but then when the rocky trail started I began to feel more and more exhausted with each step. At the rocky trail, Aldro who was initially at the front changed his position to the middle of the group so I was the front person which was okay for the first few minutes. But then, being the tough gal that I was, it was too hard (and stubborn) for me to admit at that time that there were some physical things I could not overcome alone. Now here is the bittersweet thing with hiking with your close friends who knows you very very well. When John saw that I began to struggle a bit to get myself up some part of the rocks. He immediately signal from behind the group for me to stop and went to the front of the pack.. The pros is that I did not even have to say out loud that I needed some help. He was the guide when the front guide was no where to be seen. The cons is he starts to nag me when he was at the front to control my breathing,etc. But I told him my breathing was fine..it was my legs that was not cooperating. Our group continued to help each other out until all of us reached the summit at 9am.

That's me and my partner in crime Fei. It's quite seldom that gals like extreme outdoor like this so having a gal that was willing to try hiking trails like this is a Gem

There was an area around 2km before the summit that had an amazing view. We spend quite some time there taking pictures. Upon reaching the summit, there wasn't actually any view because of the fog but we were quite satisfied taking photos with the summit signage.

My favorite photo taken by Fei. Absolutely amazing view up here

Somewhere 2km before the summit

Well it's me, holding up 3 fingers for 3 of the highest mountain in Sabah and Malaysia that I've conquered in 2017, Mount Kinabalu, Mount Trusmadi & last but not least Mount Tambuyukon

Our group photo on top!we made sure to stand in the same position as our initial group photo. Hahaa

At the summit, we cooked hot water and ate maggi before starting our descend down to Musang Camp. Now the guide infront once again galloped off back to Musang Camp bringing Aldro with him. I could not catch up so once again, I was infront. Hahahaaa.. I remembered saying to Fei "Okay Fei, kita pelahan-lahan ensot turun yaa.." Once we reached the big dangerous boulder where we could fall to our death, I stopped and the remaining guys and guide behind caught up to us by then. Again, John saw the situation and automatically resumed front guide duty. Once we reached Musang Camp, we had to pack our stuff and then continued to trek to Kepuakan Camp for the night. Rice for dinner was already cooked by Aldro while waiting for us to arrive.


It was really agonizing trekking down to Kepuakan Camp since the trail was slippery and I fell down here and there. Again, deja vu I became the front of the pack because the guide infront was too fast and had galloped down with one of the guy. The trail down from Musang Camp to Kepuakan was not that difficult so I was initially fine infront but at one point I keep confusing the trail so John step to the front of the pack to find the right trail while Weiter, our guide took care of the group from behind. We reached the camp together around 6pm but the river level had risen up even though it did not rain. When you have ladies in the group they come with extra drama and spices but rest assured the trip was anything but boring because of us. Hahaaaa. I saw the river and automatically look towards Meurel's face and admitting "I can't do this.." so Meurel called John over to come get me after sending Fei safely to the other side. The 3 guys in our group work together to helped us cross one by one since raging river was not us gal's forte. The guides..well..no comment. It was our last night in the jungle, we feast on almost all our food. I made corn soup in the middle of the jungle..hooray that nobody got food poisoning in those 4 days. The leeches number was highest in Kepuakan Camp but us gals hardly got bitten at our feet there eventhough we wore slippers because of our insect repellent spray. But they keep trying to crawl on our clothes. I finished 2 cans of insect repellent spray in a span of 4 days. The guys, they don't seem to mind donating their blood..they even went for a swim at the river in the middle of the night. Well, boys will be boys I guess.

I would miss the soothing silence I found only in the forest

Our campsite at Kepuakan Camp

The river in the morning had a different vibe once the water level had gone down

Meurel washing his socks

Last day in Tambuyukon

The morning of 19 December, we had to hike back to our starting point.. we woke up early to wash up and pack. I was saving a pack of kolomee sarawak noodles for celebration. While boiling the mee, I said to John who was co-chef of the morning..just let it boil then remove the water like normal instant mee goreng. "Okay..okay" he said so I ran off to wash my face at the river..then lo and behold, I looked around after I finished and there was John nearby washing up too (John??!!) Hahaaaa. I instinctly ran back to the kitchen camp to find the noodles dissolving into a soup..it could not be safe. John came back and I nag him about it and decided not to use it and instead made nasi goreng for breakfast with the leftover rice from yesterday. We shall have our konomee feast in Ranau Isaid.

For the 8km  hike back down, we changed our position with John infront, me & Meurel in the middle and Fei & Aldro behind. My second pair of leech sock keeps slipping down so I ended up being bitten by leeches around my ankle. Meurel has only one good eyesight, so when I fell down, he would fell down the slippery slope as well..which was hillarious at one point. Also, John accused my voice of scaring off a Bakas or pig he was eyeing up infront (Ceh..).

We reached the starting point around 2.30pm and had our group photo taken. Afterwards, began the task of removing all leeches from our legs. All of us showered and changed into clean clothes left in the car before heading out home.

AAww..our group photo when we reached back to the starting point in Monggis station

My bloody feet because my leech socks keep falling down that day

John parting with his leech collection

Aldro's feet looking like a disease. All of our feet look more or less like this because of our wet shoes but they turn back normal once we soak our feet in the river.

We celebrated our day at Ranau's hakka food court.. I ordered all the cold drinks I was fantasizing in the forest. Teh C Special Ping and Nescafe Ping. Heeheee..

The guys looking pleased with themselves at the Hakka food court parking in Ranau

Needless to say, what a year it has been. I scaled Mount Trusmadi via Sinua Trail in December 2016, then went back Mount Trusmadi via Kaingaran Trail in January 2017, climbed up Mount Kinabalu and Mulu Pinnacles in August 2017 and ending the year climbing Mount Tambuyukon!!

I recommend hiking up Mount Tambuyukon with close hiking buddies because at the end of the day, there were gratitude emotions no words could expressed, genuine kindness shown in action not empty words and memories made only in Tambuyukon that will stay with you for the rest of your lives.

Here's a video montage I made dedicated to our trip