Miri and Mulu, Part 2: Ladders, Limestone and Leeches

Continued from last post

We visited Clearwater Cave as the first stop on our Pinnacles trek, so it wasn’t a nice surprise to walk out into a tropical downpour. A forty minute longboat ride and a three hour walk lay ahead of us that day, so we ate our lunch under a shelter and hoped for the rain to stop.

It didn’t. We had only light raincoats and pack liners. But, unlike in New Zealand, the rain here is warm and hypothermia is not a concern, so we changed into our togs and got into the boat. After a 40 minute ride up the swollen river we arrived at the trail end, three hours from camp. We were in a group of five – the two of us along with three people from the Netherlands.

The heavy rain had covered a lot of the trail, so we were walking through muddy bogs and an inch or two of water most of the time. Any thoughts of keeping our feet dry were quickly abandoned, and warm muddy water was soon squelching around inside our shoes.

A few minutes into the trek, one of the people in our group let out a shriek. A big leech, about 4cm long, was bulging and flailing as it crawled up her leg. It hadn’t yet latched on to feed, so she was able to quickly pull it off and flick it away.

It certainly wasn’t the last leech that was going to try to feed from us. It didn’t take long for the second, and then the third to be discovered. By the time the trip was finished we had collectively pulled more than 40 leeches off us! Torrential rain and bloodsucking leeches – essential to authentic tropical rainforest ambience.

We got into the camp, hung up our wet clothes, ate our dinner, played some cards and then went to bed. The rain hadn’t been a problem on the first day, but if it was raining in the morning our trek up the Pinnacles would be cancelled. The trail is too steep and slippery to allow climbing it in the rain.

We woke at 6:00am to a heavily overcast, but rain-free sky. Soon we were on the trail, using our headlamps in the dim dawn light beneath the canopy. The Pinnacles trek is steep, climbing a metre vertically for every two metres walked. The last section of trail is near vertical in places, with a series of ropes and ladders helping you climb the exposed terrain.

After a 3.5 hour slog uphill we reached the top and sat down to enjoy our lunch and the view. We had made it! We were so lucky to have avoided the rain and made it to the top.

The pinnacles - tall limestone spires, formed by rainfall dissolving the rock.

Going downhill was perhaps even more challenging than going uphill, as we scrambled down the steep terrain of slippery rock and tree roots. And, after threatening us all morning, the skies finally decided to open up and heave rain down on us. We got back to camp just under eight hours from when we started, stripped off our soaked rain gear and gratefully sat down to hot food and drinks.

The next day we all awoke with aching muscles and hobbled around getting ready for the walk back out of the forest. The rain was even heavier than the last two days, but by this time we were used to it. We trudged down the flooded trail for three hours, picking leeches off us as we went, until we reached the longboat that would take us back to the national park HQ.

Sitting in the boat, we thought that we had finally escaped the leeches. Then Craig pulled up his sleeve and found a big one feeding on his hand. We had heard that once a leech is attached you’re not supposed to pull it off. So it was left to sit there, slowly growing larger as it fed.

The Pinnacles took their toll – it took four days until we were walking properly again! While we weren’t blown away by the views, we enjoyed the satisfaction of having completed a challenging hike and it was great to experience the wild tropical rainforest beyond the boardwalks.

Our final day in Mulu, with no walks planned, was the only day that it was sunny all day long! Not that we’re complaining – during the week we were treated to some incredible thunderstorms like we’d never seen before. We flew out of Mulu bound for Kuching, the southern-most city in Sarawak.

The road out of town

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson