Reaching The Summit: Packing the Backpack

Nearly one week from now I will fly to Sabah and have an adventure outing on the end of this month. Just one week need to forget about electronic or ICT stuff, and become closer to the nature.

It was a long time I didn't put myself into the beautiful of flora and fauna. Last time I was outing with my students to National Park in Pahang in April 2008 for education purpose. We spent 4 days 3 nights together.

Next weekend will my first outdoor and adventure trip for this year. Thanks to MARC UTM for accepting me to join their group for this expedition. This will be my second time to Sabah, and second time to attempt climbing Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in South-East Asia. This time we will hike up using Mesilau Trail and hike down follow more popular trail to Timpohon Gate at Kinabalu Park Headquaters.

Another experiment I trying to do is to have lightweight backpacking style for a week to Sabah. Earlier during my age when started to involve in outdoor activities, I love to load many items either it for personal use or group use including attire, foods and equipments (at one time I have carried rock climbing equipments). My haversack must be minimum 75 litre and weight around 15-20kg for more than 4 days hiking.

But during 2001, I carried 22 litre backpack for cycling around Peninsular of Malaysia for 18 days by mountain bike. You can imagine how I manage my stuff. Plus in 2002 I already carried the same bag for hiking trip for 3 days. So why not this time for a week I just carry 30 litre backpack.

The main challenge is, the attire that needs to put inside the back. The most huge space eater is the weatherproof jacket. Secondly the sleeping bag, an extra clothing for under 5 degree Celcius condition and maybe some foods (for hiking along the trails at Kinabalu). Until now I didn't have a time to packing my stuff according to the list I made for lightweight backpacking. Maybe the exact figure can be sort out thoroughly after I did it.

So that’s the plan until now, lightweight backpacking is my concern for this Borneo trip!