GUNUNG TRUSMADI, at 2,462m or 8,669ft, is Malaysia's second highest mountain after Gunung Kinabalu (4,101m or 13.433ft). It lies approximately between the districts of Tambunan to the north and Keningau to the south (in the state of Sabah in Borneo).
 Unlike Gunung (Mount) Kinabalu which is visited by thousands of people every year, Gunung Trusmadi - situated some 70km southeast of Kota Kinabalu - is not a tourist mountain and is rarely visited. Until recently, only one or two expeditions climb Gunung Trusmadi each year.
 The summit (of Gunung Trusmadi) is reputed to have the best dawn view of Gunung Kinabalu, which lies over 40km to the north. An unique pitcher plant, Nepenthes x trusmadiensis (a natural hybrid between Nepenthes lowii and Nepenthes edwardsiana) is found here and nowhere else.
 The trek to the Gunung Trusmadi summit, along a trail blazed by some Tambunan youths, and down to Kampung Sinoa in Keningau took a week from March 8 to 14, 1990. (This trail is different from the one described by John Briggs in his book Mountains of Malaysia - a Practical Guide and Manual.)
 Our team comprised Abdullah Piee as expedition leader, Tang Fook Leong (deputy leader and navigator), Lim Kok Peng, Chin Fah Shin, Abdullah Abdul Wahab, Lim Ai Mee, Soo Kwee Eng, Andrew Chan and Bruce Comer (the latter two from the Singapore branch).
 MARCH 7: We arrived at Kota Kinabalu just before noon from Kuala Lumpur and checked into the Travellers' Resthouse. Andrew and Bruce had arrived on an earlier flight from Singapore.
 MARCH 8: We left for the bus terminal at 7.30am and chartered a bus (actually a 14-seater van) to take us to Tambunan. We crossed the Crocker Range and sighted the Trusmadi Range as we approached the Tambunan Valley.
 On arrival at Tambunan (the town) about 10.30am we called on the district officer.
 After lunch, we proceeded to Kampung Batu Enam where the bus driver made enquiries for us about finding a guide. We were told that word would be sent out for one to meet us.
 We waited at the farmhouse of an old farmer who offered us the use of the house. Later in the afternoon, the guide, Maikol Sikin, came. We discussed the route with him and decided to start out at 8am the next day.
 We were asked to take along another youth, Dick Olang, and two sisters, Rita and Rostina Motogor. We learned later that the two sisters had been to the summit three times before and knew the trail very well.
 MARCH 9: With the Sabahans leading the way, we trekked through a partly cultivated hillside and disturbed primary forest. We walked for nearly two hours, uphill all the way, before coming to a logging track.
 It was hot trekking along the open, undulating logging track and we stopped quite frequently to rest.
 About 2.45pm we reached a logging kongsi. There was no one around and we continued after another rest stop.
 Further along the track, we heard a truck coming and flagged it down. The driver agreed to carry our rucksacks and place them at the spot that would be our campsite. Rita went along with the rucksacks as she knew the spot. Soon another pick-up truck approached and this time we all got a lift. By 5pm, we had settled down at the campsite, which was an abandoned logging camp.
 That night we decided to rest for a day. The campsite near a very small stream was our last watering point.
 MARCH 10: We took it easy for the whole day, resting and conserving our energy for the climb. We saw the same pick-up trucks taking loggers to work in the morning and fetching them in the evening. Otherwise, we were alone in the forest.
 MARCH 11: We broke camp at 7am. Leong volunteered to carry the bulk of the water supply in a collapsible plastic container. We filled all available containers with water before setting out again on the logging track.
 Soon the Trusmadi Range came into view. The sight lifted our spirit and we continued. About 8.20am we left the logging track and entered montane forest. After trekking along a faint ridge-top trail for one-and-half hours, we came to a forest reserve boundary, marked by a small post, at an elevation of about 6,000ft.
 About 10am, we reached the first of the three peaks that we had to surmount. According to Rita, two local youths - Roger Georgemool and Awing - tried in 1983 to find a new trail to the summit. They got as far as this 7,600ft peak which the locals now call Wingro Peak after them.
 We reached the second peak about 1.40pm. From here onwards, the trail was very steep. At some spots, it was almost vertical and we had to clamber up, finding footholds on tree roots and grasping anything that gave us a firm hold.
 We reached the third peak (elevation about 8,500ft) about 4.00pm. Rita called this peak Terryro. According to her, Roger Georgemool, leading four local youths in another attempt in 1985, succeeded in reaching the summit. The others were Teddy Tami and his brother Tony, Rayner, and John Joseph.
 Some of us reached the summit about 4.30pm. The rest caught up by 6pm. Gunung Trusmadi has two peaks, the true peak being only 2ft. (less than one metre) higher than the secondary peak. But it is the secondary peak which has a grand view of Gunung Kinabalu and a good campsite nearby.
 Stopping just a few minutes for photographs, we hurried to the secondary peak, 15 to 20 minutes’ walk along the summit ridge. We pitched our tents as night closed in.
 It was already 9.30pm when we had our dinner - under a full moon. Most of us were so tired we were ready to go to sleep right after dinner.

 MARCH 12: We rose about 5.30am. It was cold and windy. We made straight for the peak to be greeted by a dreamlike scene. Last night's full moon was fading in the western sky. Dawn was breaking, and to the north Gunung Kinabalu loomed above a veil of mist. We took lots of photographs while the guides were content just to take in the view.
 As it became brighter and some of the clouds below us cleared away, we could also see (from the other side of the mountain) a logging track to the south and a settlement which we guessed was Kampung Sinoa.
 After a breakfast of noodles, we collected and burned the rubbish from the the summit and the campsite. Strewn about the campsite were metal sheets which we believe had been torn off from the survey beacons in the past. All that was left of the survey beacon on the true peak is its metal frame. We collected these metal sheets and neatly piled them aside.
 We had the rest of the day to explore the summit and we set out to look for Nepenthes x trusmadiensis.
 The previous day, we had seen lots of N. lowii, easily recognised by its peculiar gourd-like pitchers, after we passed Wingro Peak (elevation 7,600ft).
 N. edwardsiana, which we thought at that time to be N. x trusmadiensis, became plentiful close to the summit and on the summit ridge. However, we could not be sure as none of us had seen either N. edwardsiana or N. x trusmadiensis before. We took pictures of different pitchers we found on the summit ridge in the hope of getting at least one of N. x trusmadiensis. No such luck! We didn't get a single one but I did find one other pitcher plant of dubious identity. (see Pitcher Bristling with Mystery)
 It was later that we found out how rare the hybrid is. It was discovered by German botanist Johannes Marabini, who specialises in pitcher plants, in March 1983 (see Malayan Naturalist, Vol. 38 No. 2). In March 1984, a group of researchers following up on Marabini’s discovery found only four plants of N. x trusmadiensis on the summit ridge.
 MARCH 13: We got another magnificent dawn view of Gunung Kinabalu before breaking camp around 7.50am. We began the descent, heading east along the ridge. We came to a fork near an old campsite, one trail leading down to the Toboban Gorge (Rita was familiar with this). We took the other trail that presumably would lead us to Kampung Sinoa.
 This, continuing eastwards, was very steep in many places. We also had to push ourselves through bamboo thickets.
 By about 10.40am, we realised we were heading the wrong way. We tried to break out in a southeasterly direction.
 At one point we could see a logging track through gaps in the trees and even heard a motor vehicle. This was around 2.25pm. However, because of the terrain we had no choice but to continue along the ridge. We continued to head south-east but by 6.15pm we knew that we were still far from the logging track.
 By nightfall we decided to find a suitable place to spend the night. We found relatively flat ground around 8.45pm. We had tea and trail food for dinner before going to sleep.
 MARCH 14: We were ready to roll by 8.15am. We followed the ridge trail for a short distance and then turned sharply in a south-south-easterly direction, following a line of trees that had been marked with red paint. There was no trail after this point and we headed down a steep slope.
 At 9.50am we came to a small stream cascading down a rock face. We whooped with joy. We washed ourselves for the first time after three days. After a hot meal made from potato powder and instant chicken soup, we set out again about 11.40am.
 We reached the logging track around noon and, under a blazing sun, headed for Kampung Sinoa, a settlement of 75 houses. We waited in this village and got a bus at 6.00pm to take us to Keningau town. It was a four-hour journey to Keningau, most of it along an unsurfaced road. We checked into a hotel whose air-conditioned comfort was a big contrast to the previous night’s accommodation in the forest.
 MARCH 15: We said goodbye to the four guides as they boarded a bus for home. We spent half-a-day in Keningau, getting our clothes washed at a laundrette and shopping. After lunch, seven of us took a bus to Tenom, leaving Pie and Leong to continue their journey (a recce mission to Pensiangan).
 During the rest of a two-week backpacking holiday, some of us also visited the Tenom Orchid Centre on March 16. The centre is within the Tenom Agriculture Research Station in Lagud Sebrang, 15km from Tenom town. We were shown around the orchid centre by well-known botanical artist C.L. Chan. We also met other officers of the research centre, including Anthony Lamb, the principal research officer.
 Some of us visited Kinabalu Park and climbed Gunung Kinabalu on March 19 and 20 (we had made bookings for accommodation at the Sabah Parks office soon after arriving in Kota Kinabalu on March 7). On March 21, we returned to the Travellers' Resthouse where we found Piee and Leong. They told us that after Pensiangan, they had made another trip to Tambunan to visit the four guides. We took our flight home, arriving in Kuala Lumpur around midnight.
 OBSERVATION: There was a lot of rubbish on the Gunung Trusmadi summit. There is evidently a need for some form of control or supervision to ensure that future climbers do not spoil the place, especially since Gunung Trusmadi has now become more accessible.
 The campsite appears to be large enough to easily accommodate four or five 3- or 4-man tents. This patch of ground had been cleared, leaving a fringe of shrubs all around to form a natural windbreak. Any further cutting of the shrubs could render this windbreak ineffective.

 (Published in the Malayan Naturalist, Vol. 44 Nos. 2 & 3, December 1990/March 1991 combined issue.)

 * There are now several tour agencies in Sabah which "do" Gunung Trusmadi. I understand that in the "easy" package, climbers are driven in 4WDs right up to the edge of the montane forest. If you want to visit Gunung Trusmadi, please check out the Sabah Tourism websites.