Tour de Ophir (part dua)

A river runs through it

And so, as the legendary story goes, the Commando, the Marathoner and the Bodybuilder were now joined by the Ranger as they headed up Ophir under extremely treacherous conditions. But first, a little correction about what I said earlier: The ranger office is the small office at the resort, while the shack where the Ranger joined us is actually the guide office at CP1 (See Map).

The Ranger informed us that it would take about 3 hours to go from CP1 to CP4. We checked our watches: 1pm. So off we went again. This was to me the most strenous part of the whole expedition, as we were carrying our full loads. The Bodybuilder may be used to carrying heavy weights, but not when climbing up steep slopes and clinging on to tree branches for support!

There's a river running down the mountain very close to our trail up, which at certain parts breaks into scenic waterfalls. It's a pity, though, that as we laboured along, we didn't have much time nor mood to enjoy them. It was until some time later when we arrived at CP3 that we took a break and some photos as well of the small waterfall there. Oh, did I mention as we were struggling our way up, it was like a stroll to the Ranger?

We didn't rest long before proceeding. At 2.30pm we reached CP4, and that was well ahead of schedule. CP4 is a flat campsite littered with trees and a river running just nearby. There were already many tents set up and people resting. The Ranger then advised us to camp here, since we'll be using hammocks instead of tents. We had planned to camp at CP5, but he said the trees there are few and far between. So.. no choice.

So we spent the next hour or so setting up our hammocks. Next to a big and noisy group of Malays, we found four trees that formed a square and tied our hammocks on 3 sides. In the middle we laid a groundsheet for resting and placing our stuff. Three more groundsheets were hung up above our hammocks for shelter using a combination of comscot, toggle rope and buggee cords. Without a doubt, our nesting area was the most creative of the lot there (some might say silly/unnecessary/total waste of effort). Well, with the hard uneven ground, sleeping in hammocks sure beats the tents. But if it rains, we'll likely be the first to cry in misery!

We gave up the notion of venturing up the summit before sunset, and spent the time just chatting and listening to songs (brought mp3 players and speakers). At 6pm, we started cooking dinner using our gas canister. Set dinner of the day was:

• 5 packs of instant mee (cooked 3)
• 1 pack of teriyaki chicken
• 1 pack of sausages (total 10 pieces)
• 2 packs of wantons (total 24 pieces)
• 2 packs of vegetables (cooked 1)
• 1 pack of grapes (plucked and unseeded)

You could also add $2 for:

• salad (various tropical species available), or
  
• soup of the day (check with campers upstream)
  
• and a glass of soft drink (check with campers upstream)

Heheh, the last part is just kidding nia. :p

By the time we finished our dinner, it was 8 plus and already dark. Since we had to sleep early in order to get up for sunrise, it was immediately time for supper! Supper consisted of a bottle of wine, the remaining grapes and a Bangawan Solo walnut cake (yes, we brought a lot of food).

After supper, we just lay in our hammocks and tried to dig out gossip of one another and others' lives. Not very fruitful there. In the end, we still slept late - it was almost midnight.

(To be continued...)