How to Hike Unique Pinnacles at Mulu in Beautiful Borneo Malaysia

In a remote section of the Borneo rain forest at Mulu National Park a unique formation of limestone rocks called The Pinnacles jut up from the earth. Piercing some 50 meters into the sky, rock formation has been about 5 million years in the making. You know, no big deal mother nature!

For those seeking adventure and work out there is a 2 night/ 3 day hike to reach the view point of The Pinnacles. For those wishing to actually do the hike, all the information is at the bottom. For those wishing to join vicariously via the world wide web, get ready, here we go!

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

This hike is not for the faint of heart. Although the main part of the hike is only about 2.4 kms uphill one way, it took our group a good eight hours plus to complete the hike there and back. Elevation gain is 1200 meters and with the steepness, heat and humidity there are some that just can’t make it to the top.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Although it’s hard to show just how step the incline is, many sections of trail had ropes for climbers to either pull themselves up or steady themselves on the way down.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Leaving the small village behind, you reach the start of the hike by jumping into long boats.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

I loved the bright and vibrant colors. But oh my gosh, getting upstream to the start of the hike was one of the hardest things of the whole hike! We were in Mulu in July and the water level was rather low. Add in the extra pack weight and the boats were constantly hitting the bottom. So everyone would have to jump out of the boat to help push it up stream. People were slipping and falling on the rocks and thus getting dunked in the water (although it felt good because it was so hot.) It really gave us a great appreciation for how hard of work it was to get those boats up and down stream. Our leg muscles were sore for days.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

When the boats drop you off everyone walks on their own about 8 kms to the camp at your own pace. It’s a well marked path through the Borneo rainforest that is almost a straight shot. Everyone in our group was anxious to go but Chris and I had not yet eaten our packed lunches and were hungry. So we stayed behind to eat our lunch as everyone else took off down the path. What ended up happening is we got to slowly walk through a pristine piece of remote jungle all on our own with no other sounds, distractions or worries. It was one of my most favorite and peaceful times of being in Borneo. Sometimes it pays to not follow the group and be content to be the last one into camp.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

And what a camp it was! I will say hats off and great job Mulu National Park service for the excellent management of this facility. Everything about this hike was so well organized. There are multiple types of groups that use the camp from private tours to people (like us) who just booked with the national park directly. Everyone had an assigned little sleeping quarters. There was a big and clean kitchen to use, tables for everyone underneath the cover and the bathrooms were very clean and functional with western toilets. The number of people allowed in camp every day was strictly limited and this made for a very pleasant experience for everyone. Especially in these high demand areas like this, if it’s not well maintained they can great gross so fast. Mulu National Park was doing a superior job in keeping this nice for everyone and in turn visitors also treated the area with respect.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Then the climbing to the Pinnacles starts.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

For the first kilometer or so it’s just intense hiking up, which each person must do within a certain amount of time to be allowed to carry on. Then the ladders start. Hikers have to take turns as they must navigate at least 15 ladders, rock scrambling and continued climbing.

With all this climbing, let’s take a break and here is a video giving a bit more first hand look into the hike.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Once we make it to the top look at that reward – wow!

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Jutting up out of the earth, centuries of water have eroded these limestone features called The Pinnacles to the razor like spikes they are today.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Enjoying our lunches, we couldn’t help but notice the box this guy in our group was carrying around to use as a lunch box. When asked about it, turns out the box was a gift from the Sultan of Bruni! He had been able to go to the palace for the Sultan’s birthday, shake his hand and was given this box originally with a fruit cake in it as a present. Very cool.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

After enjoying the view of the Pinnacles we all started to make our way back down the mountain. That was definitely the hardest part for most people. The intense down, down, down used those upper thigh muscles way more than any regular hiking so it caused for quite a lot of sore muscles.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Luckily however upon getting to the bottom most of us jumped straight into the river. It was so refreshing on the body after sweating so much on the hike.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Then people came to lay out, relax and rest their weary muscles after the hike.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

Chris and I went across the river and this was the view of camp. If you look closely you can just barely see the brown roof of the building. I love how blended in camp was, yet another sign of excellent vision and low impact camping executed by the parks service.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

After some heart pumping hiking we all readied ourselves to hike back through the forest to the boat pick up point. There were multiple swing bridge crossings like this to go over.

Pinnacles Mulu National Park Vagabond Way

We all piled back into the long boats as our skilled boatsmen got us down stream. Pleasantly we didn’t have to jump out as many times to return.

Hiking the Pinnacles Hike in Mulu National Park was one of our highlights from our time there. Thank you for coming along on this virtual hiking tour and if you get a chance to go there yourself, let us know how it goes and please say hello to Dina and Robert for us! 🙂

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If you go:

Check out Mulu National Park website – this is the official park website. (There are a couple websites that look really similar and they can be easily confused.)

If you are traveling peak season or with limited time, book ahead via the park office for caving and activities. Space is limited and does fill up.

Accommodation:

Unless you do a multiple day hike in via the Headhunters Trail, you will need to take MAS Wings to park. Do NOT cut yourself short on your flight days! While we were there they often cancelled the flights and/or changed the times. It’s not a big deal if you have the time, it is a big deal if you booked your flight out of Mulu and an international flight the next day. Save a lot of stress and give yourself a BUFFER day.

We stayed at D’Cave Homestay and highly recommend this as our first choice. You can stay in the park, but it’s a lot more expensive. Staying in a homestay just outside the park (D’Cave is about a six minute walk) is a great way to help support the local community. There are a handful of options leading up to the park, D’Cave is one of the only ones that leaves the generator on all night from about 6 pm to 6 am – which means you’ll have a fan all night long. Best if you can call them at 01115085990, 0128729752 , 01115117599 or email beckhamjunior40@yahoo.com (there may be a delayed response via email because of a lack of internet.)

Food:

Plenty of little restaurants just outside the park and again, great way to support the local community. We just ate a different place each day and sometimes ate at the park canteen.

You can buy simply snacks/supplies and there is a small shop if you were to walk towards the Marriot. You shouldn’t need anything major foodwise while you’re there as the restaurants are sufficient, but if you were hiking the Pinnacles for instance, better to buy your food before hand and bring it with you.

Money and Internet:

There are NO ATMS so come prepared with cash. If you read the park website it says cash advance can be done at the office for a fee, but the entire time we were there it was unavailable.

Don’t plan to need internet. The park office says they have it, but we couldn’t get a page to load. Perhaps it would be better if you were just using a phone. If you get in a pinch, you can go to the Marriot and either buy a meal or pay to use internet there, but again, it’s not a guarantee it will work. Book any plane tickets and pay your credit cards ahead of time to avoid stress.

Arrival/Departure Cities:

You can fly out of Kuching, Miri or Kota Kinabalu in Borneo, Malaysia. These are the places we stayed in any of those cities.

Miri:

Next Room Backpackers – had the nicest rooms, but the men’s bathroom was kinda gross. Ladies bathroom was fine.

My Homestay – nicest kitchen facility to use and super nice bathrooms, but the rooms were cell like and not appealing.

Kota Kinabalu:

We stayed at Red Palm Hostel and were pleased there.

Kuching:

In Kuching, we stayed at Marco Polos and loved our stay there. We also checked out the facilities and heard from other travelers they enjoyed their stay at Singgahsana Lodge.

Related Posts:

Exciting Racer Cave Adventure in Mulu National Park

If you need good travel gear or clothes for hiking The Pinnacles, check out this post.

Enjoy your time at Mulu! It was one of our favorite parks! 🙂

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Have you ever gone to a park so remote you had to hike in, take a small plane or boat to?

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Much of the gear listed in this post is the same exact gear we used to have a comfortable hike.
These same booking resources are the same exact ones we use to find deals and acquire points for more travel.
I will never recommend to get a credit card unless you are 100% solid to pay it off in full every month. If you will and are going to be making some big purchases, this Chase card is the same exact card we use and it offers great travel points and perks.
Finally, if you have not used AirBnB before, use this special link to sign up and get $40 off your first booking.

** Plan on traveling soon or making a purchase from Amazon? Please consider using the links on our resource page. At no cost difference to you we will earn a small commission to help keep this site running. Thank you so much for this thoughtful gesture. 

 

 

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28 Responses to “How to Hike Unique Pinnacles at Mulu in Beautiful Borneo Malaysia

  • Wonderful post and beautiful photos! The Pinnacles are amazing and hard to even imagine. Love all the info and all the links.

    • Thanks! Yeah we loved this hike and had not seen rock formations quite like this anywhere else. It was a unique thing to do. 🙂

  • Beautiful amazing sights in the world.

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thank you so much for coming along to see these sights Tom! We are so grateful to be able to experience all this. Mulu was such a cool chunk of land on this earth. 🙂

  • To say “unbelievable” would be a understatement! What a amazing adventure you and Chris are having! Good for you!
    mare

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thanks so much Mare! Indeed, what an adventure we are having. I can’t even wrap my head around it all. Thank you so much for following along! 🙂

  • Beautiful look at nature, now I want to go! Although the interwebs hikes was nice and relaxing 😉

  • Wow. Beautiful pictures and wonderfully written. Thanks for sharing. Happy you are following your own path.

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thank you so much John for the kind words! We are certainly grateful to be following our own path and thank you so much for coming along! We love following along on your path too! 🙂

  • Christine
    7 years ago

    Spectacular sights! I enjoyed seeing beautiful Mulu through your eyes. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thank you Christine! We just loved Mulu (spent 12 days there!) Chris worked really hard on putting together that video and we just were so lucky to have the weather we did! It was awesome!

  • Hey guys great post . I really enjoyed the video of your hike, what a wonderful view from the top.

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thank you so much and glad you enjoyed! We were so lucky with the weather that day! Barely any clouds and no rain! Glad you were able to watch the video!!! 🙂

  • Wow, the Pinnacles look so unique and beautiful. Did you find Malaysia to be pretty safe to travel around?

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Hi Nate! Yes, we found Malaysia so easy and safe to travel around. We had a great time all over the place! Are you thinking of going soon?

  • Wow the photos are amazing!! I’m so not the outdoorsy type and the hike looks pretty difficult, so I’ll just live vicariously through the photos 😀 Thanks for joining Fly Away Friday!!! xo
    Kana recently posted…Featured Friends: Erin from Curiously ErinMy Profile

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Well glad you can enjoy the pictures Kana! There are lots of board walks too for easy walking for those not doing the big hike. 🙂 #flyawayfriday

  • This looks so cool! I love these kinds of hikes, it’s such a great way to see nature in another country!
    #flyawayfriday
    Natalie recently posted…Comment on I Crashed a Scooter in Thailand by nattiekafMy Profile

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thanks Natalie! Yes, seeing the nature here was just awesome! We loved it! #flyawayfriday 🙂

  • wow!! I’ve never herd of this place but it looks absolutely amazing!! what an experience and those colors in your photos are just gorgeous1 def makes me want to go! Great post!

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thanks Chloe! Yeah, The Pinnacles are not largely known, but oh wow, what a place if you can get to it! 🙂

  • Hey thanks for your informative article. I would like to know how the trekking package is organized for the pinacles climbing. HOw much did you pay ? I can see in the package tours suggested airplane rates and accomodations, I am planning to fly there on my own means and then take the 3 days climbing package in the park directly.

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Hi Sana, Booking the hike directly with the park is definitely the cheapest thing to do. We paid 1036 MYR for two people to hike the Pinnacles. Then we booked directly with D’Cave homestay to sleep there. That was the cheapest thing to do and it was great! 🙂

  • David Liew
    6 years ago

    Hi, is it possible to do the hike on our own, without a guide?

  • Jacelyn
    5 years ago

    Hi,it look so amazing,i am gonna going there next week.
    Is it hard for climb?

    Thanks.

    • Hey Jacelyn! Oh that is so awesome! I would say it’s a hard hike, but totally fine if you are in ok shape. It’s more so the down hill is really steep and that is what can make your legs sore. Bring 2-3 liters of water for the hike up and good snakes and you should be all set. Would love to see pictures – it would be a great memory! 🙂

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