Climb down to Kelingking Beach

“This is where I almost passed out from dehydration. My friends and I were unaware of how difficult the hike would be and thus didn’t carry enough water (in fact, we weren’t anticipating a hike at all). We visited in the middle of the day when the heat and crowds were at an all-time high. People were cranky and yelling at one another to move. [...] After pushing through about a third of the way back up, I reached a point of exhaustion. I began to lose vision, heard ringing in my ears, felt dizzy, and had a sensation that everything around me was spinning. I was low on water and still had most of the hike left before reaching the top. If it weren’t for other visitors who so graciously shared their water (and one guy who poured some on me), there’s just no way I would’ve made it back.”

“We couldn’t rely on the wooden handrails, which were held in place by a blue rope. There are a lot of loose parts, and if you fall, you’re on your own. I wiggled the wooden handrails before making a move. I clung to the rocks if they weren’t strong enough. The most difficult part was getting halfway to the bottom. The rock path appeared nearly vertical in some places. We crawled on the rocks with both hands at these points. We became rock climbers.”

“Eventually Vince managed to talk me into leaving the Macaques, and we began our descent down to Kelingking Beach. The path was only wide enough for one person to be walking in most places, so there was a lot of stop-and-go to let people through. We stopped to take in the view about halfway down, then pressed on as the path grew more and more vertical. The trail had hand rails that were made of bamboo held together only by bright blue rope. By the time we finally made it to the beach, I was feeling a little shaky, but I was so happy to dig my toes into the soft sand of Kelingking Beach.”