Sweat is rolling over my back and dripping from my face. I feel my heart racing and my legs are burning. There’s waves rolling through the dense tropical forest, sound waves from the frogs and birds telling one another small stories. Looking above, there is thick fog and big drips are rolling down on us from the giant tree-branches wrapped in green hairy moss, giving them a fairytale look.
It’s the slope of Rinjani volcano we’re on, the second highest peek in Indonesia, almost in the middle of Lombok. In the next 3 days we’ll be rising to a dizzying altitude of 3.726m.
Rinjani is the second highest volcano in Indonesia, second only to Mount Kerinci on Sumatra, and it dominates the landscape of the relatively small island of Lombok.
Within its huge 50 km² caldera sits the crater lake Segara Anak (Child of the Sea). Eruptions within the caldera have formed a new small cone called appropriately enough, Gunung Baru (New Mountain).
The first day I rise at 04:30 to be driven to the basecamp. The young driver knows how to put his foot down and we hit speeds of 130KmH, insane for this island, I see dogs, chicken and people jumping out of the way and decide it’s better to just lay down and close my eyes to this madness.
After introductions and delicious banana pancakes we head for the registry point with our guide Owen, a guy of very few words. Then we’re good to go. The first hours are quite steep, but the trail is easy. I love it and have the feeling I walk around with a big smile on my face. The roots of the giant trees crisscross through our path and life is everywhere in the form of mushrooms, tiny plants struggling to catch sun-rays underneath a blanket of immense tropical trees. The climate changes slowly from hot and humid to foggy humid with a breeze. The change in temperature is lovely, but the trail converts as well. It becomes a sandy, rocky trail with few trees and dense fog so we can’t see much further than 30m.
We hope to get above the clouds, but unfortunately this never happens. We reach the camp at 2.600m. hardly seeing anything of the magnificent views this spot is famous for. I don’t mind and simply enjoy the whole experience. Clouds turn into rain from tiny specks to proper cats and dogs, so the porters better get those tents up.
Eventually all my stuff is humid to wet and I spend several hours in the tent waiting for the rain to pass. Just before dinner is served the rain stops and we get a chance to talk with each other and other groups that do the reverse tour. It seems we have quite something ahead of us. The 2.000m climb of today was just the warming up..!
I dream of a sleeper couch and firemen fixing my backpack until I wake up to the sound of a frying pan and the smell of pancakes. It’s 05.15 and the sun is slowly reveiling the massive lake below.
Half of our group decides to discontinue the journey and go back down. It’s only Maggie, Hélène and me now. The night has been quite cold and most of us haven’t slept well because if the height, cold, lack of proper clothing and thin yoga mats we have as beds.
We head down to the lake in the first 3 hours with beautiful views of what’s ahead. Temperature rises as we head down and sounds of the jungle come back. It’s not an easy descent, but we’re rewarded fast with a stop at the hot springs, where the monkeys stare down on these strange intruders. The first pools are pretty, as there are 2 waterfalls plunging into the separate pools, their temperature doesn’t excite us, as it’s just below comfortable.
Our guide Owen brings us back up the trail where some the ponds are fizzling and steaming, mentioning that there are some where you could boil an egg. We rest our tired muscles in the hot baths and enjoy the sunshine as long as it lasts. The weather is so unpredictable in the mountains, it’s sunny one moment and fully fogged up the next.
When we head for our lunch stop it starts raining, so we’re lucky to be the first group to arrive as there’s only one permanent hut with a floor and proper roof whereas the others get a mat on the floor with an improvised roof. Food has been great so far, consisting of a variety of grean beans, carrots, rice, noodles, eggs and fries chicken. The porters carry this in woven baskets across their shoulders along with our tents and other utensils. Just as our guide, they do the whole trail on flip-flops. I’m impressed.
After lunch we need to climb the same distance up as we did coming down to the lake. It’s rainy and there’s no view because of the fog, the trail changes from flat to steep to climbing rocks. It’s no walk in the park, but I enjoy every bit of it.
When we reach our camp, we’re greeted by monkeys and rewarded by sunshine. The porters build up camp as we stretch our muscles and hang out our damp clothes. We realise we did quite alright, as other groups come in over the next 3 hours after us. The afternoon is great, with clouds opening up at different sides giving us glimpses of both the lake and the summit.
Tonight we’ll have to gather all our strengths to reach the top, leaving at 02:00 to catch the sunrise. When we finish our dinner, the sun sets and it’s time to sleep.
Lightning of a distant thunderstorm wakes me at 01:00, I hobble to the toilet tent and see the milky way above me.
We have to hike 1100 meters up over a distance of 6km and have 3 hours to make it in time for sunrise. We are wrapped in all our clothes, as it gets chilly up there. We’re fortunate, there is no wind this night. I am surprisingly fit and manage to keep up with Owen. The majority of the ascent is on loose black volcanic gravel, imagine going up a mountain with powder snow, and that for an hour and a half and you get the idea.
As we finally reach the summit, the first lines of pink are breaking through the night, and soon enough the sun comes up, showing all islands surrounding us, it’s breathtakingly beautiful. I am on cloud number 9 and proud to be here. As daylight replaces the stars we see the black narrow rim we’ve been climbing, and in the far distance even our yellow and orange tents on the green vegetated rim. After snapping many pictures, the cold forces us to descend, we slide as if we would be skiing, hati hati! (careful)! It takes 2 hours of sliding, stumbling and falling to get to camp, where we get breakfast; banana pancakes! I’m almost too tired to eat and feel my cheeks glowing. No time to rest, we have to head back down.
Temperature rises as we carefully place our feet, and soon enough we’re back in the greens. This side of Gunung Rinjani is flatter on the bottom, which makes it a long and easy return to the pickup truck, where the porters awaiting us. The last thing I climb that day is the back of the truck and once we drive the serpentine roads, I close my eyes and doze off…
Planet Bubbles 