Indo Part 3 - Lombok and a bit of Rinjani
There's no going around it, Yogy was the low of the trip. Mt Rinjani, on the other hand, was the high. Here goes the tale:
The day after the bus tour in Yogy, we went to a waterfall and then flew to Lombok (2 islands over), and headed to Kuta to Ike's Hostel for the night. The next day, we got picked up by Rinjani Sunrise, the tour company that would be taking us up the mountain. From the get go, Lombok was smooth sailing. No traffic, beautiful lush forests, smiling people, places that took credit cards. Really great. I wish I could go back and go to the Gilli Islands instead of Yogy...but I digress.
Extra boys will be extra boys (this is the first waterfall, near Yogy)
Breakfast in Lombok at Milk Espresso
My acai bowl in a lil coconut
Don't hassle me I'm local
Rinjani Sunrise took us to some more waterfalls and then a hotel for the night to prepare for our 3 day 2 night hike. The hotel was a cute little hut overlooking beautiful and very tiered rice paddies, complete with monkeys scampering about and a sunset to rival anything I've ever seen. Golden hours in Indonesia are REAL.
Waterfall in Lombok
Golden hour and an Indonesian snack
View from the hotel
A shot of our patio and dinner table (where ron is sitting)
We had a 7am wake up call the next morning, where a young boy walked into our room and handed us these giant, juicy, banana pancakes. They were perfectly greasy and chewy. I've never considered myself much of a Jack Johnson fan but after this pancake, I might dabble in some of his stuff. These pancakes were a highlight of the trip. No joke I'll never forget them.
A pickup truck soon rolled by and we tossed in our bags and sat in the bed. 6 people jumped in with us: 4 porters (essentially dudes carrying our food and tents and whatnot) and 2 guides. Our main guide was named Awan, and then he had an apprentice, someone we simply called Alan Walker because of his love of the musical artist Alan Walker. We discovered this because the first day we met him, he spoke no English but was wearing a Jack Ü shirt. So, I asked him who else he liked and he said Alan Walker. It stuck. Alan the apprentice will live forever in our hearts as a pal who we could only truly speak to us through the universal language of the face melting, bass to your face dubstep.
Once the gang was all in the car, we set off to the foot of the mountain. Driving in the bed with 6 barefoot Indonesian men hooting and hollering around every turn and up every hill was the experience of a lifetime. Their happiness, and maybe mental instability, was infectious. This short trip alone was getting me stoked to climb.
Feel the wind in ur hair no one else can feel it for you
That being said, I really didn't know what to expect in Rinjani. I'd read a few blogs about it, all of which were more cautionary tales than they were recommendations. "ITS HARD AS FERK!! YOU WOULD REALLY RATHER LAY FACE DOWN IN SEWER WATER FOR 3 DAYS THAN DO THIS HIKE" was the general consensus about it. However, I was nonplussed. I'm relatively fit, so I'd like to think, and these blogs all came with some sort of caveat. "I wore converse!" said one. "I've never walked up an incline before!" said another. Surely I was more prepared than those dinguses. We had porters carrying the majority of the stuff...it couldn't be THAT bad...right?
So, turns out the porters carry our heavy stuff because the hike is so ferking hard that no one would do it if we had to carry it ourselves. You've surely heard of switchbacks, right? The zigzagging paths up mountains that offer some sort of relief to hikers. Well, Indonesia has never heard of a switchback. Every incline, and decline for that matter, on Rinjani was a straight line. I kid you not at times I was climbing vertically, Alex Honnold style.
I'm getting ahead of myself though. Our trek was going from west to east (you had the choice to go either way), and the first bit was just a slight incline over rolling green hills. The path is full of "positions" or "pos". So from basecamp to Pos 1 was about 2 km over said rolling hills, and we had lunch at Pos 2 which was about 1.5 km past that. "That was great!" We all probably said to each other while eating fried rice and sipping coffee thanks to the porters.
Look how cute and clean we were. Didn't last long.
I had my wits about me enough to take a selfie. Lol That also didn't last long.
This lunch spot was where I saw something pretty sad about Rinjani and I'd expect Indonesian parks in general: they definitely don't go by the Leave No Trace rule that US parks do. Trash is everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Same with flies and bugs and dirty toilet paper. Sorry for the visuals, but when we sat down to eat we were alarmed. Remember when I said Indonesia was a lawless land?? Well it truly is! A lawless land full of trash! Complete night and day from Singapore, where we went to for a day at the end of the trip.
The trash is mostly contained to the Positions, though you can see candy wrappers here and there on the trail too. Another thing to mention here is that the trail is extremely crowded, which would explain the trash. You couldn't hike more than a few seconds without someone coming the opposite way. Each Pos is filled to the brim with porters cooking and white people looking frightened and exhausted. I got used to everything, though, I had to. I was here for 3 days so had to accept it was the way it was. And probably will be until Indonesia gets its act together on its parks.
Trash ☹️
Pos 1 and 2 were a breeze and had us feeling good and confident. Then we hit the stretch in between Pos 2 and 3...which was...how can I say...not a exactly a breeze. The heat was unbearable, there was no shade, and it was the first taste of the challenges of the mountain. None of us were ready for this. We went 3 km straight up this near vertical path to the crater rim. About two minutes from the top, one of the porters started playing Alone by Marshmello, which as of late as become a fav song. It felt like fate, and it was much needed inspiration to get through the last bit to get the camp site. Hearing it made me so happy I forgot about how burnt and tired I was for a quick second. At the top we all hugged and grabbed a beer from a porter selling Bintangs. This beer was super needed. Carbs!! We were depleted. Then we plopped down at the campsite, which was above the clouds basically sitting on a ridge line with a daunting view of the summit, took pictures of the amazing views of said summit and the crater lake beneath us, drank our beers and ate the first dinner: Indonesian curry. We arrived at the campsite around 3:39 and were asleep by 7. Why so early? Because...we had to wake up at 2:30 to ascend the summit.
Celebratory beers! Peep that camp spot. Above the clouds!
Tents along the ridge
The last dinner before *the summit* ps the summit is directly above me
Photoshoot
Gangs all here. Except the porters and the guides. They're a part of this gang too.
So much swag.
THE SUMMIT.
Awan poked his head into the tent around 2:15, 15 minutes earlier than expected, with coffee and a tomato and egg sandwich. He seemed slightly annoyed: "We have to be out of here soon, we are last" he said. I got out of the tent and peered up the summit: you could already see a long line of lights bobbing up and down on it. Sure enough, there were no lights by the camp. Well sorry, Awan! We got ready, I threw on my headlamp, and we hurried off to the base of the summit. Keep in mind it's pitch black, and the moon was a mere sliver. This made for some spectacular stars, though, and a Milky Way like I've only seen in pictures. Whenever I'd take a quick break I'd stare at the sky and drool.
About midway up the first section of the summit hike, Emily and I decided to let the boys zoom ahead because they seemed to have a bit more spring in their step than we did. Off went Ron and Dane, and we hung back with Awan. I'd like to point out that by this time, we had started to pass lots of groups that were taking extended breaks. Turns out Awan let us sleep in a bit because he thought we were pretty quick hikers and could make it up in 3.5 hours. He said some groups have to start at midnight because it takes them a full 6 hours. Wowzers.
The first bit was steepwith rocks and trees and roots to hold on to among deep and uneven gravel that made us slip and fall every few steps. The second and third bits were simply steep deep gravel, nothing to hold onto or grab if we started to slip. We'd heard that this part was "two steps forward, one step back" and dang this was extremely true. I started singing to myself "taking my time on my sliiieeeiiieeeiiiddeeee" because there was no way to go super fast what with the gravel, the darkness, and the tons of people around. Had to just trust my legs and my mindset. It was rough, though. I saw lots of people give up and just plop down where they were and decide to see the sunrise from wherever they ended up. I knew I'd made it to the top, but I was at peace with the fact that I might not make it up by sunrise, which was 6:15.
Lo and behold, at 6:05 I made it up. I was so delirious and probably losing brain cells by the second due to the altitude, that when I turned around and looked at what all the fuss with this view and sunrise were about, I may have shed a single happy tear. The views are unbelievable. An ocean of clouds amongst a cotton candy sky. We found Ron and Dane, who claim they made it up not too much before us, and hugged in celebration. Then we piled on warm clothes and waited for the full sunrise.
It was worth it. Every bit of soreness and the foot infection that followed was not in vain at all. Of course pictures will never do it justice. You'll just have to waddle up that mountain and see it yourself.
Of course a photoshoot followed and then we got to my second favorite part of the whole trek: slipping and sliding on the way down from the summit. So the same loose deep gravel that we trudged up had to be taken down, and I took this opportunity to essentially forward moonwalk down. It was one long controlled fall, and once i got into a rhythm, there was no stopping me. This was my domain, and I'm sure I was just giggling and grinning like an idiot the whole time.
You can see the trail here. Straight gravel! Fun to slip and slide down.
One of my fav pix
The way down took 1 hour total (the way up took 3.5) and now I was so pumped I could barely contain my excitement. This is the stuff I live for. As hard as every step was, it was equally as fun.
We had breakfast from the porters and packed up to head down to the crater lake. Now, the best part was about to truly begin. Stay tuned for da next post!
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