Halfway to Semeru :d

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Half Way to Semeru

on my other daily blog http://whistlingqq.blog.com/ , I also write about my latest trip to Semeru but I guess I'd like to write here again since this one is more read by any travallers :D
So, last weekend me and some of couchsurfing friends planned to reach Semeru volcano, which also known as the highest volcano is Java island. Well, even it's only 3.676m heights compared with other higher summit..
despite this volcano is the highest one on the island where I live, also the trek path which challenged me to try :d I saw random articles and watched some videos about Semeru and all of them said it was kinda dangerous since already many people died from bein gout of track and lost. And some also fell deep down to rocky valley..

Few days before we went there, I heard that there's a local hiker who fell and died. It was told that he already reached the summit and when the volcano erupted pretty much gasses, the hiker and his friends got separated when they went back down. And he walked on different path (there's no sign at all which path you should take when you getting near the volcano), got lost and fell on rocky valley.. :d

anyway, shit happens and nobody knows when they'll die either what'll happen next. So sure we kept on going as we've planned before 😊
It was 8 of us ride motorbikes from Malang to Ranu Pani (the last village before start to hike) and already had a funny experienced when me and Dani (my motorbike mate) fell down on steep road :D we drove on very steep rocky road - the same route to reach Bromo crater - and right on the cross road, we loose our balance and fell from it ayayayay!... and the next steep road, I had to go down from the motorbike (I bring huge backpack, no way on steep road) and walked up while Dani patiently drive slowly near me and didn't let me walked up alone.. thank you, Dani! :D
2 hours later, we arrived on Ranu Pani and stopped on Pak To's house (he's local villager) to rest before we start to hike the next morning..

next morning....
woke up around 7am, experienced very very villager toilet :D , had a great breakfast (thank you Pak To!), and ready to hike!.. we had to sign first on the last hiking post and reported there what stuff we brought up and the date we'll back down again. Ready with the stuff, then let's go!...
20 minutes went soooooo long....
already pretty exhausted on very steep road plus I never did such hiking trip for awhile :d but I'm still in high persistence to finish the trail..
but then after 4-5 hours....
I'm already such a mess :d
that's when we arrived in Ranu Kumbolo lake, the halfway to reach Semeru.. it's a huge green lake and very calm one. And even on my terrible look, I still can imagine if maybe there's a long-nech inside or giant crocodile like on those hilarious American movies :d
ahhh, thank you for Anggoro (Dani's cousin) who kept his walk rhyme with me and willingly waited me who walked like a snail! :D

right when we arrived, the rain poured down.. bbrrrrrrr..... it was freezing.. :d finally I can make a fog from my mouth and my breath :D like this, I won't be able to do it in Malang hehe.. we stayed awhile and prepared lunch, while we discussed wether we still want to continue the trek on such weather or not. And the result for sure me wait on the lake and camped there :D lol! and only 3 guys who went up.. Dani, Anggoro, and Fuad (another cousin of Dani).. ah, actually it looks more like family trip of Dani and Fita while me, Devy, and Sendy joined them hehe..

Met a group of old French, and one of them used fake leg on his right leg. Didn't talk so much but it's still good to have little chance to talk with the one with fake leg. And yeah,he went up almost reaching the summit.. I'm ashamed :d

So, around 4pm that day, our 3 friends whose going to summit already on their way and the rest set the tent and resting... time to sleep since it's gonna be rain whole day.. and let's see what will our friends share us about the summit 😊

again, the next day....
Good morning!! :D
never been so fresh like this.. woke up on lake side with warm sunrise and beautiful scenes around 😊 we enjoyed our crackers and hot tea right on the lake side, marvelous! 😊
now when we want to do some activities, we walked over the steep road behing the lake and found a great and wide savanna :D from there, we can see Semeru's summit from far 😊 now I wonder why the track is hard.. all the summit area is not a solid ground. Only rocks and sands.. so it's like you go up 5 steps, you slided down again another 3 steps :d ayayayay
me and the girls (like always), took lot of pictures and had fun on that huge savanna.. we also passed few hikers which went to the summit last night to catch sunrise.. which then they told me that they didn't make it to the summit.. they already fainted right before the summit..

Ah, there's another freaking scarry path right before the summit, it's Arcopodo :d this is the worst part before the double-worst path to reach the summit :d pay lot of attention there, many people fell there :d

satisfied with those pictures in our camera and me making silly video, we went back to our tent to prepare lunch so when our friends back from the summit (which we knew later that they also didn't make it) we can enjoy lunch together..

blablablabla.... nomnomnomnom...blablablabla...nomnomnom.....

right after we had lunch, we decided to jump on that freezing lake :D only me, Dani, and Anggoro who dare to do it.. it was f*cking cold! ;O needs loto f time to adapt the temperature and yet it getting warmer faster than I thought.. warmer than I back to the land.. we didn't swim too far from the side cause we had no any idea what's inside the lake.. maybe long-nech like I thought before? 😉 or lake mermaid? :D haha..
later on afternoon, it's raining again.. and I fell asleep inside a tent with 7 people inside!... ugh!..

at night, the view was definetely stunning 😊 it's such a mistical view I ever seen im my life.. the mist over the lake water,clear dark blue sky,stars and satelites everywhere, and ashooting star! :D huaaaa... I just can't get enough with all of it.. well, even the shadows from the pine sometimes made me feelal bit spooky though :d.. my my.. what a wonderful world...

the next morning (again!).. the last morning 😊
we packed on misty morning.. and surprisingly, there was earthquake.. pretty hard one ;( and the lake water make a bit of wave and it's getting scary for me.. I thought it was the volcano erupt on big amount which I knew later that the earthquake was from Malang :O u-oh....
didn't want to stay longer again, we back home and walked on te same route again..if first it was a steep road, now it's a very very sloopy road and I need to break my speed by managing it on my leg.. fiuuuh! got some broken nails by the end 😞

back to Ranu Pani only 2 hours!! :D not 4-5 hours like we started at first haha.. we took our motorbike quickly, report to the post again, and say thank you to Pak To for everything.. back home..
and the way back home felt longer than before.. 😊
home sweet home...

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