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Sunset from the rim
Looking out towards Bali you can see it's major volcanoe Gunung Agung. Stunning, Amazing, Perfect. It's everything I imagined and more. Halfway through a journey originally heading over to Gili Trawangan on the 16th of May I suddenly found myself being being whisked off to Rinjani to complete a 2.5day trek which would finish on the 19th and leave me back in the Gili's at the end of it. Perfect.
I had been hoping to climb this Volcanoe during my time in Indonesia and this worked out perfectly. Just to set the scene; It's a monster and still very active. It's current height at it's highest point is over 3700m. It has a crater lake at it's summit which itself is a couple of kilometres accross and is surround by the steep walls of the rim which in most places are around 600m high (lake to rim). The trek in, which started at 1000m, already on the slopes of the volcanoe, was around 15km and a little less on the way out (in total we probably hiked something like 35km maybe more). It's still extremely active and has a decent sized eruption every year or so - there's a new cone forming inside the lake at the moment which will eventually fill in the huge crater. I read on another blog
Rinjani
For what we are about to recieve may I be truly grateful but bloody stiff for several days. that the volcanoe used to be over 8000m before it blew it's top! Can you imagine that! an area of several sq km's and thousands of meters high blowing off in one go!
Anyway the next morning (17th) we started up the volcanoe. There were only three of us in my group - me and a couple from Quebec but we camped with a couple of other groups on rim. The walk up was fairly straight forward - we were treated to some good weather and great scenery so the time passed quickly. On the way up we passed fisherman who spend a couple of days camping inside the crater next to the lake and they had huge carp hanging from bamboo poles across their shoulders. I'd brought my little handline with me so was looking forward to catching one of those beauties for dinner. In reality what happened when I got the chance to fish was I snapped my line on a snag in half an hour and had lost all my hooks in Sumatra so that was the end of that. It was a nice half an hour though sitting in front of the new cone, which
Early days
The easy start is currently a few hundred metres high and looked huge from next to the lake, wondering if/when it was going to blow and admiring the immensity of the hole I was sitting in.
Coming back to the first day now. That night we camped on the crater rim which is over 2000m (exactly I can't remember). It was cloudy in the crater when we first arrived but you could see back over the clouds where we had just come from.
Then as if by magic when the time for sunset came everything cleared up to reveal amazing, let me say that again, AMAZING views out over everything below us. You could see a patchwork blanket of cloud stretching out in the distance and as the clouds began to break up inside the volcanoe we got our first look at the size of the place. Out in the distance just where the sun was going to set you could see Bali and it's huge volcanoe (it looked piddly from where we were) Gunung Agung. NB: outside of Papua Rinjani is the tallest thing in Indonesia. The colours were amazing and huge cumulous clouds bubbled up in places out of
Good catch
Fisherman with carp from the lake in the rim of the volcanoe. What I want to know is how the hell fish get to these places. the patchwork to catch the colours spilling out as the sun set. I went and found a quiet place to sit and take it all while I mulled over a few passing thaughts about home etc. It was a sunset that I will never, never forget.
The next morning, well the same night really, at 2.30am we were called out of our uncomfortable places of rest where some of us had managed to grab a little sleep and began the ascent to the top for sunrise.
For anyone thinking about doing this before you read on you should know that it's a strenuous walk but you don't need to be an iron man and it's perfectly doable by the average joe.
Anyway not long into the walk most people began to realise how cold it was. I'm proud to say I wasn't one of them, though admittedly only because I'd recently climbed a few mountains. My guide especially for some reason was unprepared. It was clear from his knowledge that he'd done the walk a few times before but he had nothing but a thin cotton wrap around thing to keep him warm and he began to
Nuisance
Fun to watch but they are pests who hang around for scraps that the guides give them at the end of every meal. Turn your head for too long and they'll take all your stuff get seriously behind. In the end I gave him one of my jackets which I'd brought for sitting on the top and waiting for sunrise. I guess with sea level being so hot and humid the whole time people just don't expect it.
Anyway on the way up the weather was coming and going and you could see big flashes of lighting in the distance. The wind was blowing pretty hard and biting right through the clothes (refreshing to keep you cool if I'm honest) and it was really steep too. Just to add to things the the slope is covered in that 2 steps forward 6 steps backwards loose scree.
Finally after about 3hrs you pop out on top and, this sounds silly I know, it's a complete suprise! The weather had opened up nicely and the show was just starting when I arrived - I'd been dragging the guide up at first and then towards the end I was the one lagging behind. Our guide was a devoute muslim so stopped to pray in a quiet spot before the top and joined us a little later.
My batteries on my camera had died the night
Long way to go
A view of the summit before and the two spare sets I'd brought weren't my usual reacharchables but pair of cheap diposables which didn't work at all! d'oh! This free'd me up to enjoy the show though and scoff a delicious secret snack (some sort of heavy bread thing with jam) the guide had given only me for sharing my jacket with him.
This is getting a bit long now so to cut a long story short. It was great and the rest of the trip was great. My photo's only go up to the summit, where I managed to bum a pair of batteries from someone else quickly to take a couple of photos, but the whole trip had great views.
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