Day 193 -195 Trekking to Mount Rinjani

After the last relaxing days, we planned a multi-day trek to a volcano for the next few days. Today, we took a boat from our island, Gili Trawangan, to Lombok.

After a 30-minute crossing, our tour guide welcomed us and took us in a carriage to his office. There we had breakfast before going to the volcano by car for about an hour. After we could drop off our large backpacks and packed our hiking backpacks, we took a taxi to the starting point of the trek. After an hour-long, quite fast and winding drive, we signed the logbook and started hiking.

The first stage led us across open meadows in the blazing sun. This challenged our circulation, especially since we hadn't moved much in the past few days.

After about an hour, we reached the first rest area. At that moment, clouds rolled in and obscured the sun and the view. We also met the other three group members at the rest area. They had started before us and were now waiting for us. But before we continued hiking, we had lunch first.

Afterwards, we struggled for another 5 hours to climb up to the crater rim. The group quickly split up, as everyone hiked at their own pace. On the way up, the landscape changed continuously.

We also saw animals along the way. Monkeys and birds lined the path

and the monkeys seemed to observe us with what seemed to be a mocking pleasure as we gasped for breath.

The weather couldn't make up its mind during the ascent either. Occasionally, the sun broke through the clouds, and sometimes it started to drizzle lightly.

Just before sunset, we all finally reached the top of the crater rim. We were all relieved to have finally made it.

But the climb was definitely worth it. The view was simply beautiful.

The sun also appeared again and illuminated Mount Rinjani, which we will tackle tomorrow.

Our porters, who carried the tents, sleeping bags, and all the food up, had already set up the tents. So we arrived at a small tent city because we were by no means the only trekking group that had struggled up the mountain today.

After the sunset, it quickly became quite chilly. It felt like around 10°C.

So we gratefully accepted the steaming cups of tea and watched the beautiful starry sky that shone in all its splendor up here with no artificial light. After dinner, we all quickly retreated to our tents.

On the one hand, it was too cold outside, and we wanted to snuggle into our warm sleeping bags, and on the other hand, we wanted to go to sleep because the ascent of Mount Rinjani was supposed to start at half past two in the morning.

After a short and rather restless night, we were awakened by our guide with hot tea and some cookies. So we crawled out of our sleeping bags and quickly put on all the clothes we had brought. And then we started. Equipped with headlamps, we climbed step by step up the mountain in the dark. Not only the steepness challenged us but also the terrain and the wind. The path consisted only of loose stones and gravel. So from time to time, if the wind started blowing strongly from the front, we would slide down again by a meter. But we kept hiking.

The group split up quickly again. After about 3 hours, when the sun started rising behind the mountains, Moritz and I also went our separate ways.

So I fought my way up for another hour to the summit. The path here was even more slippery and demanding than before. In addition, the wind blew continuously from the front.

But I made it. And the feeling of standing on top was simply amazing.

The view was breathtaking too. I enjoyed the sun rays on my face and admired the view.

But I couldn't stay on the summit for too long because the wind was still quite strong, and it got quite chilly due to the sweat-dampened clothes. So I started the descent again and picked up Moritz along the way.

2 hours later, when it was already dark, the rest of the group arrived at the camp. After a cup of hot tea and dinner, we all quickly retreated to our tents. It had been a long and strenuous day.

After another restless night, we were awakened at half past 5 in the morning with breakfast. An hour later, we were all ready to go. The last stage of the trek led us back to the foot of the volcano. The descent took about 5 hours. The path was mostly in the forest, so we were somewhat protected from the sun, but we had to climb over roots from time to time.

Not so easy with tired legs. After 4 hours, we reached the gate and officially completed the trek. After a victory photo, we signed out and hiked for another hour to the house where we had left our backpacks.

Arriving there, dirty and sweaty, we congratulated each other and celebrated our achievement with a beer.

After a short break, we were taken by taxi to Kuta, three hours away, where we will probably spend tomorrow relaxing and recharging at the beach.