A dream come true in Mt. Rinjani
Who wouldn’t wish to climb Rinjani?
To reach the peak and touch the sky?
For all Indonesian climbers, Rinjani is a dream.
A goal to be chased, a mountain to conquer!
The name alone sounds so beautiful to the ear.
The peak’s name is even more beautiful! “Dewi Anjani Peak”
But wait until you yourself go up all the tracks there...
Pfiuhhh, it was so long!!*^^
Even the Letter E (track to the peak) that has been seen since early morning seems endless to go through.
Letter E is so evil!
For me personally, it is even more evil than the Bukit Penyesalan (it means a hill of regret), which actually does make me regret.
Why the hell am I here? It’s more comfortable to lie down in the room:-P
But the regret did not last long when, at sunset, we arrived at Bukit Plawangan and were suddenly presented with an amazing view!
The combination of the departing sun, lumpy clouds, colorful tents that are so beautiful, and of course the star is the view of Segara Anak Lake.
I wanted time to stop right then and there.
Enjoying the beauty of the universe that is presented in front of our eyes...
Even after thousands of pictures are made, they still don’t feel as good as the memories in the head.
Get in and become a part of the heart.
Actually, even since starting the journey from Sembalun basecamp, the beauty of Rinjani has looked so beautiful.
The peak seen from a distance looks so graceful.
With an elevation of about 3,726 meters above sea level, Rinjani is the roof of West Nusa Tenggara’s province, near Bali. As the second-highest mountain in Indonesia, it is also one of the seven top climbs.
There may be another reason for climbers to finish the list of the seven peaks, which are the highest mountains that must be seen.
Because of this, the hike is long, and you need to stay at the top for more than one night.
There are several basecamp trails that we can choose to start the hike. Sembalun, Senaru and the new Torean Trail, which is said to be much more beautiful and challenging...
At that time we chose the Sembalun trail...
All variations of hiking tracks and landscapes can be found here.
Forest, sand, climbs, savannah, lakes and all...
On the way to post 2, the green savanna complete with cows made the experience so complete, so alive!
It was impossible to miss this view without taking a photo.
The journey to the next post is through the vast Savannah.
This is where I met many amazing local porters.
Wearing only T-shirts (some even shirtless!) and local flip-flops, they were able to walk briskly even though they were clearly carrying heavy logistical loads.
The road that leads to posts 3 and 4 keeps going up, and now we’ve reached the Hill of Regret! People say that the road we have to take goes up seven hills, which makes sense since it’s still going up.
I didn’t keep track of how many hills I had missed at that time.
Because it’s so steep, there are times when we find a path that looks like a ladder and has mine safety ropes on either side to use as handles.
But... everything paid off when we arrived at Plawangan Hill with the epic view in front of us! This is also the place to have a camp before the summit.
Just to be honest, at that time it was horrible to imagine that we would camp in this narrow and steep place. The path is only a long line and in front of us is a ravine…
Only it appears that climbers who begin their ascent at Sembalun have no other option because this is likely the best place to begin before reaching the summit.
That night, we intended to go for an early summit.
However, by midnight or 1 p.m., numerous climbers had passed our tent to begin the summit trek first. It appears that we began at 2 p.m. with the goal of reaching the summit as soon as feasible. We traveled at the end of the year, which is still considered the rainy season. We did not want to be caught in a storm.
Then the Summit journey began.
We first came across a heavy track. The deep sand made the steps very heavy, and it wasn’t long before we were completely worn out. We were lucky that it was still dark, so we couldn’t see the track. When we got back home, we found out that the track we had been on at the start of the trip was Punggunggan’s track.
It makes sense that the track is so heavy since it slopes almost 90 degrees!! And it makes sense that some people decided to turn around and go back home instead of continuing their climb to the top.
The sense of frustating then came by when going through the Letter E’ track, which was very long...like endless. I even saw some climbers falling asleep on this route because they were probably exhausted or lacked sleep last night. Fortunately, the weather was still good at the beginning of the trip, so I was entertained by the amazing view!
Segara Anak lake is still faithful to accompany along the way, then the sky and clouds are so close... It feels like we can touch them directly. The climbers who look small from afar are also interesting to look at…
Then what we were worried about came... the rain started to fall in the middle of the way.
We had to move quickly even though it felt very heavy, especially on the sandy track to the summit. This mentality is actually getting discouraged when the day is getting later, the rain is getting heavier, and the other climbers have come down from the summit. But it’s already here; why not continue?
With the principle of just walking slowly to get there, me and 1 other friend, accompanied by a kind porter, faithfully accompanied and encouraged us not to give up on walking.
And taraaaa…finally finally!!! Alhamdulilah…Thanks’s God !
All praise belongs to Almighty for allowing us to set foot on the summit.
Yet, we could only be there for about 10 minutes because it was raining harder and we were afraid a storm would arrive soon.
At that time, there was nothing around us, like a white wall.
So we could only capture the moment briefly by taking turns holding Rinjani's "signboard,” just like any other moment when we reach the top of many mountains.
Only this time it felt extraordinary considering the struggle and the distance from home.
This journey
This struggle
Like a dream and a promise that paid off...
Like a shadow that we can touch...
It feels so real.
Then only endless gratitude and thanks...
