Active Indoensian volcanoes

3729 meters high, that's the height of the summit on Mt Rinjani, the volcano in the Indonesian island of Lombok that I just climbed.

Starting at 1100m, we hiked up to 2500m over 5 hours to our camp, watching the sunset through the clouds and eating a feast cooked up by our porters. We had one guide and 2 porters who carried our food, water, tents and sleeping bags. Part of the hike package, which everyone has to do, so we got to live like kings hiking with great meals and a tent already set up for us when we got to the top.

The hike up was through grasslands, and fields and then through lava fields and up through trees high up with mist everywhere, past the clouds and up the crater rim. The temperature dropped often and was pretty cold at night, but nothing compared to the summit at 5:30am watching the sunrise.

We awoke at 2:30am for a quick breaky and then hiked for almost 3 hours up to the top, on a trail made of scree, meaning for every step we went up, we slid down a little. Not the easiest hike, especially in the dark and cold. Luckily the moon was pretty bright and we did it without lights. Sar our guide knew the trail well and we kept a steady pace.

I was the first one to the top, all alone for over 5 minutes before the next person came. So amazing to be alone on top of the mountain, watching the sunrise and freezing my tail off. 5 degrees Celsius, and my hands were freezing, as I'd forgotten I'd packed my gloves in my bag.

From the top we had a good view of the volcano below erupting twice while climbing and once on the way down. Huge clouds of ash shooting out and one time we could both hear and feel the eruption. So amazing. Fun just to watch the volcano in action. It's been growing a lot lately, so will most likely be much bigger in the coming years.

Coming down sucked, the knees hurt, the body was tired and I decided to go back to Gili Trawangan, my island paradise, to chill and rest, rather than keep exploring Bali over the next few days. SO I'm here, relaxing on the beach, drinking freshly made juices and reading, taking it easy. Quite a nice option after the huge hike.