Gunung Rinjani on Lombok

I just finished a 2 night/3 day "trek" up Mt. Rinjani. I would have called it a climb or something that sounds a little more strenuous than trek. This was no walk in the park, but the view into the volcano, lounging in the hot springs river, and the reward of making it to the summit for sunrise was a memorable experience!

5/12 Day one was about a 7 hour sweaty hike through the jungle finishing literally in clouds. Our crew consisted of 7 hikers, 1 54yr old guide who has climbed Rinjani over 1000 times, and 3 porters who each carried a 90 pound bamboo stick with two large baskets on either end full of food, water, and camping gear. They carried it on their shoulder and only wore flip flops or went barefoot! I was blown away at their strength! I did the math and figured out that they are only paid $2 per day! We each paid roughly $150 and they make $6 of that? Someone is padding their pocket here and that's not fair! However being a porter is one of the only jobs in the area so that's the only option. I told them they should form a union and refuse to work until they raise the wages... they didn't understand what I was saying, they just smile and nod :) At one point during the trek I had to pee so I got off the beaten path a bit and had stage fright... my shy bladder told me that someone was looking at me and sure enough a monkey jumps down off a tree and lands 5 feet from me! I think he smelled the banana in my backpack. I screamed and pulled up my pants mid-pee. Lesson learned... next time I'll stick to the path! We hiked about 8,000 vertical feet that day and camped just below the rim of the volcano. It was a loooooong night of tossing and turning, shivering, listening to wild dogs howl and yelp, and having to pee but not wanting to get out of my sleeping bag. The moment I saw a change of color in the sky, I popped up ready to start day two.

5/13 Day two we hiked up to the rim where we could look into the crater and see the lake and the new small volcano (inside the crater) that formed recently. We hiked all the way down to the lake, fished, and lounged in the hot springs and cold waterfalls for a few hours. Hiking out of the crater up to base camp below the summit was BRUTAL!!!! I think it was the toughest 2 hours of the trip!

5/14 Day three started at 2:30 am with a wake up call and warm cup of tea. We were the last group to leave base camp and the first ones to reach the top! We made it up there right at 6am as the sun started to create a vibrant rainbow at the horizon while the stars were still out in the black sky. We watched the sun rise in its entirety and I almost shed a tear. The next 6 hours was a downhill knee beating race to get to the bus where we all passed out until we made it to Senggigi... where my first shower waited for me!