Mount Rinjani

We arrived safely on Lombok thanks to a propeller plane serviced by Wings Air. Our bags came out quickly and we immediately found a driver holding a sign for us for the 3-ish hour drive to Senaru, near the Mount Rinjani trek.

We have flown with some random airlines in 2014!

Our driver, Yen, spoke excellent English, and we told him we wanted some local food for dinner. He stopped at a "warung" roadside stand just off the main road. The dinner choices appeared to be chicken heads (which we were hesitant about) and beef that looked a little strange. We started regretting our request and wished for a moment that we had chosen Macca's instead. However, thanks to Yen, he learned that the men had fish as well, which is what we ended up choosing. About 15 minutes later, we were eating grilled fish complete with various spices and dipping sauces. Similar to other Southeast Asian countries we have visited, they serve the entire fish and you pick the meat off of the fish. The fish was AMAZING...definitely better than our Jimbaran Bay dinner, and for the price of less than $10 total for all 3 of us to eat. Unreal.

This is the aftermath of dinner...I forgot to take a before picture!

Upon arrival in Senaru, we met Rudy, owner of Rudy Trekker, the company we chose to lead us on the Mount Rinjani climb. There are a lot of companies to choose from when climbing Rinjani, and I picked Rudy Trekker due to their great reviews on TripAdvisor and due to the fact that they are very environmentally conscious while out on the trek (more on that later). Our accommodation for the night was just across the street from Rudy's office. It was a basic but clean cottage and that was included in the price of our trek.

Our cottage for the night

We were up bright and early for breakfast, which was served at Rudy's office. By 9am, we had begun the trek. The pace was FAST!! Seeing as our last trekking experience was Kilimanjaro and the speed there is pole' pole', it was quite a change! Our guide, Sab, seemed to be speeding as he walked, and I was struggling to keep pace. Fortunately, he let us lag behind if necessary and was understanding if I was a bit slow during steep parts of the climb. We started the 3 day, 2 night trek in Sembalun, and I would recommend this option if you are planning to climb Rinjani. The hike starts as a slow and gradual climb through vegetable fields where locals grow onions, garlic, and other veggies. We also saw a brown snake on the trail close to the start, our first Indonesian snake sighting!

Early views on the trek

After walking for a few hours, we stopped for lunch. Our porters, Birin and Yeng, had walked ahead of us and were preparing lunch when we arrived. WOW, we were extremely impressed with lunch, as were hikers that were with other companies. We were fed heaps of good quality food. After lunch we were back on the trail for more walking, and much of it was extremely steep, not to mention ridiculously fast. In a way, I think this climb was more difficult than Kilimanjaro. Physically, Rinjani seemed harder to me, but the treks are hard to compare directly because altitude is not a factor on Rinjani.

Sab, Birin, and Yeng hard at work on our lunch. Notice all of the rubbish on the ground? One of the big problems on Rinjani is that many companies are not taking their rubbish down with them, causing areas of the mountain to look trashed.

The porters carry an insane amount of weight on their shoulders. No scales here like on Kili!

Did I mention we were impressed with the food?

We reached base camp (2600 meters) around 4pm. It was cloudy, and had been most of the day, but when the clouds cleared there were some nice views. We attempted to go to sleep around 7pm, as we would be waking up at 2am for the climb to the summit.

Erik and the summit in the background, the night before our big hike.

Pre-summit curry

Banana fritters. Might be the one and only dish that tasted better on Kili, but they were still pretty good!

Sunset at base camp

At 2am we were awake and being served delicious egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. We departed at 2:30am for the summit. Similar to our Kili climb, the moon was nearly full, so most of the way we did not need to use our headlamps. The hike up was challenging due to large amounts of scree, or loose rock. Sometimes I would take one step up and then go two steps back, so it was slow-going for a bit of the hike. We reached the summit just before sunrise at about 5:30am. At the summit we drank hot tea and ate some snacks that Sab had packed for us while we waited for the sun to rise. It was cool at the top, but not nearly as freezing as it was on the top of Kilimanjaro! As the day brightened, we were stunned at the sights that surrounded us. The views of the lake and volcano were breathtaking! In addition, we could see Mount Aynung on Bali and we could see the neighboring island of Sumbawa.

Waiting for the sun to rise

Looking out at the island of Sumbawa

Our first glimpse of what was behind us! That is the moon in the sky.

Obligatory summit picture with sign!

We spent about an hour at the top hanging out and taking pictures. We met an American (not all that common when traveling in Indonesia!) who had just graduated from Michigan. He, like many Rinjani climbers, was not that well-prepared for this hike (many people were wearing jeans, Chuck Taylors, or even boat shoes, when hiking boots are probably desirable for this hike), but impressively he had run to the top of the summit in his Nike Frees so that he could be the first person there.

Our new American friend took this photo! Pretty sweet, eh?!

Those 3 little dots are the Gili Islands and the large mound is Mount Aynung on Bali.

Erik and "Michigan" enjoying the view

The volcano in the center of the lake erupted about 4 years ago, forcing everyone off of the mountain.

As the sun rose higher, the shadow of the peak we stood on created this cool image!

Our descent down the mountain only took about 1.5 hours and it was basically like downhill skiing in the loose rock (scree). The sun was out and the views during the descent did not disappoint. We made it back to camp by about 8am where lunch was waiting for us. After eating and packing up our things we were off again to hike down to the lake.

Lunch with a view!

Summit from our camp site, this time after we had hiked up there. It looks close, but I assure you it is not!

On our way down to the lake

Our first destination was not actually the lake, but the hot springs. Apparently in the early spring season, the hot springs are quite small, but they were large enough for us to enjoy by soothing our sore muscles in the water. After about an hour we headed to a sweet spot on the lake for lunch. Our porters were there cooking when we arrived, but Erik and I had time for a swim in the lake before eating lunch.

Can you spot my husband?

A zoomed in shot of steam vents in the volcano

Another great spot for a meal!

Are we on an overnight trek?! Again, we were very impressed with the food prepared for us!

After lunch, our laid back times were over and we were about to climb again, up to 2600 meters to our next camp. Day 2 is very challenging because it requires the summit hike, hike down to the lake, then hiking back up to the same height as base camp. We climbed for about 3 hours and were passed by our porters again. Fortunately, they hussled to set up our camp, because about 10 minutes after we arrived, it started to torrential downpour! I cannot say enough positive things about Rudy Trekker as a company, our guide, Sab, and our porters Yeng and Birin. Most other groups did not arrive with their tents set up, meaning that they, along with all of their gear, were soaking wet. Our team predicted the incoming storm and did everything within their power to ensure that we did not get stuck in the rain. Eventually we were served dinner in our tent, starting with the most delicious spring roll appetizers that other hikers were envious of. It rained on and off for most of that night and we were thankful to be sleeping in a dry tent with dry gear.

The spring rolls that made fellow hikers jealous.

On our last morning the clouds started to clear and we had some great views of the Gili Islands (our next destination!). We started hiking around 7:30am, and it was a slow start, as our legs were SORE!

Our view on the morning of Day 3. Bali and the Gili Islands in the background.

Banana pancakes...yum!

Quite the picturesque brekkie spot. Note the large group leaving rubbish behind. :(

Morning view of the lake and volcano. We timed the summit well...as this morning the visibility would not have been very good for those at the summit, at least not compared to what we could see the day before.

There were lots of steep sections with rocks and tree branches on the way down. At one point we ran into a group of grey monkeys. We also saw some rare black monkeys from further away, up in a tree. The last 1.5kms of the hike were completed in another torrential downpour. Fortunately it was the end of our hike, so we didn't mind getting soaked. A vehicle was there to pick us up and within 5 minutes we were back at Rudy's office being offered bottled water and cool towels.

Most porters climb in thongs (flip flops), even with the rocky terrain.

Ran into this guy on the way down!

Erik and Sab on the descent.

Yeng concentrating on our dessert

Our team preparing the last meal of our hike

Yeng's concentration paid off! I need to learn how to do that!

Kinda blurry, but look at how much they are carrying, and this is near the end of our trek!

We made it!

My legs were sore for about 4 days after the hike! It was a tough physical challenge with a great reward thanks to the weather, as those views at the top were simply stunning. Rudy Trekker did an amazing job of organizing our trek and Sab, Yeng, and Birin were an awesome "team" to climb with. As I have mentioned several times, our food was delicious, and other climbers were often wishing they were eating our meals. The cost of the trek with Rudy was similar to what other companies charge and I feel that Rudy Trekker offers the best value for money of the other operators we came across on our trek. Additionally, during the trek, Sab made a point to carry an extra bag and picked up rubbish along the way. He recognizes that the mountain is his livelihood as a guide and wants to keep Rinjani clean for future hikers. Unfortunately not all hiking companies follow this same philosophy. Please be mindful of that when choosing a company to climb Rinjani.

Rudy provided a private transfer to Bengasal for us where there was a boat waiting to take us to warm and sunny Gili Air, where we would spend the last 3 days of our Indonesian holiday!