Believe it or not, ever since I read the story of “Hansel and Gretel” many years ago, I have been obsessed with deep forest. I was fascinated when I was able to hear the sounds of wild birds and smell the wet ground for the first time sixteen years ago. Back then, I was with my high school friends, wandering in the national park of Pulau Rambut.

On the last day of trekking in Rinjani, we would encounter a tropical rain forest which was the main part of Rinjani’s national park that would lead us to the final point at Desa Senaru.

After taking a long hour sleep, due to my getting a fever, I woke up at six in the morning to start the last trek. We had pancake and toast, served with a cup of hot tea for breakfast. If I hadn’t taken the pictures of the lake on the other day, that morning I was eager to press the shutter button of my camera, capturing the lake and its surroundings, even though it wasn’t as magnificent as it looked in the afternoon.

Since my toe nails were about to pop out and injured from the previous-day trek, I put on my mountain sandals and let the porter bring my trekking shoes on his basket.

To reach the final point at Desa Senaru, we first had to reach the camping ground at Plawangan Senaru. That would mean climbing up rocky path. Too rocky that at some points we had to climb with our hands. It was almost like rock climbing, only lower. The path was so narrow that we had to step aside whenever we passed by other people coming from opposite direction. The path we had to walk through might be tough, but we were rewarded with beautiful scenery of the lake and the new volcanic mountain below.  

Three hours of climbing up from the lake, we reached the camping ground at Plawangan Senaru. There, for the last time, we took pictures of the lake, because after that, we were going to climb down another rocky path before entering the rain forest.

At this point, the group was again split into two, considering my feet and also because Karen and Patrick had to catch a ferry to Gili Trawangan, a tiny island where they were going to stay overnight before departing to Jakarta and fly back to Canada. They were guided by one porter. The other porter and Syaiful, remained with me and Gilang.

 

My feet were still hurt. Along the path down to the forest, my nails kept bleeding every time I pressed my toes against the sandals. Many times Gilang advised me to walk with the heels instead of the toes. It sounded easy of course, but believe me, it was something challenging to do, especially for me who was not accustomed to walking with heels.

At one point, I took a picture from below, trying to show you the rocky path that we had walked through from Plawangan Senaru.

It was a relief for me when we finally walked on flat ground. Like the other days in Rinjani, the fog would come down around the midday and afternoon. We stopped for a while at Cemara Lima, 2508 meter above the sea level, before entering the tropical forest. Then, there came my favorite part, walking along the path inside the woods.  Syaiful  picked up a strawberry that grew in the forest. Its size was smaller than the regular one I found in mountainous towns of Ciwideuy and Pangalengan.

The forest was home for hundreds of monkey, which according to Syaiful, were divided into two different species: the grey ones and the black ones. While we stopped by at post three for a break in the midday, I found a gray monkey who was enjoying his lunch. I tried to capture the moment with video from my Canon G-12. The gray monkey was so much friendlier with human than the black one.

From post three; 2000 meter above the sea level, we walked to post two which was 500 meter lower, walking along the descending path which was dominated by naturally made stairs of roots. Gilang walked hundred meters ahead with the porter.

At post two, we took a lunch break where I threw up nearly all the spaghetti I had eaten. Apparently, I was not recovered yet from the mountain sickness.  The only thing I had in mind was how to return to the ‘normal’ civilization as soon as possible, so I could have a descent way to poop and pee.

It had been eleven hours since we left the camping ground at the lake of Segara Anakan. We finally reached the gate of the national park which was called Jebak Gawah by the locals. By most trekkers, this gate was considered as the starting point of the trek from Desa Senaru.

There, Gilang and I had to say good bye to “Mister” Adi who had been our porter since the first day of the trek. After tipping him and shaking his hand, we moved forward to the last point where we were going to be picked up by the trekking organizer with a car that would take us to Senggigi.

We walked along a plantation, fenced with bamboos, belonged to local people. For the first time in my life, I see coffee and cocoa trees. The locals called the cocoa as “kopi coklat.”

At 5.40, we reached the last point, left behind the national park. A car had waited for us. We went first to meet Pak Harry, the organizer, at his house. We said good bye to Syaiful who had been very nice during our three days of trekking in Rinjani, and promised to keep in touch.

We went straight to Senggigi that night.  At around eight, we arrived at a guest house in Senggigi, not so far from the beach. Gilang went out to buy dinner and a medicine to overcome my fever. After taking a shower, I had dinner and took the pill. When I was about to sleep, I couldn’t help but trying to convince my self that we had actually reached the summit, the highest point of the mountain. But every time I feel my legs, yes I would be convinced.

"Two steps of climbing up and one step of sliding down." That was how most trekkers in Rinjani pictured the "summit attack." It’s an activity of reaching the highest point of the mountain, climbing an extremely steep path which was dominated with sand and stones. I had heard those words long before the day we were scheduled for the activity. Yet, I was a bit terrified when the day came for us to do that.

Our route is highlighted with red color. Map is taken from of Lombok Eco Tour.

 

June 5, 2012

Normally, it took at least four hours for me to sleep at night. I just realized that I had only slept for one and a half hour when Syaiful, standing in front of our tent, called our names to wake us up. It was two thirty in the morning, and we were going to do the “summit attack.”

Soon, Gilang and I put on our shoes, grabbed the head light and rushed out from our tent. It was very cold outside. Patrick and Karen wisely decided not to go and stay at the camping ground as they were still exhausted from the first day trek and wanted to save the energy for the next one. 

Syaiful led us up the rocky hill with a narrow path. I felt like climbing up a stair with huge steps. It was really took my breath away.

At one point where we found a flat ground, we stopped for morning prayers. From this point, we could see clearly how steep the slope we were going to climb was. I sensed it was about forty five degree gradient or even more. It was dominated with rocks and sand. Gilang had an idea to quit, thinking that the sunrise could already be seen clearly from the point we were standing then.

I suddenly had a flash back in mind that took me back to two years earlier when I went to Ijen Crater with my friends. While we were climbing down the crater, trying to reach the bottom, we decided to quit as it was drizzling that caused slippery on the stony path. I couldn’t forgive myself for not reaching the bottom of the crater as it was like the main purpose of our coming to that place.

So, as not to repeat the same mistake that would make me regret, I said no to Gilang’s idea. Despite the fear that I had, I was fascinated.

If they said “two climbs up and one slide down,” I would say the other way around. I started to feel frustrated as to find how difficult it was to reach the summit by walking on the sand. As a beginner, I was advised to walk slowly. But the slower I walked, the further I slid down. I didn’t even realize that the sand had penetrated my shoes.

Closer to the summit, I stopped and looked down to the back. I couldn't believe I had climbed that high. I realized we were far too late to reach the summit (we were supposed to be there at the time of sun rise). The sun was already high. But at least, I did something of what I came to Rinjani for.

When Gilang and Syaiful reached the summit, I was still coping with the sands and stones which kept sliding every time I walked on them.

Reaching the flat ground on top was such a huge relief for me. Not only because I became very close to the summit, but also the magnificent view that was like given as a reward if we could reach the top ground.

Walking to a bit higher place behind a huge rock, I was finally able to stand on the highest point of the mountain, 3726 meters above the sea level. I thanked Gilang very much for taking a picture of me with the amazing background of the lake of “Segara Anakan” and the new volcano down there which the locals called as "Gunung Baru." We took several shots from the summit as evidences that we had been there.

 

After only few minutes standing on the summit, we walked down, back to the camping ground at Plawangan Sembalun. I could say that climbing down the steep slope was like three times scarier than the previous climbing up. I didn’t feel like walking anymore. It’s like sliding down a huge giant slider with deep ravines on the both sides.

I stopped for several times, trying to catch a breath and feel my toes which started to get hurt. At this point, I realized that I might have suffered from dehydration since I didn’t take much water before. I was left behind few hundred meters by Gilang who was about to reach the camping ground. The closer I was to the camping ground, the more I realize that I had hurt my toes as I had hit many stones on the way down.

As I entered the camping ground, Gilang handed me a big bottle of mineral water to overcome the terrible dehydration. I sat on the ground, and drank it to quench my horrible thirst. When I took off my shocks, I found bruises in both my toe nails. I guessed they were about to pop out. Gilang advised me to bandage the toes, but I was too stubborn and ignored the advice. I thought it wouldn’t help much.

The next trek would be started within few minutes. I kindly begged to have a one-hour-rest before the trek. I knew it wasn’t fair for the rest of us. So, Syaiful took the initiative to divide the group into two. Karen and Patrick could start the trek to the lake, guided by the porters, while Gilang and I would go in the next one hour. Since all the tents had to be carried away by the porters, I slept in a tent belonged to a food vendor. Soon, I fell asleep as I laid my back.

Waking up at around twelve o’ clock, I found that it was drizzling outside. We packed our stuffs, ready for the next trek to the lake which was actually the bottom of the ancient crater. Nearly ninety percent of this trek was about climbing down the extremely steep rocky hills.

Walking down on the rocks was like a misery for my toes as they kept bleeding. Perhaps, it was because the new shoes. My friend Tia was right. I was not supposed to put on new shoes for trekking as they might kill the feet. Well, not only the toes, but also the knees and thighs. I could say that it was the most painful trek I had ever had.

After four hours of climbing down, we reached a point where we could see the cliffs of Plawangan Sembalun above. 

 

I didn’t take much picture in this trek as I was more concerned with my legs. The happiest part was when I found savannah as I didn’t have to walk on the rocks again. The savannah was very close to the lake, which we reached after about five hours of trekking.

Syaiful decided to set up the tents at the lake side and stayed overnight there. The view in that afternoon was absolutely gorgeous. Sadly, I was too sick to take pictures. I was shivering and got a fever. I wrapped my body with jacket and sleeping bag and then went to sleep right away. Meanwhile, Gilang went to the lake to take a bath. He said that the water was very cold despite the bright weather that afternoon. I was glad he took some pictures with his i-phone.

If not climbing down to the bottom of the crater was my biggest regret from the trip to Mount Ijen two years before, I might say that not taking pictures of the lake “Segara Anakan” in that afternoon was my biggest regret from this trip. The only consolation was the fact that I took some mental pictures of the lake. And I believed they would be much more memorable and last longer than the digital ones.

That night I was sleeping like a baby, hoping to get fresh for the last day of trekking on the following day.