Mount Hiking would never be in my though before. First, because
I never done it before and two, I never thought I could do it.
But in July I met with a Polish girl who is too
addicted with mount, I say this because she only travels to countries that have
mountains. So we made a plan to travel to Java Island, Jogjakarta.
The plan was actually to Merapi Mount, an active volcano in
Central Java. But according to our guide, this volcano is too tiring and not
suitable for beginners, even though it takes shorter time to reach the peak. They
suggested Mount Merbabu (3100m), also in the same province, much easier for amateur hikers,
though it takes longer time and its higher than Merapi Mount.
A day before the day, we had a meeting! A meeting? Sounds serious,
right! Yes, it is serious now.
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| our so-called meeting ! |
There were 5 of us, 2 beginners, 2 guides and 1 crazy-mountain
girl (sorry for calling you this :P ). The guide gave us list of equipments and
schedule of hiking. I did not have most of it, but in Jogjakarta, it is easy to
find a rental place for hiking equipments with affordable price, such as head
lamp, mat, sleeping bag, carrier and tents.
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| Jan |
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| Aga |
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| Me |
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| Edwin |
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| Lita |
Here came the big day!
It started by 2 hours riding motorcycle from Babarsari,
Jogjakarta to Magelang. The road to the last village that can be reached by
transportation is really tough. It is high and bumpy so I suggest you not to
come with automatic motorbike.
When we reached the last village, we paid 16.ooo Rupiah for
the entrance and parking fee. You can find a house or base camp to rest before
or after hiking. This house is meant for all the hikers to rest.
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| Motorcyles parked inside the local's house |
So, here we are!
The plan was to start hiking from 1pm to 6pm before it got
dark. But guys, for a beginner like me I needed to catch my breath every 10 steps
so it took 6 hours instead of 5 to reach camping ground. And nothing could describe
that moment other than “exhausted”.
And I met with these creatures on the way to the camping ground.
There was barely flat road to walk on,
it was always high. It was already dark before we reached the camping ground
and I remember I could not feel my hand because it was too cold. So we quickly put
on more clothes to keep us warm.
When we reach the camping ground, the
sunset was over.
But I could not even think of taking
any pictures because my teeth started to rumble and my hands were shaking. Lita
asked me to put on more clothes. So that night I wore 5 layers of jacket, 3
pairs of socks and 2 pairs of pants but it was still cold. Luckily there was
another group of hikers who arrived before us and made a fire bon.
Around 9pm, after having dinner, we went
to the tent and got ready to sleep.
2.30am the alarm was on and we all woke
up to have breakfast and get ready to reach the peak.
I honestly wanted to give up and just
stay in the tent but Edwin teased me about what I would write on my blog if I
gave up. So that was a slap on a face!
It was dark. And the
only source of light was the headlamp. And the surface was more challenging and
tougher that the first we had from the base camp to the camping ground. The
higher we went, the coolest it got and we could not stop too long as we would be
feeling cold.
A couple of times I almost decided to
give up again, because I realized I could just die here because it was really
cold. And I did this all only for a selfie. Gosh a selfie! And I just could not
get what’s so good about hiking that makes Aga, Jan, and Lita always want to
hike. What’s so good about hiking? I just don’t get it. For me, the only good
thing about hiking was when I could sit down. That’s all! Hahaha.
And the most annoying thing was whenever
I asked Lita, “are we there yet?” she always answered “almost, the peak is
right behind this hill”. But you know, when we reached the hill she mentioned
before, there was always another higher
hill to hike and I remember Lita said the exact same words more than 20 times
and the hills never seem to finish grrrrrr…
Until when we arrived at the helipad
around 7 a.m., I stopped moaning and being amazed
when I saw that I was above the clouds! I could see another mountains too. The
sunrise made the colour of the sky that morning became wonderful. That’s when I
finally got why they are so addicted with mountains. It’s because of the
amazing view you can see and the feeling of satisfaction for being able to pass
the challenge, the mountains and even the limitation you have.
As I was standing there, I was amazed by myself that I could
make it that far.
And after I understand what is the sensation of hiking mountains,
I think I will try again.
As we kept on going, me and Edwin decided not to continue up
to the summit because I suddenly got stomach cram. Edwin was so nice saying
that he’d rather stay with me and miss the peak than leaving me alone. But I
knew, he was also tired and couldn’t make it there so he just made up reasons.
Among 5 of us, only Lita and Aga made their way up to the
highest point of Merbabu. Proud of them!
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| WE ARE ABOVE THE CLOUDS !! |
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| Selfie in Merbabu mount is ticked from my bucket list hahaha |
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