Now money is one thing, but this doesn't sound like an enjoyable experience to me, and through research and talking to other people who've done it I decided to do it myself - hike to a viewpoint for sunrise, cross the ocean of volcanic ash myself, and all hopefully at a more peaceful time.
So my plan for the day was this:
1) Eat a delicious breakfast
2) Scout out the trek to the viewpoint, so I know what kind of terrain and timing to expect, to plan accordingly for sunrise tomorrow
3) Cross the ash ocean to see my first volcanic crater ever!
1)
Ginger tea is a traditional drink! That was perfect for my cold so I got me some along with some noodle soup! Yum.
2) I got some information from locals about where to find the trail - I was told that there are many lower viewpoints along the way, and that to get to the top would take too long (6 hours) and that I should take a jeep (of course).
So I went on my way through the beautiful hills of farm patches. They grew all kinds of stuff. My favorite was this:
Although one thing I didn't enjoy was the constant smell of petroleum exhaust, burning trash, and volcanic ash blown up by passing vehicles. That got better once I hit the ascent though.
And the VIEW was unbelievable. I could see the three volcanoes pretty early on during the hike - the big, barren, sandy patch was the original crater, and the three mountains sticking out the middle were holes(?) that emerged later.
A decently strenuous 2 hours later, I found myself at Panajakan viewpoint!! The very summit tourists take jeeps up to, the one where hundreds of people crowd at during sunrise, and the one everyone told me was impossible to hike to - those tourist scammers!
The view was indeed spectacular. I think it feels even better especially after some hard work. And the best part? There was almost no one else there, just a couple locals selling stuff here and there.
I was so proud of myself. No so much for completing the hike, but mostly for sticking to my guts about doing it solo and successfully turning down hoards of tourist scammers daily!
3)
I got down from the summit surprisingly fast - just over 30 minutes, and headed over to the ash sea in front of Bromo (you can see in the pictures above)
There was no marked path, just domes of volcanic ash, which ended up filling up my shoes. I was trying to figure out how to bring some home, and realized that i could just go home and dump some out my shoes into a bag! Winning.
The climb was a lot harder than I had expected. Maybe because I had already hiked 10 miles. But I really struggled going up ash piles, and especially the last stretch of stairs - and I'm supposed to be good at stairs!
But it's always more rewarding and beautiful after some hard work - I was standing in a freaking crater!!!! Endless, sulphuric smoke was coming out of the center, which is connected to lava from the center of the freaking earth! It's like an earth pimple - it can decide to burst whenever and destroy EVERYTHING. Pretty fucking cool.
There was also a shrine if Ganesh, one of the Hindu gods. Turns out the local Hindus worship the volcano and come up to pray to it. I actually witnessed this happen, as they were coming up while I was still there. Also once a year they throw food and animals into the crater as sacrifice to the gods. This year it's actually going to be this Friday.... so I'm thinking about coming back! Back track a little but too cool to be missed. (Very sad, but cool) More about it here.
I sat in the crater for a long time, resting from the long day of walking, marveling at the earth's power, and smelling more and more like sulphur.
Walking back across the ash sea in a beautiful sunset, I felt like a nomad and the only person in this entire stretch of crater.
I rewarded myself for the long, hard day with a delicious and meaty mie goreng special. It's been an amazing day. Sleep now early sunrise tomorrow!
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