A hike to Semeru Mount

The trip was on 28th April to 3rd May 2018 with 23 person from different backgrounds.

We have bad experience with organizers, but the bonding between the participant is grow stronger even though we didn't know each other very well.

We spend 3 days  and 2 nights at Semeru, and 1 day at Bromo.







29th April to 1st May 2018 : Semeru Mount
The trip is being divided into 3 parts:

1. Main Entrance(Ranupane) to Ranu Kumbolo
We've started our journey at 12 noon, after the briefing from the National Park personnel. We pray and have our lunch at Ranupane (around the area of office of National Park). The weather is so nice. There are 3/4 resting posts before reaching Ranu Kumbolo. At the resting post, there are old folks who are selling nice goreng-gorengan, bananas and watermelon which is cost you IDR5000.
We took approximately 3 hours to reach Ranu Kumbolo. We take a rest and picture before resuming our journey to Kalimati.

2. Ranu Kumbolo to Kalimati
From Ranu Kumbolo, we proceed our journey to Kalimati. Ranu Kumbolo is the famous place if you google about Semeru. The view is superbly amazing. To Kalimati, you will cross the flower field. It is so beautiful, the flower is know as .... The trek to Kalimati, is in the forest, which is different from the 1st part's trek. If you are late at that area, you may need to bring headlamp with you. And alhamdulillah I reached Kalimati around 5.30pm, Maghrib time. We slept at Kalimati.


3. Kalimati to Summit of Semeru
After having our dinner, we slept in the tents that have been built by the porter. The wind at that night is so strong. I thought we are almost unable to proceed our target to reach the summit. However, with Allah's power, we started our summit attack mission at 2.20am. The weather is so cold! You are recommended to wear layers of clothes (Thermal clothes is a must!) and including buff, to cover your face from the cold wind. I brought two sticks for the summit attack, to help to support my knees. And i reached the summit at 8.15am. Please bear in mind, it might be a bit hard to perform Subuh prayer, please observe a suitable place to pray Subuh (it is so different from Rinjani, where at Rinjani, there are so many spot that you can take a rest, solat and even sleep.).

As usual, journey to the peak is the most emotional part among all. All you have is only your determination and Allah's will. And alhamdulillah, Allah has permitted all of us to reach the summit safe and sound.

4. Summit to Kalimati
After photo takings and little bit of rest, we've started our journey down from the summit to Kalimati. The trek is much easier that Rinjani. Semeru has a stable sand, I would say. It is hard to slip while descending, unlike Rinjani. We just took almost 2 hours to reach our campsite at Kalimati.

We take breakfast and I take a nap while waiting for others to reach Kalimati campsite.

5. Kalimati to Ranu Kumbolo
From Kalimati, we started our journey back to Ranu Kumbolo. We are planning to overnight at Ranu Kumbolo and to enjoy the beautiful sunrise at Ranu Kumbolo.

Ranu Kumbolo is much more colder that Kalimati. Our camp is damp due to embun malam.


I slept with Emergency Blanket on that night. Luckily, we only have to spend one night at Ranu Kumbolo. Phew~

Unfortunately, we don't really can enjoy the sunrise at Ranu Kumbolo, but being at Ranu Kumbolo and have our breakfast by the lake, is a spectacular experience that I will always cherish.

6. Ranu Kumbolo to Ranupane

After having our breakfast and enough session of photo taking, we started our journey back to Ranupane (the starting point).

Please bear in mind, Axiata (or the blue phone line) is not working at Semeru. I've made my family worried about me, because they cannot reach me via whatsapp. Luckily, my friend, she is using Telkomsel (the red one) instead, so I can share the internet with her. Alhamdulillah, we reached the starting point at 11.30am on 1st May 2018. Syukur.

2nd May 2018 : Bromo, Pasir Berbisik

Bromo:
After the hardest part of the trip, we went to Bromo Mount. We wait for the sunrise at Bromo. It is so beautiful. It is having stairs to go to the peak, approximately 250 stairs. And you may want to have breakfast at that area, which later you can ride a horse to go to Bromo Mount.

Pasir Berbisik:
We just have a photo session here, before going back to Malang.



Hope it helps you!

Please bring along your positive attitude to hike. It really helps you!

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