The Hike to Ijen Crater, East Java – Indonesia (Part II)

After a long day on the road and finally settled for the night at Catimor Homestay, on the next day, we finally began with the hike at 6.04 am which was as bright as 7ish am in Malaysia time. The track was in fact way better than the bumpy, crazy road we took last night. Haha. Signs of volcanic soil was pretty evident around the area as the soil was black and I assumed it got to be very fertile indeed.

Black volcanic soil and the beginning of the steep hike

After a short while of walking on a fairly flat land, the 45 degree angle trekking began for the next 2 km onwards. As long as you keep on a slow but steady pace, you will get there in no time at all.

The baskets of sulphurs carried by the miners

The steep trekking would not be as difficult as you might think as you will be entertained or rather distracted with some baskets of sulphurs the miners had left along the path and also the WC (water closet) signboards can be found pretty easily too. When there is an urge for nature calls, be happy enough to make use of the 100% environmental friendly toilet (WC) which in another word – peepee by the bushes :)

WC - the bush toilet

After some photo snaps, persistent walking and breaks along the way, we made it to the Pos Penimbangan ( the sulphur weighing area) in about 53 minutes. We had a short break for more tummy fillers on chocolates, apples and water and of course an opportunity to snap more photos.

Post Timbang Candi Ngrimbi - sulphur weighing post/ canteen for mining workers

Sulphur carvings souvenirs selling at the weighing post

A short while later, off we went for another 1km trekking towards the Ijen crater. The track was rather flat at most times and it was easier to walk rather than the previous 2 km track. As for photo shooting, this is the time to start utilising your cameras as there are certainly a lot of beautiful shots you can come out with around this area.

The landscape changes at this point

We certainly took our time on the photo session and a group of us got to the crater last. There was simply no rush really as I felt that you need to take the time to be in the moment and appreciate everything while you were there.

Ijen Crater - the Lake view on the right side

Finally, we arrived at the top of Ijen crater. There weren't really a lot of people around and the sulphuric lake was not totally visible due to the clouds which was alright for us because we were hanging around there for quite sometime waiting for the clouds to make way for more views of the amazingly beautiful lake.It was in fact probably one of the best days to be up up there since the wind was blowing further away from us. Hence we were free from having strong smelling sulphur odour sticking to our clothes and the only time I had actually sensed a bit of sulphur lingering in the air was only for a short few seconds when the wind blow during our short hike up. In short, we were a lucky bunch and thank God for that.

Truthfully, I thought I could just hang around up there a whole lot more and that was why the three of us got left behind snapping more photos of Ijen crater and its surrounding. I would say I could never get enough of the whole view and the fact that it was the second volcanic mountain we had climbed in two days time, the feeling was just incredible. It is hard for me to put down words on how things are like and this is exactly the kind of thing you need to experience for yourself to truly appreciate the nature of the environment.

Sulphur with the constant smoke gushing out of it

If you look closely, you will see outline of the lake at the far left of the picture. On better days, the lake will be in high visibility at this point

After what I felt like a short while up there at the peak of Mount Ijen, we finally made our way down. The last 2 km descend could be hard for you knees and the trick is the hike down on a zig-zag, make small quick steps and take a lot of rests so that you don't strain your knees too much which I needed to be careful about.

Thankfully, we all made it down safe after 3 hours 46 minutes at 9.51 am totally in good shape but obviously famished yet again. Next, right after a quick toilet run and warming down ( I had my warmed up in the hotel room actually hehe), we were served with the Indonesian speciality menu which was yet another Indo Mee and more tea for our second breakfast of the day.

All in all, I would say the track up Ijen crater was reasonably easy as long as you are slighty fit and it was safe but still do be aware of any volcanic eruption news or warnings just to be on the safe side. For our trip, we had a guide with us who was actually the same girl we had guiding us throughout the trip and us being Malaysians and she an Indonesian, I think all of us enjoyed each others company. Hence on that note, it was a good trip after all.

We bumped with another group of Chinese Malaysians from KL too during the hike down and yeah, it was good to see some familiar faces there. :) The next burning question is would we travel all the way the crazy road to make it down to Ijen Crater again next time? As for this moment now, I will have to pass on that idea but then again, who knows I may make a comeback if the timing is right and the company is good. :)

Trip to Ijen Crater, East Java – Indonesia (Part 1)

The road trip to Catimor Homestay, Jember

Travel time on the road from Madakaripura Waterfall to Catimor Homestay which is located at the coffee plantation took about 9 hours ( I think so ).

We were back on the road again after the waterfall at about 1ish pm and we headed straight towards Ijen.

We had lunch at a restaurant along the way at about 3-4pm and by then we were famished. Some of us had Nasi Ayam Penyet, one person had Cat Fish Rice while myself and another friend got ourselves Nasi Bebek – which was a 'not so smart' choice. Hehe. But then again, we were super hungry and you just have to chow it down man!

Nasi bebek, Indonesia

Maybe somewhere around 6pm in pitch black we began to travel through the rough, gravel road which seemed to be out of nowhere. We were heading straight to the coffee estate and surprisingly in the dark, there were big lorries passing through the road, one stray dog and even people with overloaded motorcycles commuting on that very same road. Did I mention it was pitch black and it felt almost like we were in a jungle somewhere?

Arrived at the Rest House somewhere around 9ish pm, we got our keys to our rooms, shortly after we feasted on a lot of things on the dinner table.

After dinner, I showered while my roommate collapsed on the bed out of exhaustion. She had a hard time with all the crazy, rocky motions in the car (motion sickness) and she hardly had anything for dinner. While being me, I just can't really sleep and started repacking my bag, drying up the wet clothes from the waterfall and doing other nonsense instead. I slept for maybe 2 hours or so and woke up just before the alarm rang at 4am. Great!

Breakfast was a choice of black coffee ( not Luwak Coffee though) or tea, one hard boiled egg and a bread sandwich of butter and chocolate rice – which was not technically everyone's favourite but we (some of us) chowed it down anyway. My roomate got with her a Maggie Cup – Chicken flavour and I ate a bit of that too. :)

Next, we checked out of the hotel, loaded bags into the car and after a short drive through the coffee plantation and one guard post later (which the driver 'gave' some money and one hard boiled egg. There were probably about 5 to 6 guard posts that we passed through since last night and imagine the amount of 'token' the driver had paid which was of course billed on us. Simply unbelieveable!

Arrived at the entrance of the park – Taman Wisata Alam Kawah Ijen. The registration counter was closed and the crater is supposed to be closed anyway – at least it was closed for the suplhur miners. As long as we, visitors do not get down to the crater, we 'should' be fine and safe.

Next, the beginning of the hike up towards Ijen Crater which will continue in the next post.