Mt Batur...a Bali hike

Rita and I joked about how long it would take before we remembered this adventure with fondness, and maybe even a bit of laughter.  As I look over the pictures, I see us smiling in most of them.  Is this a result of a lifetime of training?  "Smile for the camera!"  Perhaps. 

We were definitely victims of false advertising...or at least misleading advertising.  The hike was billed as a "not too difficult" walk which would be suitable for most people and children.  It was, in fact a better than two hour walk, half of which was gentle to not-so-gentle slope over sand, and loose volcanic rock of various sizes, to steep and steeper slopes covered in loose volcanic rock of various sizes...all in the dark with flashlights.

A bus picked us up in Sanur at 2:00am for the two hour trip to the beginning of the trek.  The road there was narrow, bumpy, and winding...as I've shown in previous posts.  We arrived and joined at least 100 other people set to make the trek to see the sun rise.  We had 4 guides for our group of 9 people.  The  guide who took the lead, Annie, told us she does the hike four times a week. Other of our guides did it more often.  Though she was no bigger than a minute, it was Annie who got me up that hill...

 We all look our best at 3:00!  A quick trip to the bathroom and we are off!

Following this happy picture are two+  hours of increasing elevation to the top of the volcano...of course it was pitch black when we arrived...

 This is sunrise.  You can see that the weather did not cooperate.  We never did see the sun...or much of the spectacular (advertised) scenery.

  Coffee was a welcome treat!  It was cccccold up there.

 The breakfast shack.

 The edge of the caldera.  Our guide told us that a person died when he tried to take a "jumping" selfie and fell into the caldera.

 A steam vent...a welcome stop for a quick warm up.

 Bob went on a more extended hike, so did not join us for this part.

 Rita practiced yoga moves in the fog...

 See...we really were there, and didn't fake the photos...

 The advertised troops of monkeys obviously weren't fond of the fog either.  We saw three monkeys, which was quite enough for me.

 By a steam vent with two of our guides. The cold-looking young man lent his coat to Ada... My glasses were too steamed up for a picture.

 Time to head down.

 The path was as treacherous down as up...but in daylight so much easier to navigate.

 We meet at the halfway point on the way down...

We took the "easier" way down from there and looked out over the fields of overgrown lava flows...the bulk of which was from a 1963 eruption.  The most recent eruption was in 2000

So it was an arduous climb which gave us no beautiful sunrise at the top...but....did we look like we had a good time?  I think the shared adventure made it a memorable event...