Mount Batur

Today we conquered another mountain, more precisely, a volcano; Mount Batur. Mount Batur is an active volcano with three craters with the most recent one erupting in 2000. According to the locals, the volcano is perfectly safe to hike, but that didn’t stop everyone from saying a prayer to the mountains God beforehand asking for safe passage.

Our journey started at 2:00 am when a driver picked us up from our hostel to get to the base of the mountain. Ron and I had decided to do the hike along with 2 other friends we met at the hostel, Archie and Michael.
Our first pit stop on the way to the mountian was at a small coffee shop where we could get a coffee or a ginger tea. I had a small ginger tea and it was a perfect start to the day with the small banana pancake they handed out for everyone.

From there, it was only a short drive to the base of the mountain. Once we arrived, we were all handed a small flashlight to help us make our way up the mountain. Since it was so early, it was still pitch black out so the flashlight helped Immensely. As we started our hike, it was more of a walk just on a concrete road before we transitioned to the actual trail.
At the beginning of the trail before accending,  the guides all took a minute to kneel, pray, and bring offerings to the mountain God at the temple and to ask for safe passage and no eruptions for the day.😳🌋
Once on the trail it was pretty hard going because the entire trail consisted of volcanic rocks and stones that would constantly slip beneath your feet.The hike wasn’t too bad going up but it definately wasn’t a walk in the park. None-the-less, we hustled up with all of the other groups trying to race the sun to the top before it broke over the horizon.

Just before we got to the top, the sky started to turn beautiful colors of pink, orange, and yellow as the sun started to peak through the clouds.

 

And with one last push of energy we were able to make it to the top in time to see the full sun pop out over the blanket of clouds and over the mountains in the distance.

 

To fuel us from our climb up, our guides had packed us each a “second breakfast” that consisted of two pieces of bread and jam, a hard boiled egg, and a small banana. Although the breakfast was simple, it was definitely the best breakfast view ever experienced.

After enjoying an absolutely gorgeous sunrise above the clouds, our guides showed us around the mountain a bit. We were able to get closer to one of the craters and get a bit of a history lesson, get close up and personal with the steam coming from the volcano, and even had some fun with the monkeys.

 

After our time on top of Batur, we started our decent down which was quite a bit harder than going up. This was especially true because all of the loose rock that gave away underneath our feet as we struggled to make it down the steep sloped parts. Quite a few people fell and slipped trying to make it down but thankfully no one was injured. Blessed as always, I was so thankful to have my husband there extending his arm so that I could help support myself on the way down.

No pictures were taken on the way up because we were hiking in the dark and no pictures were taken on the way down because we were concentrating on not falling, but the pictures at the top made up for it all. We arrived back at our hostel around 10:00 am; just in time for third breakfast.

Which, if I haven’t mentioned yet, is free from the hostel! By far the best free breakfast from a hostel I have ever had because each morning we get our choice from a list of breakfast items made fresh daily including french toast, omelets, pancakes and more! So as a reward, the four in our group enjoyed our third breakfast for the day and took the rest of the day easy to ease our leg muscles to prepare for our next adventure!