Fransiskus Nugroho
Galang Wijaya
Note: Bali and Lombok use Indonesia Central Time (GMT+8), but we stick to Indonesia Western Time (GMT+7) just to avoid confusion.
Day 1 : Ranger Office-Above 3rd Post
9 August 2013 after morning drifting with Bli Chemonk, we reached Sembalun town around 9 am. We registered our names to Ranger office, we started our soul journey around 10 am after we had our brunch. It was asphalted road that slowly disappear into dirt path through farm fields. Then we entered savanna, it was a beautiful long hike with surreal scenery for us, sometimes we encountered fog the other time it was sun burning hot. Before 1st post, Galang got an accident, he accidentaly drank rice wine that he thought was mineral water, he was intoxicated and needed about 40 minutes to sober. All good stories are started with alcohol. Around 2 pm we rested at 1st post, it was a long walk, 2nd and 3rd post was shorter. There suppose to be water in 2nd post, but the spring was contaminated with garbage, what a jerk, those hikers should be responsible with their own garbage. Before dawn we reach extra post bellow 3rd post, we got better spring here so we replenished our water supply. We hiked again for about 2 hours passing 3rd post before we decided to camp for the day, we camped at the foot of torture hill at around 1900m asl.
Day 2 : Above 3rd Post-Plawangan Sembalun
10 August 2013, we woke up cleaned our campsite and made omelet for breakfast, around 9 am we departed to hell, they were 7 hills of torture, the name has literal meaning, they torture us along the way. Steep 30-40 degree declination, dusts, scorching sun, and fogs, we made many small stop rests and one serious rest for energy drink. By 2 pm we reached Plawangan Sembalun at 3000m asl. We were exhausted, our only meal was nata de coco, freaking good, too tired to cook something. Plawangan Sembalun is a ridge, a crater rim from the old crater. We all awed by the scenery, it was drop dead gorgeous, like nothing we had ever seen in our life. The old caldera was filled with water that formed Segara Anakan lake. We camped near path that lead to summit. The wind was strong because we were at the ridge, we had to tied our tent to bushes and added extra weight from stones. Bloko cooked us meals then we rested for the big summit hike. The campsite was full with tourists, and unfortunately we were bothered by garbage, some of them just littered.
Day 3 : Plawangan Sembalun-Summit-Segara Anakan Lake
11 August 2013, Badu woke us all at 2.30 am, at 3 am we hiked to the summit, the 1st leg of the summit path was a "suppose" 30 minutes brutal 40-45 degree path with loose gravels, some of hikers gave up on this path and returned to the Sembalun camp. I nearly gave up, it took me almost an hour to deal with this path, then we reached the 2nd leg which is another flat ridge that was not easy for me because of hypoxia sensation. It was like the highest point that was possible for me in my whole life without artificial oxygen support. After about 3 hours of hiked, the sun rose, it was stunningly surreal and beautiful. The 3rd leg is the infamous E-track, came in my sight, my friends were way ahead of me. It was enough for me 3.300m asl, enough, I laid down by the track for 2 hours then I returned to Sembalun camp. My friends keep soldiered on with their zombie walk, E-track is a long exhausting 40-45 degree track of loose gravels, dirt, and dusts. They reached the summit around 10 am, an overwhelming experience for them that wiped out all the pain and sorrow of the hike. They descended and reach camp around 2 pm to rest. At 5 pm we descended into Segara Anakan lake, some of the paths were 50 degree vertical rock face, we need to use our hand to hike down, I was the last to reach our campsite by the lake around 11 pm at 2600m asl.
Day 4 : Segara Anakan Lake
12 August 2013, we moved to the other site of the lake to camp, it was resting day for all of us, we're just gonna chill by the lake. Alejandro, Galang, and Bloko were ready with their fishing rod, throughout the day they got 5 fishes, enough for all of us. By afternoon we went for hot spring near the lake flood way. It was a good dip, we just stayed there until dawn. At night there were feeding frenzy, we made fire camp and ate most of our food supply. It was a good rest with good foods and with beautiful nature scenery.
Day 5 : Segara Anakan lake-Plawangan Senaru-Senaru Village
13 August 2013, after a really good night rest and great breakfast of potatoes and eggs we cleaned up our camp site and moved to Plawangan Senaru at 9am, the track was almost identical to the track when we came down to the lake, some of the path were vertical. We reached Plawangan at noon, our lunch was jelly. At 1 pm we started our long journey that will end the whole journey, most hiker will took this journey in 2 legs, but we have to do it in 1 leg. After the 3rd post we were entering rain forest that was constantly covered by fog. By dawn we reached 2nd resting post, we rested and made our soup, an hour later we reached 1st post, we rested for hot cocoa, then an hour later we reached the Senaru Gate, here we found civilization a warung which sell bottles of cold coca-cola. By 9 pm we reached Senaru village, we successfully carried down our garbage from the whole journey and disposed them properly, here we ended our soul journey.
