LET’S SEE THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD FROM 10318,24 FEET – THE CHARM OF INDONESIA

Hi guys, let me invite you to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation from 10318,24 ft. Because in this time, I wanna share my experience becoming a mountain hiker. Well, that was my first time to hike a mountain. It’s a quite high but most of people told me that the track is not too difficult for a rookie. So, I went there, one of the mountains in Indonesia, it is Merbabu Mountain. FYI, this mountain is an inactive mountain. If you are a beginner like me, there are a lot of things you should prepare and at that time it freaks me out. That was the first time and you don’t know how’s the condition. Its like, what would I be? But, Im going to tell you what preparation you should do, so don’t freak out!

Okay, first of all, the thing that you need is permission. You’ll go to the jungle, to the one of dangerous that may kill you, I mean, its not something you can underestimate. So, you need to ask permission to your parents. At least, there is somebody that knows you are going to hike a mountain. When you decide to hike a mountain, in this case, you are a beginner, don’t do it alone. Find a few people that have experience in hiking mountain.  Second, you need to prepare some stuff and your main needed. What’s that? Here you are :

A.      Main Tool

• Carrier

This thing will help you to carry all of your stuff. This is the important one. Don’t use any bag carelessly. Why? You need a comfort bag because it’ll hang on your back as long as your travel.

•   Track shoes

You’ll hike a mountain by your feet, so make sure you use right shoes. Track shoes are the best choice.

•  Jacket

Mountain is a high place surrounded by a million trees. It will be so cold at night. This thing to avoid hypothermia. There are a lot of case about hypothermia, so be careful.

•   Tent

Imagine you are in the savannah, arrived at night, tired, what would you look for? A rest area. So you need a tent. Make sure you have been practice to build a tent. There a few types of tent based on the capacity. Commonly, we use the tent with 4-5 capacity. So, discuss with your crew about it. You can roll to carry this.

• Mattress

It is gonna be your sleeping mats. To block the cold caused by the soil.

• Sleeping bag

The jacket is not enough. The cold is very piercing your body. So the sleeping bag is the important one. It’s a must for a mountain hiker.

• Mountain stove and nesting

This stuff helps you to not starving on a mountain. Commonly, one crew of hiker only need each one.

•  Flashlight

You gonna walk among the trees at night, the thing you need is a flashlight. You need a light. So don’t forget it.

B.       Supporting Tool

1.      Raincoat

In my experience, i went to the mountain in the rainy season. So, I bring the raincoat.

2.      Gloves

It covers your hand from the cold and the bite from animal also sharp twigs.

3.      Knife

When you make some food, or your way is blocked by twigs, you gonna need this.

4.      Medicine

Because this place is so dangerous, you gonna need some medicine. At least, just bring first aid kit.

5.      Food

Because I’m a simple person, I always bring the simple food also. The main food I bring is the instant noodle. But if you are a creative one, you can bring vegetable or rice.

6.      Drink

Don’t forget the drink. Usually, I bring 2 bottles of big AQUA.

7.      Trashbag

Honor the nature. Don’t throw the garbage away, make sure you keep in the trash bag.

Well, that’s the important thing for a hiker. For the detail, you know what you need for yourself. So, back on my experience. It was my first semester in university, I joint a few friend of mine to hike merbabu mountain. FYI, there are few hiking trails, that are Selo, Cunthel, Tekelan, Suwanting, and Wekas. We choose Selo because it is the safest path. At that time, we only knew two hiking trails, Selo and Wekas.

It was rainy season, along the road we got wet because of rain. Also, when we arrived in the basecamp. So, it was 2 p.m., and we start to hike. It was weekend, so the mountain is full of people. That makes me feel safe, you know, a lot of people, I guess, everything will be fine.

Night comes, we got some problem. The crew before me got an accident. One of their crew got hypothermia, that was our first conclusion. Because of she cold and doesn’t move. So my crew tries to help them. We cover her with a sleeping bag, while some of us make her a hot tea. It took a long time to make her feel good. Finally she good, and it’s not like what we thought first, about hypothermia. Well, we glad for that. So, that crew decided to stay, and my crew continues our hike.

Ohh, I almost forget. Selo has 5 posts. The first post named Dok Malang, this post not really far from the basecamp. Second post named Pandean. The track is still sloping.the position of this post is in the middle of the forest. Third post named Watu Tulis. Here is an open field and we need to climb. Fourth post named savannah one. Just like the name, no trees in this field, only long grass. To arrive at this post, we must pass through a steep climbing path. The fifth post is Savannah two. The way we pass through savannah 2 is very beautiful. We can saw the cloud under us. And then we arrived at the top, named Kenteng Songo.

Maybe at 8 p.m., we got to rest in savannah 1. When we got there, its rain. So we build a tent and stay for a night. We continue at 4 a.m and we arrive in another savannah, but it is not savannah 2. Savannah 2 only pass a steeps cliff, but we are so tired. We decide to stop at this savannah because one of our crew seems doesn’t strong enough to continue, so we enjoy the view. But pity, we cant enjoy the sunrise because it blocked by the cloud.

But still, I’m so impressed with what I see. The thing I never imagined before. I never thought that I’ll get there, to the top of the mountain. It is tired, but it all paid by the scenery. So thank God I’ve been there. The weed grass washed away by the wind as if waving. The edelweiss flower, the flower that only grows on the mountain, so beautiful. From this view, we can saw another mountain. I have no word. I’m so impressed.

Then we go down to our tent, it was rain. So we cooked some meal to eat. We waited until the rain goes away. At 8 a.m. we decided to pack and leave the place where we rested. We met another crew, they were from Jakarta, so we go back to basecamp together. But we got some problem, one of the Jakarta’s crew got an angle. So, we stopped and help him. But, he’s getting severe, he got hypothermia. And looks like he cant stand. So, we cover him with double sleeping bag. The condition getting worst, so our crew makes him a stretcher made of bamboo trees. The soil was so wet, I got fell for a few times. My green shoes covered with wet soil, so it was not green anymore. My carrier, my pants, my jacket are so dirty. I and a few girl bringing the carrier, while the boys carry the stretcher. Because the can’t carry stretcher while bring the carrier, so the girl bring all of the carriers they can’t bring.

Our expectation is we arrived at the basecamp at least at 2 p.m, but because of the accident, we came late. We arrived at the basecamp at 6 p.m., and you know, the thing I should do first is calls my mom. I guess she worrying about me. Right! When I call her, she start crying, and I tell everything, that I’m okay, and there is some accident up there. The funny one is, my mom almost call the rescue team to find me up on the mountain. You should know, that there are three boys in my crew, and they are work as the rescue team. So my mom wanna call the rescue team, while I was with the rescue team. Haha. But we glad that everyone is okay. We also happy to meet new friends.

 

Im sorry, I didn’t captured much photos. Well guys, if you have an experience about hike a mountain. Share with me in the comment column. I’ll tell you my other experience on another mountain later. I’m sorry if there are many mistake on this article. I’m learning. if any suggestion please convey. constructive criticisms I really need. Thank you. See you!