Awesome Rinjani - Day 3

In the morning of Day 3, we are quite relaxed. The surrounding of the lake was active with porters playing their favorite past-time game and the travelers watching them. Porters carried tents, sleeping bags, food and cooking utensils and also prepared every meal for us. They were quiet but approachable and helpful.



While preparing for the day, we all heard "bommm" from Gunung Baru. I rushed out to get a photo but the mushroom of smoke coming out from the left of the cone was not well captured. The smoke is emitted every few hours but quickly disappeared. It didn't make a disturbance to us as there was no ashes spread around. After a while, my camera dived into the lake ;) so I wouldn't have beautiful photos for this post. I tried to find my last resource, my phone, but like I wrote before iPhone does not replace a camera.



Day 3 trail was exciting and challenging for most of us. First part of the trail is composed of tricky rocky climbs. Some parts of the climb are really dangerous as the support rails are damaged and the ropes are torn. I hope organizations like national park make some improvement on this. The local family (some with children) travel without guide thus they bare more risk than the foreign hikers.



The view of Crater Lake and Gunung Baru was the best while climbing the crater rim. The bank we were climbing up had full of edelweiss. We took a rest at the crater rim, take some group photos and started the down slope with loosen soil. A different skill set was required for this path. Having my hiking shoes wet as they also dived into the lake together with the camera ;) I slide downhill with my sandals.



As we approached Pos III (different from Pos III of day 1, this is on Senaru side) and entered the rain forest, it started to drizzle. Fortunately, it was just for a while. The path from Pos III to the Day 3 camp at Pos II was the heavy rain forest. We camped in the middle of heavy forest. Just like the mountains, forest also has their stories which we came to know only on the following day.

The highlight for the day was chitchat at fire made by the porters. Someone said sitting next to fire is therapeutic and I kind of agree to that statement. After a long day walk, heat from the fire helped relax the muscles. Sitting next to the fire also reminded me of the winter days during my childhood. With raisins, peanuts and friendship, the night was perfect.