Hiking to Mount Guntur

Guntur is a mountain located in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. 2.249 asl and famously known for its barren, almost tree-less location.  With 13 friends, I hiked this mountain on 29-30 October 2011.

From Jakarta we took a bus to Garut and arrived at the bus terminal of Garut on Saturday 29 early in the morning. Rest for a while at the mosque nearby, then at 7 am we chartered an 'angkot' (public vehicle) to Citiis, a village at the base of Guntur.

arrived at Citiis

In Citiis we went to the house of Bu Tati Karwati. She is a kind of village-headmaster and also taking care of hikers. Here we signed on registration book and paid a donation (3.000 rupiahs each).

From Citiis we got to starting point of hiking which is the sand digging area by hitch-hiking a sand truck (free). It took about 20 minutes to reach the area.

People dig and collect sands from the mountain for houses and other buildings. Too bad that each year the locations became bigger and bigger, and we had to search for a while for the starting point as its was lost to the digging activities.

steep track

After hiring 2 porters we started to hike around 8 am. The sun already shining. Its hot and the track quite steep.

Guntur doesnt have waterspring but its have a waterfall, Curug Citiis. So every hikers must collect water from here.

From the base of the mountain, we could see the steep track toward the peak 1 (Guntur has 3 peaks).

Resting for a while around 11.30 am after we found some pine trees. Feeling very hot, I try to muster energy to reach the end of tracks which is peak 1 around 1 pm.

From here we followed a not to steep track to peak 2. Here at least around 1.30 pm we reached the peak and decided to make camp. Soon 10 colorful tents adorned this barren peak. We could see Citiis, Cipanas and other villages far below.

Hungry and tired, we had lunch of rice and fried egg (we bought it from the foodstall in Garut). After that i tried to have a nap but i couldnt. Meanwhile the others busy took photos of the peak and its surroundings. In front of us was the area of Citiis, while behind us the peak 3 looming. We decided to go to peak 3 early in the morning tomorrow.

tents on peak 2

Sunday 30, around 5 am, we woke up and started to go to peak 3 or the highest peak of Guntur. I only brought a small daypack which contained of half-litre water, raincoat, a small bag of cookies and a pocket camera.

First we went to down to a valley which separated the peak 2 from the peak 3. It took about 8 minutes. Then we started hiking up to the peak. It wasnt too steep and about 6 am we had already in peak 3.

Like peak 2, this peak was barren with no trees. Some smoke came out from the land as Guntur still an active mountain.

When i reached it, my friends already hike down and up to another peak. Its called Parukuyan Peak with its black soil as its landmark.

It took around 10 minutes from peak 2 to Parukuyan. Here we could see the peak of Guntur, while in the distance was the peak of Cikuray Mountain.

parukuyan peak, guntur peak and cikuray in the distance

My friends werent satisfied enough. They continued hiking toward another peak, Masigit. We had to cross a small forest here, in the back of parukuyan peak.

I decided not to follow them and back to camp in peak 2 instead as my watch showed it already 7 am.

Hiking alone, i tried to focus my consentration to the track. Again i had to hike ups and downs from parukuyan peak to peak 3 and 20 minutes later reached the camp.

After resting for a while, i cooked my breakfast of instant 'semur' (beef broths) and coffee. Around 8 am all my friends had already come back to the camp. Took photos together and we broke camp around 9 am, back to Citiis.

back to Citiis

If at the beginning we had to climb steep track, now we had to face a slippery downhill track. I tried to ski down using my trekking poles but had to stop often to remove pebbles from my shoes.

At some point we lost the original track and had to hike down using the track to the waterfall. It was more steep and slippery. And the rain started to fall around 11 am which make the track more dangerous.

Finally around 11.30 am we made it to sand-digging area. Now the sun was shining hot again. After waiting for the truck for awhile, i decided to walk down to Bu Tati's house. After 30 minutes walking following the truck road, i arrived at Citiis. So glad that this hiking finally over.