Hiking Mount Cikuray

Last weekend me and five of my old college friends went hiking to Mount Cikuray (2.821m) in Garut. This was my fourth time to Cikuray and the first for my friends. Using one of my friend's car, we drove from Jakarta on Friday night. Arrived at Garut at Saturday early morning, we parked the car at Wisma LEC Garut. Then we used local public transportation, an angkot, toward Patrol in Cilawu. Switched to motorcycle taxi/ojek to Pemancar/television aerials as our starting point. Started hiking aroung 8.30 AM, we struggled uphill. I felt not too tired but one of my friend was, so we had to walk slowly. As consequences, we reached Pos 6 or the false peak when it was almost 3 PM. And it started raining, so we decided to make camp at Pos 6 rather than at the actual peak. Usually not many people hiked Cikuray, but this time there were so many around us. It turned out, a group of hikers were doing mass climbing. We glad built camp in Pos 6 as we figured out that we wouldn't be able to get a space at the peak with so many people like this. Sunday morning, at 4.30 AM we left the tents and hiking to the peak, bringing only water and some food. Around 45 minutes later, we reached the peak of Cikuray. And yes, it was full with people and tents. The weather was clear and we could view the surrounding area. There was Mount Papandayan with its famous white crater walls. Far away we could see the top of Mount Ciremai and Mount Slamet. It was so beautiful. We hanging here for about 45 minutes, chatting and taking photos, before hiking back to the camp. Made and ate breakfast of fried noodles and eggs, then we went back to Pemancar and Jakarta.

Trip to Papandayan

I was back camping in Mount Papandayan. Now with old college friends on 29-30 September 2012. There were five of us using one car on Friday night from Jakarta to Garut. We made it to car park near the Papandayan crater at Saturday morning. Two of my friends had to back to Jakarta. So after lunch, only three of us hiking to Pondok Salada. We made camp at that valley, along with other hikers. Monday morning, after breakfast, we broke the camp then hiking uphill to Tegal Alun, Hutan Mati then back to the car park. Around 1PM we drove back to Jakarta. A nice weekend and i felt glad to be able to camp again with old friends.

Trip to Mount Salak

Mount Salak located in the border of Sukabumi and Bogor, West Java. It consists of six peaks, but people only hike to peak 1 and 2. The other peaks are too difficult to climb. And peak 2, climbed via Curug Nangka, also now has been closed because of poor and dangerous trail condition. I have been to peak 1 using Cidahu trail and Cimelati trail. And on 22-23 September 2012, i am back using Cimelati trail. On Friday night we started hiking and made camp at Pipa Bocor. Saturday morning, five of us continued walking uphill without much break. Around 11.20 AM we reached peak 1. After lunch we tried to hike to peak 2 but the old route was washed by landslide. So we had to try new route using the evacuation route of Sukhoi crash victims. The trail was steep and I was feeling very tired. Around 3 PM, as it was colder and began to cloudy and ready to rain, we decided to stop and back to the camp in peak 1. I had decided not to join if my friends wanted to go back to peak 2 in the following morning. That night we rest and ate. Sunday morning my friends back to try to peak 2. Fortunately one of them also decided not hiking and instead waiting with me at the camp. My friends back from peak 2 around 1130 AM and we broke camp. Lunch then we hiked back to Cimelati.

Dry season continue

Right now the dry season still continue in Indonesia. That is why some mountains also still closed. The latest is Merbabu in Central Java. It turns out that park managements are worried about the risk of fire. I just hope that the rain season comes as soon as possible.
Right now i also had bought a new phone. So i hope i could update this blog more often.

Fire in the mountains

Actually this weekend I have a plan to climb Mount Gede. Too bad that it closed until the end of September 2012. The park office decided that it was too risky to open the mountain for climbing in this dry season. Especially after there were some cases of forest fire in some mountains, like Papandayan, Slamet, Agung, etc. Some said that the fire happened because dry season is so intense this year, but it also happened after some hikers built fires carelessly during their camping in the mountains.

Pic of fire in Mount Papandayan (by Koran Jakarta)

Trip to Mount Sanggara (1.925 mdpl)

Last weekend I went to Bandung and climbed Mount Sanggara with Kelana Indra and Fajar PY. We used two bikes From Bandung to Dago Giri then to Maribaya and Bukittunggul plantation. After parking the bikes at Pak Iin's house in Pangli village, we started hiking around 2 PM Saturday. That afternoon we made camp at one area known as Taman Survival or Survival Garden. Here we share info about how to use flysheet for tent, how to build fire and then we got talking untill around 9 PM before sleeping. On Sunday we broke camp then continued to the top. At some point we decided to go direct and using machete to cut open the new track. Finally around 10 AM we got the top of Mount Sanggara. Here we found other hikers. We got down to Pangli Village then continued to Bandung and back to Jakarta. Sanggara is a small mountain but it is perfect to train your survival and orienteering skills.

trip to mount papandayan

weekend 16-17 June 2012. Mount Papandayan located in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. We made camp at Tegal Alun, an edelweiss-covered field not far from Papandayan craters.

trip to mount gede 2-3 June 2012

again, went hiking to mount gede. Now as part of Mountmag, Indonesian mountaineering e-magz, first anniversary. Camp at Suryakencana Valley.

trip to mount gede 26-27 May 2012

went to Avtech Jamboree at Suryakencana Mt Gede

Back to Mount Gede

Last week I went back hiking to Mount Gede via Gunung Putri route. Arrived at Gunung Putri after midnight, we spent the night at Pak Jalaludin's house. Saturday morning (5/5), we began hiking. This time i joined the team KPAWW Jakarta. The weather was nice although rather cloudy near 12 am. The path leading to old information house had been cleared from bushes, and the park management also had built stairways to help hikers. Feeling sad after found that the new Pos 1 now was in ruins. Someone stolen the roof so now we could not stay at that post. After six hours we reached the west part of Lembah Suryakencana. We made camps at the usual site, near the waterhole. That night the moon was looked bigger as it was a supermoon. But i didn't take pictures as it was quite cold outside and prefer spent the night inside the tent. Sunday morning, we had breakfast then broke camps. Hiking down to Gunung Putri again, we got soaked by heavy rain which falling after we passed Pos 3. The rain stopped after near 3pm.

Back to Mount Pangrango

Thursday (5/4), we went from Kampung Rambutan bus terminal to Cibodas, the starting point to hike Mount Gede and Mount Pangrango.
Friday (6/4) we started hiking at 8 am. Here we were 15 people from OANC (Outdoor Adventure and Nature Club), a hiking chapter from Kaskus forum. At 1pm we had arrived at Air Panas shelter and we had to wait for others to catch up. After lunch, we continued to Kandang Badak shelter and made camps.
Our original plan was to continue to Pangrango but we decided to camp instead as some from our groups was tired.
Saturday (7/4), Started hiking from 10am and we arrived at the peak of Pangrango at 1pm. The weather was clear. We made camps at Lembah Mandalawangi that night.
Sunday (8/4), After breakfast, we broke camps and hiking down to Cibodas. Started from Mandalawangi at 9am and arrived at Cibodas at 4pm.

Hiking to Mount Manglayang

Saturday, 25 Feb 2012: Our original plan was to climb Mount Burangrang near Bandung. We took a bus from Primajasa pool Cililitan Jakarta to Bandung at 5am. Arrived at Bandung at 7.57am, then had breakfast at Ampera restorant near Leuwi Panjang.
Took an angkot green to Cimahi Pasar Atas. Then changed to yellow angkot at Cimahi to Cisarua SPN then hired this car to take us to Pos Komando Burangrang. Unfortunately after we arrived there, the mountain was closed as it was being used for military exercise.
We changed the plan and now decided to climb Mount Manglayang in Jatinangor. From Pos Komando, we used the same yellow angkot to Cimahi. Then took angkot back to Leuwipanjang. We stopped at Terminal Elang and continued by Damri bus to Jatinangor.
From Jatinangor, we hired ojeks to Baru Beureum. Our starting point was Warung Bu Ipah. About 2.15pm we started hiking Mount Manglayang.
But at first we got the wrong track as we never been here before. We met with a local man who show us the right track fortunately. This track was steep. At some points we had to scramble to get to the top. I was glad that at that moment the weather was clear, because if it was raining i was sure the track will be much slippery and dangerous.
After 2 hours we made it and reached the east peak of Mount Manglayang. We decided to camp here as it was a good location; open to all sides. The weather still clear but it began raining from 6pm to 10 pm.
Sunday 26; after breakfas we broke the tent and continued hiking to the top of Mount Manglayang, about 40 minutes of steep track. Manglayang had some old graves at the top and this peak was surrounded by trees so we couldn't see panorama from here.
We hiked down to Batu Kuda area. Not far from the peak, we saw a big stone which was called Batu Keraton (Castle Rock). Some local people considered this stone as a sacred place and we met four locals who I thought will give 'sesajen' or presents to this stone.
At 1.30pm we arrived at Batu Kuda. Hired angkot to take us to Leuwi Panjang bus terminal and we back to Jakarta.

Trip to Mount Ciremai

on 21-22 January with four friends I went to Mount Ciremai in Kuningan, West Java.
Friday (20/1/2012) met with others in Kampung Rambutan bus terminal. We used bus Saluyu to go to Cileunyi at 10 PM, cost 25k rupiahs per person.
Saturday, around 2AM, we arrived at Cileunyi then continue to Cikijing using a small bus (we called it 'Elf'). Around 4AM arrived at Pasar Maja. The weather was cold and it was started raining but not for long.
We walked uphill then found the terminal for car to Apuy village. We hired a pickup car to take us to Apuy then continue to Pos 1. In Apuy we registered first at Ciremai Park office.
Around 8AM we started hiking from Pos 1 Apuy. It was a new shelter. The old track to Pos 2 Arban now covered by bushes. The asphalt road to Arban was abandoned since Ciremai became a national park and almost ruined.
Arban shelter used to be a small wooden hut but now its new and bigger. Continued hiking uphill, we passed shelters like Simpang Lima, Tegal Masawa, Tegal Jamuju, and Sanghyang Rangkah.
Finally we reached Goa Walet around 4PM while the weather became windy and its raining. Made camp here and got rest.
Sunday, at 7 AM we hiked to the peak while its still windy and cold. Took about 1 hour to reach it. We saw the crater and walked around but not for very long as it was quite cold. After took some pictures we walked down to Goa Walet.
Around 10 AM we broke the tents then hiking down. Now we didn't go to Apuy again but to another village, Palutungan, using another trail. The weather is fine but it was raining a bit when we almost reached Palutungan.
It was 5PM when we arrived at the village. Feeling very tired we decided to stay for the night at the house of one villager in Palutungan.
Monday (23/1) at 7 AM we used ojeks to go to Kuningan then got a bus to take us back to Jakarta.

Went to Mount Rakutak

Mount Rakutak (Gunung Rakutak) is a small mountain in Majalaya, not far from Bandung, the capital of West Java province.
This trip was held on weekend, 14/15 Jan 2012. There were four of us from Jakarta, and when we arrived in Bandung, we accompanied by another four hikers from Bandung.
From Bandung, we took public vehicle (angkot) to Ciparay then continued to Cikitu. Here we got off then started hiking through Rumbia Village. Then we entered paddy fields area before starting climb up to Rakutak Peak.
We started from Rumbia around 11 AM and arrived at Peak 1 around 2 PM. From Peak 1 to Peak 2, we had to pass narrow track with deep ravines at right and left of the track. Quite scary.
Then from Peak 2 to Peak 3, there was another narrow track, narrower and longer than the first one! Thanks God at that time the weather was quite good with no wind, otherwise maybe we had to go down.
At 4 PM we decided to make camp not far from Peak 3 or the highest point of Rakutak. From here we could see to faraway villages. Many small hills and mountains surrounded Rakutak, like Mount Cikuray, Mount Kendeng etc.
In the morning we walked to Peak 3. Here we could see the Lake of Ciharus. At first we were planning to go to that lake then continued to Garut, but we had no time.
So we back to camp, broke the tents and hiking down, not to Rumbia again but to another village, which was Ciburial.
We reached that village around 4 PM after had to hike a very muddy track.

review Terra Nova Laser 35L backpack

I had bought and used Terra Nova Laser 35 backpack for hiking. This backpack is light so I could use it for lightweight hiking. Using a small vertical zipper, we open it and put stuffs inside. So it's quite simple to use.

At first I was little afraid that the zipper couldn't handle the bulging stuffs inside but it turned out that the zipper is OK.
But i was disappointed about the quality of the side part which used to tie the strings. I just used it and it was torn open. So I had to tie the strings to another side part. Also the side pockets were not deep and tall enough to hold 1 litre Platypus bottle.

While hiking, this backpack was quite comfortable to use. So if you search backpack for lightweight hiking, Terra Nova Laser 35L is one of the options.