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Horse Poop, Craters, Sulfur, and Ash

What is this? A band from the ‘60s?

Nope, it’s my story about two days of hiking volcanoes on the Island Java in Indonesia. Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen.

The natural flow of travel towards Bali from the city of Yogyakarta passes by these two volcanoes. There are tours leaving from Yogyakarta or Bali, or in other towns near these mountains that I’d seen advertisements for, but since I am stubborn and thought I could save money, I tried to make it all happen on my own.

I took the train from Yogyakarta to the closest station to Mount Bromo: Probolinggo. I found a place to stay on booking.com that was more expensive than the usual hostel but it’s all I could find ahead of time and I hate showing up somewhere without a place to stay if it’s late in the afternoon. The train arrived at 4pm. I wanted to go to a town closer to the mountain called Cemara Lewang but I couldn’t find a place to stay online and it would have been dark by the time I arrived. As a general rule I avoid looking for hotels in the dark. (I have had some miserable experiences).

As I researched the towns surrounding Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen ahead of time, I was realizing that lodging wasn’t as cheap and getting from places was probably going to start adding up…

When I got to my hotel in Probolinggo, which is still 2 hours away from Bromo, I decided to ask the the staff what they knew about getting to Bromo. Obviously this is their main activity so they had a company all set up to come and chat with me and explain their package.

A guy popped in and told me that the trip to Bromo would leave at 2 am so we could watch the sunset over the crater, then hike into it once day had broken.

I mentioned I also wanted to visit Mount Ijen where you can see blue fire of burning sulfur at 600 degrees Fahrenheit. The guy said they did that trip too. Since the Bromo trip ends early in the morning, by noon they would drive everyone to a mountain town for lodging near Mount Ijen and the group would wake up at 1 am to hike to the crater through the night and then head to the ferry to Bali, arriving in Bali by the afternoon.

Woah it was fast. And there would be little sleep. I’d given myself 4 days to see these volcanoes, but the organized trip could do it in 2.

The guy broke down the price including park fees and after talking him down a bit, I am pretty sure I paid less than what it would have cost to do this all on my own. How was I supposed to get into a crater at 1 am by myself? Sometimes joining tours is the answer.

So I went to sleep for a measly few hours to wake at 1 and wait for the ride to Bromo. A van picked me up at 2 in the morning with a few other travelers my age from various countries. Once we’d climbed the mountain a bit, they switched us to some jeeps and mixed everyone up. It seemed like there wasn’t really a method the Indonesian drivers were following to keep track of us, but we decided to just trust them …because we had no other choice.

The jeeps climbed the increasingly steep mountain, in the dark, and it was a bit terrifying.

Eventually we arrived at the cold, windy top and exited the jeeps to walk up to the viewpoint where we would watch the sunrise and return to the car at 6am.

There were a lot of jeeps. So many jeeps.

I’d heard that these trips are super crowded with tourists, but oh my goodness there were hundreds and hundreds of jeeps lining this road.

Up at the viewpoint I shuffled around to find a spot that was far enough away from people that I wouldn’t be smushed but close enough so that I wouldn’t be cold. I found a woman from the same jeep as me and it turns out she was a free-lance event planner from London. (She had my future job!). We chatted about events and the world and things while the sun slowly rose to reveal a heavy fog over some pointy mountains, then finally a crater below.

By the time the sun was up, there was a layer of mist over the glowing crater and it was super cool. People were elbowing each other to get photos but most people were patient and kind. How beautiful to share such a moment with hundreds of people… It’s like a religious experience.

Once we had the photos we desired, we made our way back to the sea of jeeps which now showed themselves as multiple colors in the daylight. It was a bit of a challenge to find the right one but I’d written down the license plate.

We piled in and the jeep descended back down the mountain into the crater. As it sped through, ash coated the windows and views of green lava-stripped mountains came into view.

The jeep stopped to let us out at the bottom of the volcano. Our driver told us we could either walk to the volcano or take horses. The horses did not look happy. They have to breathe that ash everyday! That can’t be good for them.

It was a 45 minute walk through windy ash up to the side of the sulfuric smelling volcano. There were some challenges along the way… it was a very crowded hike. At the top when the ashy wind picked up it was pretty hard not to fall into another tourist. Luckily no one fell down into the volcano…

The way down was harder as the wind picked up and my eyes filled with ashy dust. There seemed to be more horse poop along the road at this point.

After we made it back to the jeep, we drove into town. The drivers shuffled us around again and magically we all ended up where we were supposed to be.

I took a shower at the hotel in Probolinggo and a small nap to be abruptly awoken by the staff because the car taking the group to Ijen had arrived early.

…

That afternoon was spent in a van filled with more travelers my age from all over the world (mainly Dutch!), riding through the scenery of Java. I was in the front seat which made it easy for me to soak up the views… of the driver doing some of the scariest overtaking I have ever seen. We almost clipped people on mopeds once every five minutes. At one point he video-called his family while driving. He could see I was “amused” so he turned his phone towards me so I could say hi to his kids.

As we got father east in Java, the bright green rice fields looked so much like Madagascar that I just stared out the window in a daze, forgetting where I was and enjoying the strange comfort of familiarity.

We arrived in a cold mountain town as the sun was setting. We were divvied up, once again without any method, into shared rooms for the (half) night.

I chatted with some new friends for a bit around dinner time and then we all went to bed pretty early to wake up at …1 in the morning.

After we’d been shoveled into vans again in the darkness of the night, we entered the national park where Ijen stands.

When we reached the trail head it was beginning to rain. There was some more “organized” chaotic moving around of groups and finally it was time for our group of 30, amongst an overall group of …hundreds yet again, to climb the mountain to the crater.

We wore our gas masks ready around our necks and hiked up a super steep hill for a few hours in the moist dark.

We made it to the top of the crater around 4 am… then the most intimidating part of the trip arrived: climbing into the rocky crater in the dark.

I slowly followed people in my group and a long line of snaking flashlights down into the crater. The deeper we got, the stronger the smell of sulfur. I could see the blue smoke of the burning sulfur come closer and closer-despite the amount of flashlights people were shining on it. Dumb people.

At the bottom of the crater it was crowded and cold and still misty but now the air was thick with sulfur too. Seeing the blue smoke up close was awesome…but I did not need to stay down there for a whole hour while the other people in my group ran around doing whatever they were doing. I don’t know how they had so much energy at 4 am after no sleep.

I sat on a mound of ash and watched the smoke and turned off my brain.

Finally our Indonesian guide managed to gather all of us up. I have no idea how he did it. It was dark when he met us and there were so many people there. Even to me, our group was just a mush of white faces. But he did it. He told us to hike up the crater and wait in the middle for a good photo op.

I usually like photos, but I, along with a few others in the group, grunted at the idea. We were tired and wet and just wanted to hike back.

We waited on a piece of the crater’s shelf for a while. It was still dark and misty and cold and smelly and some people in the group were still running around being silly and my “old lady irritability” was starting to appear. But I sat. And I waited.

Soon the misty sky began to lighten. After a few moments not much sun had cracked through, but the day was breaking and slowly the contents of the crater were revealed.

Holy shit.

It was truly a magnificent moment.

There was a huge seafoam green acidic lake there! I had no idea we were hiking next to a lake. In fact, it is the biggest acidic lake in the world. The light blue water mixing with the yellow smoke of the crater was a captivating contrast.

Okay, I am glad we waited for photos.

Wait, maybe not.

So it was cool to see, and yes I snapped a few photos. But then the crazy people from my group needed to do a 45 minute long photo shoot. It was mostly these two dutch boys running around doing all sorts of poses.

Whyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Finally it was time to finish the ascent up the crater and the descent down the mountain. It was daytime now but everything was covered in a thick layer of eerie mist. We were lucky we were able to see anything in that crater!

Walking up the rocky wall of the crater, I passed miners carrying baskets of sulfur. They work in rough conditions collecting the stuff and aren’t paid that well, though the income is more than average for people in that area. I talked to one for a few minutes. He tried to sell me a flower shaped piece of sulfur. I wanted to support him so I bought it… but then I had a piece of fart flavored rock to carry around for a few days and I eventually had to dispose of it. It stunk up everything!

There were also quite a few Indonesian men with carts to carry tourists up the hill. Phew it was a steeeep hill to push someone up. I did not see anyone use them but… Well I guess the hike isn’t for everyone and it’s an innovative way for locals to make money.

On the way down I passed many groups of people hiking up. It seemed absolutely silly to me that they would go during the daytime and miss all of the excitement of the night. I am glad I did the tour.

Down the muddy mountain I strolled, satisfied, yet looking forward to sleeping…after a drive, a ferry ride, and another drive to reach my first destination in Bali: Ubud.

The best adventures leave you cold and wet and exhausted, yet fulfilled.

#adventures #travel #indonesia #java #mount ijen #mount bromo #nature #seasia

Fly through a caldera this #Volcanomonday - Tengger Caldera in Indonesia hosts several smaller volcanoes including Mount Ijen and Mount Bromo featured in this video. The steaming lake is Mount Ijen - home of the famous “glowing blue lava” from burning sulfur (https://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js218fESS) and the large cone is Mount Bromo. Check out how the volcanic sediments from various eruptions are being reworked into channels throughout the caldera.

Mount Ijen

#mount ijen #naturecore #photography #volcano #mountains #lake #crater #green water #sky #nature #water #landscape

Witness the Magic of the Blue Fire: Mount Ijen Guide 2026

Planning a trip to East Java? You cannot miss the otherworldly beauty of Mount Ijen. Home to the world’s largest acidic crater lake and the mesmerizing electric-blue flames, it’s a bucket-list destination for every adventurer.

But before you lace up your hiking boots, here is everything you need to know about the entrance fees and latest regulations for 2024. Whether you are a local explorer or an international traveler, we've got the breakdown for you!

What’s inside the guide:

✅ Updated Ticket Prices (Weekday vs Weekend)

✅ Mandatory Medical Certificate info

✅ Best time to visit for the Blue Fire

✅ Essential gear you need to bring

Ready to stand on the edge of the turquoise crater? Check out the full breakdown and start planning your hike! 👇

Official entrance fee of Mount Ijen 2026: the latest ticket price and how to register online "tutorial" visit Ijen blue fire.

#Mount Ijen #Ijen Crater #Kawah Ijen #East Java #Indonesia Travel #Blue Fire #Hiking Adventure #Visit Indonesia #Travel Guide #Backpacker #Wanderlust #Ijen Expedition #Banyuwangi #Nature Photography #Travel Inspo