First Summit: Mt. Merbabu 2018
Ola!
I am a bit confused on how to start but let’s begin with ticking one of my bucket lists: MOUNTAIN HIKING! And the ultimate twist is... I made it to the top of Mt. Merbabu (which after the whole process, I realized that summit is actually not the main goal—arrived home safely is).
Hike a mountain had been my desire since high school. I always wonder how the top of mountain looks like. Is it flat? Or is it a hole? And how it feels to see the view from the very top and watch the sunrise and sunset and sleep under the stars? I honestly took a bit of risk as I am still a freshman, still dealing and adapting here and there. But there was just nothing to lose as I believe this might be once in a lifetime experience (and now I hope it will not).
Long story short, through limited equipment and physical preparation (this is totally wrong, let alone for a first timer. Please go exercise to help prepare the body) I finally went to Wekas, Magelang—the chosen track to Merbabu. I was quite confident at first, given that I used to be an active scout member who have two times done survivals in a pine forest and surely passed the long journey to get there. But that was two years ago :’)
The track to get the camping ground actually more bearable than the track to summit. Sparse vegetation, full of sharp stones, steep cliffs, made me need to pay full attention to my steps therefore the ground didn’t crumble and the stone didn’t move so it would not harm people behind me. After several ups and downs the hill, witnessed the sunrise and sunset, stood in line the clouds, uncounted falls, strong wind and cold—finally I made it to summit. To say the view was beautiful is not enough, really. We sadly could not stay longer on top, and indeed the journey down was another challenge. But everything wrapped perfectly till I arrived home safely at 10pm and realized tomorrow was Monday then I had a class at 7.30 hehe.
Here are few pictures I took with my phone.
Seems like paintings, aren’t they?
