What Part of "Climb a Mountain" Don't You Understand?

Our bicycle tour ended around 4:30pm, and like the geniuses we are, we decided to book a hike up Mt. Batur (2nd highest peak in Bali) to see the sunrise.

This is a great idea on paper: a group of friends at the top of a mountain, overlooking all of Bali as the sun rises over the ocean...

In practice, this required getting up a 2am for a car ride to the base of the mountain...keep in mind this is all on about four hours of sleep after a day of bicycling, sometimes uphill, on legs that aren't used to either mountain hiking or bicycling.

Once there, we had to drag our tired bodies out of the van and on to the hiking trail. In the pitch black of night. We had flashlights (don't know why I brought one but it's come in handy a million times) but could only see one step in front of us, focused at all times on the ground and unfortunately not nearly enough on the thousands of stars in the night sky. Which was extraordinary, during the breaks we got (and they turned out to be many).

Poor, poor Jon. All the spicy food we had been eating finally caught up to him, and it was a miserable experience for the man. He was cramping over in pain, chewing Immodium AD like candy, and the hike was only getting progressively more steep. At one point there was no denying it further: he would have to leave an offering on Mt. Batur. In the dark. I do not envy what that man went through...

After his stomach settled, he was spent. And it was at about this time that we realized that WE WERE CLIMBING A DAMN MOUNTAIN IN THE DARK. It was very steep; the rocks slipped under our feet, and it just kept getting steeper. Jon was toast. At many points I thought he would turn back, but instead he perservered, a few steps at a time with frequent breaks. I think we were the first group on the mountain, and nearly the last up it.

But we made it! After two grueling hours we reached our goal...one of the lower craters on the mountain, very near the top. A great place to watch the sunrise and a tremendous achievement. We were so proud of Jon for sticking it out--he was clearly suffering the entire way.

But our stupidity does not end there--far from it. Alison, Kat and I decided to push for further glory; to attempt to conquer the summit. I was actually feeling pretty good at that point--the frequent breaks for Jon had kept me fresh and I saw no reason not to shoot for the stars. The last push of the hike to the top peak was pretty intense, but it only took an additional twenty minutes or so, and we watched the sun rise from the top of the mountain (pictures are below)!

Sweet, right? Wrong. To climb back down to Jon, our guide took us around the crater at the top (the crater was formed a hundred years ago or so in a huge eruption). If you're one of those worrying types who doesn't like to think about the risks we put ourselves in on this trip, please read no further...

This was singularly one of the stupidest and perhaps most terrifying things I have ever done. There were points on the crater hike where we were on paths only a foot or two wide, with thousand-foot drop-offs on both sides. At one point, I had to get down and crawl...it was just too scary. At no point did I ever dare to look anywhere but at the path directly in front of me. If I had looked over the edge, panic would have set in. It took all of my inner strength (Alison's too) to get around that crater and back down to Jon. And I have never been happier to be through an ordeal.

But still, we can say we did it. I conquered my fears, stupid as it may have been, and I'm proud of us. It's a life experience not many can say they have duplicated...one of the pictures below is of the crater we hiked around, but Kat has some truly terrifying photos she will post on her blog eventually that will give you more of an idea of just how stupid we were. Those photos are also not for those who are prone to worry. I promise you all, we will never take that kind of a risk again.

Once we reunited with Jon, there was nothing left to do but...hike for another hour-and-a-half down a mountain. Ugh. Boy were we happy to be done. We went straight home and to bed, and the rest of the day was a relaxing one (you're damn right there was massage involved).

Posts to come: we finally make it to the animal safari, and the adventure of driving in Bali