It’s been a while with no post, but all that is about to change as we start the hiking season in, sadly, our last year in Indonesia.
The season got off to an in auspicious start with a rather wet and misty trip to Butak, where we failed to reach the summit and did not get a view.
The hike was a little more challenging than expected, partly because of the wet weather, but also because the trail was very overgrown in places. We were lucky to secure the services of 4 excellent porters in the local village, who hiked at a good pace with our bags while also wielding their machetes to clear the overgrown trail. Their money was well earned!
Our porters left us at a windswept, misty, and wet meadow and returned back to the village. Cold and wet, we decided to take a break in our tents and eventually decided to leave the summit bagging to the morning when we hoped the weather would have cleared up. Unfortunately, we woke up to rain and mist and at 5:00 am we headed off towards the summit (location stored in a GPS) along the path through the alun-alun. However, as the trail entered the forest below the summit, it was also quite overgrown and hard to follow. The trail was too hard to find and with time pressing on and a 2:30 pm flight from Malang, we returned to break camp, soaking wet with the bitter taste of our multiple defeats – no view, no summit, and no time for a good breakfast.
Judging by Dan’s photos on Gunung Bagging, the views from Butak are spectacular and in sunshine the meadow campsite would be a lovely (if lumpy) campsite. We may well return an try this as a day hike when we climb Semeru later this year.
Too wet for photos I’m afraid – watch this space for the next hike!
