Hi, like I told on the last post, I went hiking again with Humus. This time I went to Mountain Argopuro (3088 mdpl) in East Java, a mountain with longest track in Java. The trip was really really REALLY tense, as I and my friends faced series of unfortunate events. lol.
So our journey started from Stasiun Pasar Senen. We were divided into two groups. The first group left Jakarta on August, 10th, while the second group left on August, 11th. I was in group two. This was because the ticket on August 10th was already sold out. After arriving in Malang on the 12th and went to Bermi (one of base camps and starting points on Argopuro) by changing two transportation.
Actually, we planned to start the hiking on 12th, but because we couldn't find transportation earlier to Bermi (it supposed to be on 8 am, but we took the bus on 1 pm) and considering the second group needed a little rest, finally we decided to spend a night at Bermi and started hiking on 13th.
I personally think the track from Bermi wasn't really demanding. I found no problem on the first day. The track was much better compared to Cibodas path in Mount Gede and Pangrango with its stoned path. Some problems occurred on my friends though, as some of my friends got a little cramps. We were, then, divided into three groups, the first one advanced straight to the next stop, that is Taman Hidup, the second group walked in the middle (I was in second group), and the last group walked slower because that cramps. Aside that, nothing major occurred on the first day. We arrived in Taman Hidup on about 6 pm. Had dinner, chit-chatted a little, and then went sleeping. The problem started to occur (on me) on the second day. lol.
The second the started pretty much well. We woke up early, on 5.30 am, to get sunrise in Taman Hidup. But, unfortunately the place was covered with thick fog, we barely see the sun. Actually, I felt really well in the morning and I didn't feel sick or anything. The sickness came after I strolled around Taman Hidup. The sun shone really bright it made my head dizzy. Afterwards, I felt really sick. I even threw up in the middle of the track. Tbh, I felt really ashamed of myself being really weak. It really was holding us up and our pace became really slow. We finally arrived at the next point, it was Cemoro Limo, at like 4.30. We continued our walk after taking a little break. Initially, we planned to camp in Cisentor, but because we walked in the dusk (which is STRICTLY prohibited) we, somehow.... got lost. Some of my friends also got really tired and sick, so then we camped in the middle of nowhere with limited water. I didn't get dinner because I was really tired. It was chaotic! But, though we got lost, in the end we really really felt grateful as the track we took brought us closer to the peak of Argopuro.
The third day started pretty bad, at least for me... The sickness didn't go away. Even, I couldn't stand a lot as i would feel really dizzy. At first, the dizziness didn't really hinder, but along the way I started to felt numb around my hand. I felt really weak and It felt like I couldn't move my hand. And it was getting worse as I reached Puncak Arca, one of three peaks that we reached. I felt tingling around my face and hand. It was really really scary, I thought I would die there. I took a rest for like 30 minutes to catch my breath. I think I lack of oxygen so that my blood didn't run really well inside my body (I even used oxygen in can). Beside myself, one of my friend was also like me. She even got her carrier brought by my other friend. It was damn tense. Fortunately, nothing bad happened afterward. We continued to reach Puncak Argopuro, the highest peak, and then went to Alun-alun Lonceng or also known as Savanna Rengganis to camp there.
Thankfully, I was getting MUCH better on the next day. We woke up on like 7 am to go to the most famous peak in Mountain Argopuro, that is Puncak Rengganis. And it isn't famous for nothing. Puncak Rengganis IS really really beautiful. You would see vast cloud around you. It was like an ocean of cloud. I was like wow, It was much much more beautiful compared to the other peaks. We stayed there for like an hour, to take photo and video. After that, we took breakfast and started to go down the mountain on like 2 pm. First, we stopped on Rawa Embik to take some water. Then we continued to go to Cisentor. Something unfortunate but funny happened here. So, in order to go to the next point, we needed to cross a small river. There were some rocks there, to avoid being wet. One of my friend was unfortunate at the time. She got slipped on the rock and fell on the river! But once again, fortunately she wasn't hurt, only her carrier that became wet. Along the track, we also (no, it was my friends) saw a boar! It was scary, though it didn't attack us. I didn't get a chance to see it, because it was already dark (once again, it was STRICTLY prohibited to walk on the dark). We then arrived at Cikasur at like 9 pm, and i went straight to sleep.
The next day was the last day in Argopuro. We planned to start the tracking earlier, because it is said that it would take like 10 hours to go to Baderan, the closest village. As if it would happen, we even started to go down on like 1 pm. We were like really getting attached to Cikasur. Cikasur was a vast savanna. It was really reaaaallly beautiful. I even did a little photoshoot with my friends there lol. There was also peacocks there. I heard the voice but didn't get to see it :(. There were also a little river there. Actually, the day before, one of my friend hurt his ankle, badly, really badly. He wasn't even able to walk properly. Thankfully, there was ojek (yes, there is ojek in Cikasur). The man was really nice. He was offering him a ride to go to Baderan, by paying only Rp25.000,-! It was supposed to be Rp200.000,-, maybe because he was hurt he gave a lot of discount. lol. The track to Baderan was reallllllllllllllllllllllllllly long! It was like the longest track I've ever walked! We started to walk on like 1 pm and arrived on like 24 am! Not only that, the track was rocky, it really hurt! Bad thing didn't stop there, the house that was going to be our place to sleep was already occupied and we even slept outside, without tent! It was kinda frustrating, to be honest.
The next morning, we, finally, were able to take a bath. After that, we took angkot and bus to go to Surabaya. We stayed in my friend's house. In Surabaya, we visited Zangrandi, a famous ice cream parlor there.
It was a really really unforgettable experience, to get a chance to climb Mountain Argopuro with my incredible friends!
That's all for now! <3 (Pardon for this messy post!) wkwk
