Gunung Ciremai, The Highest Peak In West Java, Indonesia

Hello! This entry will mark my first post in this blog. I want to share with you my experience when I went to Ciremai (Am I pronouncing it right, Ciremai or Cireme?). Actually, I had paid for hiking to Merbabu in February, but after researching its weather, I decided to postpone the trip and move it to Ciremai. Oh, by the way, I am using TigaDewa Adventure for this hiking trip. The trip itself is an open trip, so you would be expected to meet other people from a wide range of ages and backgrounds who will be your hiking partners along the way to the summit! How fun is that?

During this trip, I was accompanied by my Korean supervisor, Mr. Lee. We arrived at Kang Iwan Basecamp, which looks like a small-medium sized house with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. However, you can use other houses outside the basecamp for bathing or personal needs since they have additional toilets too. After a quick nap and breakfast, we began our hike. Oh, prior to that, the guide also gave us small-sized meals for our lunch on the trail. We set off at 9am by driving a pickup truck, and it took around 25 minutes to reach our starting point at SIMAKSI. At the SIMAKSI point, we took a photo and then started our hiking journey, with our guide as a sweeper walking behind us. It took around 45 minutes from SIMAKSI point to shelter 1 (Pos Arban). Unlike Mount Gede, which has a gazebo marking the shelter, in Ciremai, the gazebo is only available at shelter 1, while shelters 2 (Pos Simpang Lima) and onwards are only marked by signs made of wood without any shelter built there.

The longest stretch is from shelter 1 to shelter 2, which will take you around 2.5 hours. We got caught in the rain throughout the journey from shelter 2 to shelter 3 (Pos Tegal Masawa); as I remember, it took us 45 minutes to reach shelter 3. When we arrived at shelter 3, there was a massive wind blowing continuously, it was really cold, and that was around 12pm, so we decided to have lunch. At shelter 3, we rested for around 30 minutes, waiting for the next cluster of our group to arrive so we could hike together. However, they decided to rest first, so our group, which was the first cluster (6 people), continued our journey first to shelter 4 (Pos Tegal Jamuju). The track itself became rougher; while from shelter 1 to shelter 2, we had a flatter contour, throughout shelter 2 to shelter 3, the track became more uphill and sloping upwards, thus it became scarier and harder from shelter 4 to 5 (Pos Sanghyang Rangka) since most of the track had a lot of uphill sloping contours.

The vegetation in Ciremai is mostly similar to Gunung Gede, possibly because both are located in West Java. The track from shelter 4 to 5 is dominated by wet and sloppy ground, making it more difficult to hike. We arrived at shelter 5 around 4pm, and the tent where we were going to stay was already set up by the guide who had arrived before us. When we arrived at the tent, we changed our clothes quickly, had some meals, and rested afterward. Our tent was occupied by three people. After changing my clothes, I decided to stay inside the tent and take a quick nap.

Around 8pm, our guide gave us dinner, Soto Ayam. Later on, they gave us hot tea and informed us about the possibility that we might not go to the summit considering the weather was not favorable enough. Our guide told us that we had to wake up at 2am; at that time, our guide would inform us about their decision on whether we could go to the summit or not based on the weather. After having our meals, we decided to sleep. I actually barely slept that night; the weather was very cold, and our tent's zipper wasn't really working properly at the entrance, so the wind could still enter our tent, and it was really cold. I woke up around 4am, and I heard people murmuring about the condition that they were prohibited from going to the summit by the rangers considering that it was indeed dangerous hiking during these unfavorable weather conditions. Then people woke up and had breakfast, which was also provided by our guide. We got bread as a snack and the main meals afterward. By that time, the sun was out and it was not as cold as it was during the early morning. People started to come out of their tents and talk to each other. It was such a fun moment since we could get to know their stories and experiences while hiking other mountains. We took some pictures, and around 9am, we decided to go downhill and start trekking to the basecamp.

During the trek to the basecamp, the weather was great; we expected it to rain, but it didn't rain at all. Going downhill was less tiring and quicker than what I expected. We arrived around 1pm, which means it took us around 4 hours from shelter 5, where our tent was located, to shelter 1. Although we already arrived at shelter 1, we had to walk again for around 45 minutes to the starting point/SIMAKSI area to get picked up by the shuttle car. By that time, my legs were already shaking, and we were exhausted, but we were having so much fun! After coming back to the basecamp, I took a quick bath and packed up my necessities to go back to Jakarta. We had to wait around 1 hour until the rain let up, and we started our journey to Jakarta around 4pm. We arrived in Jakarta at 10pm, said goodbye to each other, and went straight to Cilegon using GoCar. Even though we didn't reach the summit and only reach shelter 5, it was still such a fun experience!

See you on another adventure!

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