My guidebook says that many travellers report being able to climb the mountain without a guide, as the path is well defined and easy to follow. However, there is somewhat of a trek mafia here in town, and its just bad news for people attempting to climb without a guide, as threats of violence and intimidation are some of the problems linked with not using a guide. Welllllllllll... my ass wasn't taking a guide, so I had to tread very softly, not ask too many questions, make it seem like I was going to wait a couple days. Listen, I didn't choose not to take a guide just to be a pain in the ass. My book said it was an easy climb do to alone, although not recommended in the dark. I was looking to test myself in a way I haven't before, and because of that, it was very important that I made it to the top on my own. It was important not so I could get to the top and stick my tongue out to the people who used guides, but because I thought it would be a real challenge to be able to navigate my way all alone, as I've never done anything remotely like this ever before.
There would be obstacles...
- the access road that leads to the trail is just across the street from the trekking office, which is always on patrol
- the barking dogs drawing attention to me
- getting to the access road without crossing the trekking office
I woke up at 2:40, put all my necessary items in my day pack, and quietly left my hostel. I was about a half mile from the access road, and needed to avoid the main road so that I could go unnoticed. There were three hotels, two restaurants, and some houses separating me from the access road. Here's how it went down... (written in present tense).
I tip toe out of my room and run to the wall. I can't use my head lamp, it will wake the stray dogs. I trip in a ditch. I get to the wall, scale it, and jump over. Four dogs start barking, so I run faster to the next wall, which separates all these compounds. I feel very covert and James Bondish. Climbing, crawling, making haste, slowing down... its an intense, blind few minutes. Now the hard part. I'm across the street from the trekking office and a guy is standing outside. I have to be out in the open for about thiry yards before the nearest barrier can hide me. I wait for him to turn around, and as if there are NFL teams clocking my 40, I bolt to a parked car, successfully hiding me from view. Dogs barking loudly and some lamps giving me little visibility, I make the last dash to the access road unnoticed, sprinting into the hills... hard part's over, right?
There are a bunch of paths... too many, actually. So many, I have to turn back around a bunch of times. A farmer that was walking around is nice enough to point me the way, and off I go. With my headphones blaring, my I-Pod fully charged, I'm amped, excited, and ready to eat this mother fucking volcano for a late night snack. The path is very narrow, and at times hard to define, but my headlamp is showing me the way. I'm climbing, sliding, maneuvering, and progressing my way up. A steady hour ahead of every other trekker, I'm excited to get to the top on my own.
I'm up, pretty far up, and I'm losing my path. It seems less trodden and more wilderness. Crazy Murray from New Zealand, remember him? He taught me how to read trails while on our hike, so I have an idea of what to look for. There are spots where if I step two feet to the right I could fall fifty feet. But the trail is still somewhat here, and I keep at it. But now its getting to the point where I feel astray, so I climb back down to a spot where the trail is thicker and look for new dirt. My 46 year old I-Pod quits on the way back down, so I have nothing but nature to listen to, which isn't all that bad, but it was more fun rapping "I'm a beast, I'm a dawg, I'm a mother fuckin' problem", while climbing up a mountain, ya know?
I find a new path, one I didn't notice earlier, and take it. I even find garbage along the way, so I know I'm good at this point. But the higher I get, the less it looks like a way to the top. My head lamp is dimming a bit, and I get lost for a few minutes trying to find a new trail. I get nervous for a moment, but know I must keep my head... nothing good ever happens to the guy freaking out on a mountain by himself in the middle of the night! I decide to wait by a rock until I see some flashlights, signs of other trekkers. I wait... but no one. Its nearly five, and surly people should be half way up by now. After debating what to do, I descent 2/3's of the way back down. Clearly off target, I find a new trail and shoot one more time. But after 15 minutes I get really lost, and even though I am on low ground, it isn't a clear place. I eventually find my route, and decide to throw in the towel. Dejected, dirty, and defeated, I gaze to the top of the mountain and see cameras flashing... an extra hard slap in the face.
(Back to reporting in past tense) The following morning I retraced my steps from the beginning just to see where I went wrong. As it turned out, I went wrong at step one. At the very end of the access road there is a temple and next to the temple there are two paths: one that hugs the side of the temple, leading to a beautifully laid out, wide trail to the very top, and another trail that leads away from the temple, up a small trail that zig zags up rocks, around trees, through brush, and is used by farmers to chop wood... guess which one I took.
I couldn't stand waiting a whole 'nother day to do it again, so I left town. It's alright, though, Bali is small and I can easily get back in two hours from anywhere on the island... I can't let one little 'night lost in the woods' get me down!
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