This entry is part of my Rinjani Trek Journal. Click here my report on Day 1, Day 2 and my pre-trek thoughts and trip planning FAQ.
Senaru Crater rim – Senaru (9.3 km)
The last day of my Gunung Rinjani trek can be described with one phrase: down, fast.
Descent
After breakfast and taking some group pics we never received (hey Maraj and Tapas!), we split into two groups and began to our descent. Because Maraj and Tapas had a plane to catch to Bali, we were aiming to hit Senaru no later than noon.
The landscape on the Senaru side of the crater rim is much more pleasant: less fog, more hills and on a clear day, I could see Bali’s Mount Agung in the distance. The trail going down is marginally better than the one from the Sembalun crater rim to the lake: instead of falling twice, I fell only once.
During this stretch, we all received our hiking names. Joseph, the Water Mule (for drinking all our water); Jiahao, Armscrossed (for the way he walks when hiking, literally with arms crossed); and I, the Scrambler (too short, so have to use arms, legs, hands to get a grip).
Like the ascent from Sembalun, there are a sucession of Pos stations from Senaru. They were useful as a countdown and for gauging how long we had to go.
Dede, Maraj and Tapas set quite a blistering pace. We struggled to follow. Then, we hit the forest, with roots choking the trails. We literally rejoiced – not just for the shade, but because this was so much like our weekly runs in McRitchie. The forest itself is a really interesting place, with a lot of mistletoe and birds.
At some points we were running down the trail, skipping roots and leaping over muddy sections. Seeing climbers heading up from Senaru, however, made us remind ourselves we did good in choosing to ascend from Sembalun.
We reached the famous Rinjani National Park arch at 1120 hrs. Our descent took less than 4 hours, one of the fastest Dede had ever led.
We were transferred back to Green Rinjani Trekking Centre to collect the stuff we stored with them. We took showers, ate lunch and waited for our car to Mataram. The timing of our descent was excellent: less than an hour later, it began to rain heavily, with thunder and lightning.
Conclusion
Gunung Rinjani was my first ‘real’ mountain trek. I can safely say that, despite the insanely difficult push for the summit, I’m hooked to going some more gunungs in Indonesia.
Overall, the mountain, the Segara Anak crater lake and the mountain villages of Sembalun Lawang and Senaru are beautiful. The air is crisp, the people and friendly and the trek itself is more than enough to work up a sweat. There are issues here and there – overflowing trash, reckless drivers on Lombok’s roads, outdated infrastructure – but Rinjani is simply too spectacular to be missed.
(A note on rubbish: I’m don’t think I should tell the Indonesians how to do things. However, Rinjani needs better rubbish management policies. Most guides and porters don’t litter. But I feel the tourists do. Perhaps a daily limit on visitors would be great).