[ Travelogue ] Finally! Mt. Gede 2.958mdpl!
Finally I have reached the peak of Mount Gede last week (9/9/2020), West Java. I said finally because Mt. Gede is the closest mountain from my home and I often saw it from a distance whenever I do jog and cycling and my travel buddies has hiked this mountain from long time ago. They have said firmly and bold: they will never go to there again. They had very bad experiences at their latest hike. I respect their decision and as I said, finally I did by myself. I was not doing a solo hike just because I can’t. I was accompanied by guide and porter because I am not that person which can survive alone in the jungle. I am not like a superwomen and brave enough to do survival.
Hiking in this pandemic era is not that easy. I take risks. I said: I take risks. To be honest I am that afraid to go outside and meet people, so I seek for any options that make my travel journey less risks, but still..it still high risk and I admit it. I chose to do hiking on weekdays, hope there will be less hiker. All I know, Mt. Gede is one of favorite hiking spot in West Java and it always crowded on weekend. Thank God, there were some groups but not that much on the day I hiked. But still, I miss how comfort and silent on my journey to Mt. Ciremai last month. If you can imagine, there were only two group hiker including me in a magical ciremai jungle.
I start my journey from my home after morning praying by using online taxi directly to the base camp. It costs quite high but I have no options for now because none can drop me to base camp Gunung Putri in Cianjur. There are three starting point to reach peak of Mt. Gede, namely Cibodas, Gunung Puteri and Salabintana. This time I start my journey from Basecamp Putri (Gn. Putri). It took five to six hours hike from base camp to Alun-alun Surya Kencana, which is last shelter before the peak.
I have arrived at BC Putri at 7 am and there were group people, too. I took my breakfast in one of restaurant near there and wait for my group to be gathered. After finish my breakfast, I have met two mountain boys, Riki and Esa which will help and accompany me that day. If you wonder how it feels, do hiking alone as woman, I can answer: definitely ok. Only stereotype mind that women should not do hike alone and I can prove it by myself: it is fine, safe and nothing wrong.
We have started out journey around at 9am to avoid another group in the track. I have got bonus free ride to the actual registration center on the top and some eyes look at me a little bit envy. At the first shelter, we should showing the registration proof to the officer and they will also check the group as well as share the brief, do’s and don’ts while hiking. After all ready, we start to hike by passing the local farms. It was harvesting season and all the vegetables were seen extremely fresh!
After passing the local farm, we have found more and more interesting track. We have enter to the pine forest and uphill path, which means I need to manage my breath. First two hours, I felt uneasy breath because the body still need adjustment. Besides, I felt old facing the uphill. Haha! I keep going and focus to the track, I walk slowly just because I am that slow! Haha. What make this hiking experience is less adventure is because along the track, we could find small tenant that sells water, coffee and some snacks. Not to mention that this track is also a favorite path for runner, in particular trail runner. This was my second experience where I had found sellers in the mountain. The first one is where I hiked to Lawu mountain and found ‘Warung Mbok Yem’ near the peak. We were stop at the shelter four to do some cooking because I felt hungry and we supposedly have lunch time that almost skipped.
There were five shelters to reach the peak of Mount Gede: Legok leunca, Buntut Lutung, Lawang Sekateng, Simpang Meleber and Alun-Alun Surya Kencana. It took 6–7 hours depend on your speed in order to reach Alun-Alun Surya Kencana as the last shelter as well as camp area. Indeed, most of hiker would love to camp there because its beauty. There were so many edelweiss flowers and I have found one that recently bloom. It smells so soft and calm. Sadly truth, I also found edelweiss on the ground that picked by irresponsible hiker. Oh, why? I feel angry inside. Besides its beauty, we should still careful. Wind blows harder there and it brings cold temperature. In that so, it is recommend to do camp in forest area near around Alun-Alun Surya Kencana to avoid wind storm instead of build the tent in the center of open area. It is dangerous unless you have anti-storm tent. But again, safety while hiking is the priority. No bargain.
Personally, I found the path between Lawang Sekateng to Buntut Lutung is quite challenging. We should walk in the middle of the tree’s root and uphill. It might also because in this track, hikers are exhausted after hours trekking and start to loss the power. Lucky, I passed the track with good mood and good weather even before it seems going to rain. And we have arrived at Alun-Alun Surya Kencana with beautiful sky and witnessing beautiful sunset over the hill. All I can say, thank God it’s really beautiful.
I am a slower hiker. Just because I want to enjoy and blend with nature, breath the cleaner air, and hear the sound of nature. Although I did hiking on the weekdays, there were still a lot of people and my imagination on wild forest is somewhat lost. But I still enjoy my time however I did not like the wind because it sounds scary. I just cannot imagining if I did the hike on the weekend. It’s just unimaginable because it said really crowd like you are going to a concert. Crazy!
All in all, I do not think that Mount Gede is suitable for an amateur hiker however I am not sure if we hike through another starting point (Cibodas or Salabintana). It reachable for someone who want to experience their first hiking but it still need little bit extra preparation. Hiking into the mountains different kind of travelling from fun camp. It still part of extreme sport and travel which required you to be well-prepared. No matter what. Finally, I did some footage videos to remind me how beautiful Alun-Alun Surya Kencana and might help you to give some information about the journey. Enjoy!
