Iswanto Arif

aerial photo of mountain near body of water during daytime

Rinjani. Last week hike to this beautiful crater lake was quite intense. First day was rough. Nine hours of hike with both legs cramped the whole path. Not sure if it is because I'm out of shape by now, or is it my backpack that was too heavy. Or am I just getting old?

Second day was better though. That was another 6 hours hike until we finally reach Plawangan, where I took this picture. Literally cried when I saw the lake. It was magnificent. The scale is insane.

We were walking under the rain most of the day on the third day. I already had a feeling that there might be flood in one of the four rivers that we crossed. That's exactly what happened. Thankfully the water was still less than half of my height so getting across was still possible.

Overall this hike is one of the best and most scenic walk I ever did! And especially because I get to share this trip with one of my best friends.