Climbing Volcanoes in the Dark

‘Do we really have to go?’, I grumbled through the sheets, struggling to pry my eyes open.

I fumbled around for my phone for the time; it was the unearthly hour of 2:30 AM and soon to be time for us to leave for our sunrise trek on Mt.Batur, near Ubud in Bali. In half an hour, we would be off on the 45-minutes drive to the starting point at the base. Wanting to catch the sunrise atop the mountain, which, incidentally is also a live volcano, means leaving Ubud at 3 AM and starting your 1.5 – 2 hour climb uphill before 4 to get to the top in time for sunrise.

Keeping up the tradition of my fantastic luck with the weather for outdoor activities, it had rained just a few hours before we started and we were afraid we would just end up seeing clouds rather than the sun at the top. The trek is a little tougher than your average walk in the park, with a couple of steep stretches of slippery volcanic rock in the second half. After a bit of a mad dash in the last minutes to make sure we reached the top before the sun did, we found ourselves in an envelope of mist.

The despair didn’t last too long as the sun dispelled the curtain of fog to reward us with these sights. I’m no Early Bird, but some days are worth it.