We did our yearly thing... drove 45 minutes away to our pastor and his wife's home area to visit their families, taking some small gifts. :) Here's some pics of our time....
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Karen Turns 40....
Hold on to your seats!
This is a BIG post! :)
We have just a few months left and rainy season will be here soon. This will probably be our last hike so we took a lot of pictures of us... :) Hope you don't mind.
In May when we climbed Mt. Merbabu... Shane commented that we should climb a mountain for my 40th. I laughed out loud, however, as we hiked on I began to think that maybe that was not a bad idea after all!
August 19th we headed out to climb Mt. Lawu.
Plan was to do the 3 hr. drive, hike the mountain at night and welcome by birthday in with a sunrise...
We got there at 8:30PM but because of the altitude and the fact that we were on Shane's motorbike - NOT shielded from the weather - we were FREEZING!!!!!
We opted to find a hotel, get a good nights sleep, eat a good breakfast and begin the hike in the morning.
We stayed at Hotel Sarangan.
It is located on a crater lake called Sand Lake.
They had a merry-go-round
A teeter-totter..
Swing set... :)
This old Javanese man served us our homemade breakfast.
We headed back up the mountain road to Base Camp (of sorts. :) ) and began our ascent at 8:21AM.
Mt. Lawu in the distance...
One of a few poster things telling people to stop talking on their cell phones while driving. :)
The beginning of the trail....
Some berries that we found along the trail and we munched as we went along.
There are a lot of things to see on this mountain and you will see what they are on ahead. The first was a spring... and actually the first place we noticed the berries. :) Beside the spring was this offering of incense.
:) Bandaids.... something that hikers seem to need if they haven't doubled their socks...
Not sure what these mountain tops are because not sure what way we were facing at this point. This was the only time we saw other mountains as the clouds had and continued to build around us.
Coming on our motorbike... we didn't bring sticks... :) My woodsman found us some sticks though! :) These were old and eventually Shane's broke in half. The Lord provided another one probably about a 1/2 hour later.
Looking around....
From this spot, looking up to the right...
Looking up to the left....
A major thing we will remember about this climb in particular is the rock path and stairs. Many folks climb for ritualistic purposes and this mountain has been used for years. The stone path makes the hike much more pleasant with your feet having good footing.
http://www.joglosemar.co.id/mt_lawu.html
"Ancient Mountain
Its old name was Wukir Mahendra, some believe the top of the mountain was the first kingdom on the island, the dwellers were Gods descending from Kahyangan (heaven), upon seeing an empty beautiful place like a paradise.
It was the retreat of King Brawijaya V, the last king of Majapahit Empire in the 15th century. It has also a strong spiritual traditional relation with the rulers of Mataram Kingdom II and the Karaton (palace) of Surakarta and Yogyakarta. ""
Shane cooling off on the cement of a 'POS' - 'stop.'
Here is a look at the path... :) lots of rocks with steps...
We each took 3 liters of water or homemade rehydration drink.
At one of the 'POSs' we met up with some fire fighters coming down from fighting a fire on the mountain.
Off again....
Almost there.... just passed POS #4 out of 5. We ended up skipping 5 and went straight up the hill to the top. About a yard from where Shane is sitting was a cave. We didn't go down to check it out... :)
These guys were 'everywhere' along the path... eating those yummy berries I am sure. :)
Between POS 4 and 5 was a spot where there was a spring and a rock that was a place of sacrifice. There were make-shift bathrooms in the very loose sense of the word... (grafiti on walls are below) .. shacks and caves.
There was barely any water, probably due to this being towards the end of dry season.
Sign saying not to take a bath here..
One of the first sacrificial places.... Rice/coconut branches and a coconut tied to the rafters.
August 20th, 2011
Success!!! 8:20AM to 1:51PM
Happy Birthday to me!!!! :) HA!!!
Mt. Lawu 3265 meters... 10,712 ft.
I took up a "Party Popper" to 'shoot' off, but when we opened the top... the confetti was plasticy stuff... oh well. Can't be litering...
I opened my card from Christina (Chris) and ate my Motzart Krugel from Lowens while....
.... Shane let his warm up! :)
Some pics from around the top... it was our most interesting climb and time at a peak. There was just so much to see and places you could explore... much different from Mt. Merbabu and Merapi. Unfortunately we had to race against the clock a bit to try to get down before dark or too much past dark time.
Crater area...
Looking back up at the peak from the point in the picture above.
"Lawu Peak (Hargo Dumilah) 3265 meters above sea level"
A typical finding at the tops of mountains.... large round stones with 'bowls' in the middle used for sacrifices.
We began our descent at 3PM...
We found wild blueberries that were actually ripe up at the top. Mmmm!!! :) {Made me think of begin at Bromo with Tim & Fam and Carolyn & Fam and the MOUNDS of blueberries we picked!! :) }
Remember I mentioned about the fire? (This isn't a super picture... but it is the black on the far side of this area.)
It had reached almost to POS 5. There were close to 100 men from Central Java and from East Java that had been fighting it. They had quit though the fire was in a spot too hard to fight.
We looked around at an old building that I guess the palace people out of Solo (Surakarta) continue to use... Sorry, I just realized that I did not get a picture of the building as a whole... it was up on a ridge and you couldn't get a good picture... so here is the porch and the doors! Talked about locked up! :)
:) Shane had time to whittle on his stick while I took pictures. :)
There was another place to sacrifice ....
..love the dandylion!!! Didn't know they had them.
Down to POS 3 - @ 4:28
The End....we finished at 7PM.
Could have been 6:15 probably.. but I got sick to my stomach. Threw up once and had to walk amazingly slow because I felt so horrible. :(
Good memories though... :) Thanks, Honey!
You have given me awesome memories of my 40th!!
This is a BIG post! :)
We have just a few months left and rainy season will be here soon. This will probably be our last hike so we took a lot of pictures of us... :) Hope you don't mind.
In May when we climbed Mt. Merbabu... Shane commented that we should climb a mountain for my 40th. I laughed out loud, however, as we hiked on I began to think that maybe that was not a bad idea after all!
August 19th we headed out to climb Mt. Lawu.
Plan was to do the 3 hr. drive, hike the mountain at night and welcome by birthday in with a sunrise...
We got there at 8:30PM but because of the altitude and the fact that we were on Shane's motorbike - NOT shielded from the weather - we were FREEZING!!!!!
We opted to find a hotel, get a good nights sleep, eat a good breakfast and begin the hike in the morning.
We stayed at Hotel Sarangan.
It is located on a crater lake called Sand Lake.
They had a merry-go-round
A teeter-totter..
Swing set... :)
This old Javanese man served us our homemade breakfast.
We headed back up the mountain road to Base Camp (of sorts. :) ) and began our ascent at 8:21AM.
Mt. Lawu in the distance...
One of a few poster things telling people to stop talking on their cell phones while driving. :)
The beginning of the trail....
Some berries that we found along the trail and we munched as we went along.
There are a lot of things to see on this mountain and you will see what they are on ahead. The first was a spring... and actually the first place we noticed the berries. :) Beside the spring was this offering of incense.
:) Bandaids.... something that hikers seem to need if they haven't doubled their socks...
Not sure what these mountain tops are because not sure what way we were facing at this point. This was the only time we saw other mountains as the clouds had and continued to build around us.
Coming on our motorbike... we didn't bring sticks... :) My woodsman found us some sticks though! :) These were old and eventually Shane's broke in half. The Lord provided another one probably about a 1/2 hour later.
Looking around....
From this spot, looking up to the right...
Looking up to the left....
A major thing we will remember about this climb in particular is the rock path and stairs. Many folks climb for ritualistic purposes and this mountain has been used for years. The stone path makes the hike much more pleasant with your feet having good footing.
http://www.joglosemar.co.id/mt_lawu.html
"Ancient Mountain
Its old name was Wukir Mahendra, some believe the top of the mountain was the first kingdom on the island, the dwellers were Gods descending from Kahyangan (heaven), upon seeing an empty beautiful place like a paradise.
It was the retreat of King Brawijaya V, the last king of Majapahit Empire in the 15th century. It has also a strong spiritual traditional relation with the rulers of Mataram Kingdom II and the Karaton (palace) of Surakarta and Yogyakarta. ""
Shane cooling off on the cement of a 'POS' - 'stop.'
Here is a look at the path... :) lots of rocks with steps...
We each took 3 liters of water or homemade rehydration drink.
At one of the 'POSs' we met up with some fire fighters coming down from fighting a fire on the mountain.
Off again....
Almost there.... just passed POS #4 out of 5. We ended up skipping 5 and went straight up the hill to the top. About a yard from where Shane is sitting was a cave. We didn't go down to check it out... :)
These guys were 'everywhere' along the path... eating those yummy berries I am sure. :)
Between POS 4 and 5 was a spot where there was a spring and a rock that was a place of sacrifice. There were make-shift bathrooms in the very loose sense of the word... (grafiti on walls are below) .. shacks and caves.
There was barely any water, probably due to this being towards the end of dry season.
Sign saying not to take a bath here..
One of the first sacrificial places.... Rice/coconut branches and a coconut tied to the rafters.
August 20th, 2011
Success!!! 8:20AM to 1:51PM
Happy Birthday to me!!!! :) HA!!!
Mt. Lawu 3265 meters... 10,712 ft.
I took up a "Party Popper" to 'shoot' off, but when we opened the top... the confetti was plasticy stuff... oh well. Can't be litering...
I opened my card from Christina (Chris) and ate my Motzart Krugel from Lowens while....
.... Shane let his warm up! :)
Some pics from around the top... it was our most interesting climb and time at a peak. There was just so much to see and places you could explore... much different from Mt. Merbabu and Merapi. Unfortunately we had to race against the clock a bit to try to get down before dark or too much past dark time.
Crater area...
Looking back up at the peak from the point in the picture above.
"Lawu Peak (Hargo Dumilah) 3265 meters above sea level"
A typical finding at the tops of mountains.... large round stones with 'bowls' in the middle used for sacrifices.
We began our descent at 3PM...
We found wild blueberries that were actually ripe up at the top. Mmmm!!! :) {Made me think of begin at Bromo with Tim & Fam and Carolyn & Fam and the MOUNDS of blueberries we picked!! :) }
Remember I mentioned about the fire? (This isn't a super picture... but it is the black on the far side of this area.)
It had reached almost to POS 5. There were close to 100 men from Central Java and from East Java that had been fighting it. They had quit though the fire was in a spot too hard to fight.
We looked around at an old building that I guess the palace people out of Solo (Surakarta) continue to use... Sorry, I just realized that I did not get a picture of the building as a whole... it was up on a ridge and you couldn't get a good picture... so here is the porch and the doors! Talked about locked up! :)
:) Shane had time to whittle on his stick while I took pictures. :)
There was another place to sacrifice ....
..love the dandylion!!! Didn't know they had them.
Down to POS 3 - @ 4:28
The End....we finished at 7PM.
Could have been 6:15 probably.. but I got sick to my stomach. Threw up once and had to walk amazingly slow because I felt so horrible. :(
Good memories though... :) Thanks, Honey!
You have given me awesome memories of my 40th!!
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