Mount Kerinci, Sumatra, Indonesia

5Katja_nsk 5:00 PM Oct 26, 2012

Dreams of adventure come true!!
Our 2-day trek to Mt. Kerinci was definitely a highlight of our trip to Sumatra!! In fact I was a bit hesitant about writing this glowing review, but finally we felt that it is important for the local people to develop ecotourism in the area... So here is our experience, and some tips not only about the trek but also about transport, accommodation, what to pack etc. (sorry, it came out long). We have been planning to go on a trekking trip in South East Asia for a few months, and from the moment I found out about Mt. Kerinci instantly I knew it was out thing! Imagine a 3805 m volcano covered in thick rainforest, inhabited with exotic plants and birds, standing amongst tea plantations and peaceful villages, far away from everywhere and untouched by mass tourism! This is all true; we did not meet a single person during our 2-day trek!! WOW! So, we forgot about over-crowded and littered Mt. Rinjani and about overcrowded and over-priced Mt. Kinabalu and started on reading everything we could find on Mt. Kerinci. 1) Where to begin and Transport: We came to the city of Padang by an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur (only 1 h) and got our visa on arrival. Upon coming to West Sumatra we sent messages to several guides whose cell phone numbers we found on the web, and in a few minutes we got a call from a friendly guy named Endatno (Een). He confirmed that he had a room for us to stay and could take us to the Kerinci top and some other treks. So we went right away! The trip to Kersik Tua, the village where the trek to Mt. Kerinci starts, took us about 7 h and 1 000 000 IDR in a chartered car. We went in the daytime, and on our way we had a chance to see the beautiful scenery of West Sumatra. The road is not that bad all the way from Padang to Kersik Tua. It is an asphalted road, not a dirt road, but it is narrow and windy. Some parts of the road were under construction near Padang, and it was the slowest part of our journey and also the craziest, as many cars including ours were constantly passing in the oncoming lane. 2) Accommodation: In Kersik Tua we were met by Een in a most welcoming and hospitable manner. We were placed in a homestay “Family” (150 000 IDR for the best room with a double bed, some furniture and cold water bathroom with mandi and western toilet without flush, separate review). In the morning we were served breakfast of fried rice and eggs and a cup of hot tea. 3) Guide We are more than happy with our guide Endatno Een (his email and phone: [email protected], +6285266266992) and recommend him to everybody! He is a most friendly, humorous and well-natured person and most professional guide! We felt 100% safe with him!! And he is also an environmentally aware and responsible person, he packed all garbage to take it down and told us about his educational projects for the local community (and he speaks English! Not many people do at this remote area). His hospitality, tact and attentiveness to our needs really touched us. We are so grateful to people who posted his contact details on a popular travel forum. Een was not only our guide for treks, but he would come to take us to dinner and help to make orders as we do not speak Indonesian, he would show us pictures and tell tons of funny stories, and take care about pretty much everything. The trek for the two of us cost us 800 000 IDR including everything (guide, porter, camping equipment, food etc.). 4) Trek, rain, summit: On the morning of our trek our guide Een and porter Yan took us to the beginning of the trail (~1755 m) by motorbikes (20 min) and we began our ascent on this sunny and nice day around 9.30 am. There is no need to start earlier if you are going to do it in 2 days like we did as you only need to get to 3000 – 3200 m at your first day. If you start earlier you will just spend more time in a base camp before the final part of ascent. The first part of trail is easy enough, it is wide, and the slope is gentle. On the way Een showed us many plants like wild orchids, wild ginger flowers, pitcher plants etc. and some birds like white-eyes and others. We saw a siamang a day before during our trek to Gunung Tujuh Lake. Een amazed us by his deep knowledge and love for the jungle, his abilities to name everything, also in Latin, and to recognize every little sound of the jungle! He even has all the bird and animal voices recorded in his cell phone, and that is hundreds! He kept our pace slow enough so that we could enjoy ourselves. From some point the trail narrows and you basically follow gullies – we did realize it to the fullest when it began to rain!! We were wearing rain ponchos and for some time tried to jump from one edge of the stream to another, but it proved of no use and very quickly we were completely wet. We reached our camping site, “Shelter 2” at ~ 3000 m at around 4 pm (6 – 7 hours from the gate). Een and Yan quickly set up our camp – a canopy and two good tents under it. But do not be deceived by the term “shelter” – there is no actual shelter in there, in fact, this place is just a flat ground with some old rusty carcass usable to fix a camp. Only at this point when we were soaked and not moving much did we begin to feel cold. After changing to all new dry clothes and eating delicious Een’s dinner cooked on site we tried to go to sleep. But it was cold!! In an hour I was lying in a sleeping bag and wearing about every piece of dry clothes I had (3 fleece jackets, 2 pairs of warm stockings and pants, 2 socks and a balaklava) and still shivering! Yes, Mt. Kerinci is in tropics, but it is 3000 m!! The temperature in the night felt down to 4C and maybe even lower as we saw ice on the top! But what was unbelievable and fantastic is to have this mountain, this jungle all to our own! Nobody there! We woke up at 2.30 am, drank hot tea and set up for the summit! Ufff, it was unpleasant to be wearing the wet boots again, but following Een’s advice, we first put plastic bags on, and then the boots, so it got a bit better. We left our belongings at the campsite and proceeded up in the darkness. From shelter 2 and up the trail is steeper and more difficult. As we saw Shelter 3 at ~3200 m we were very glad with Een’s decision not to camp there as it is very exposed and if we were so cold at our Shelter 2, I do not know how we would survive at that windy and open site. The vegetation becomes thinner and gradually disappears. Then you climb on rocks and follow cracks made by melting lava. It took us 3 hours to reach the summit from shelter 2. The top is a quite narrow edge of the deep volcano crater. We saw sparks of red lava and clouds of gases rising up from the crater! But it is impossible to stay there for long because of the smell!! We tried to cover our faces and so we spent there about 10 minutes. The view was cloudy after yesterday’s raining, like what you can see from a plane, only here you stand in these clouds! At some points the sky cleared and we could see the Seven Mountain Lake (Danau Gunung Tujuh). The way back from the top to the camp at Shelter 2 took us around 2.5 hours and back to the entrance around 5 hours. 5) Equipment, food, water: All the camping equipment was provided by Een, and contrary to other reports, it was in excellent state! The size of the tent was totally adequate (I could almost stand up in there), and it was not leaking. He also provided us with mats and sleeping bags. He had all necessary cooking utensils like gas stove and carried all food for us and them. All meals we had up there were of perfect quality, nobody was sick or anything like in other reports. On the evening of the first day we had a 2-course dinner, can you imagine, our lovely guide and porter actually peeled some vegetables and made a noodle soup for us up there! Also they kept supplying us with hot teas which was very very good, remember, it is COLD up there! And after we did it to the top and came back, they cooked us banana pancakes with chocolate, wow that is at 3000 m! As for water, during our 2 day trek the couple of us together drank five 1.5 l bottles of water. 2 were carried by Een, the rest by us. Following Een’s practical idea, once we drank the first one, we hid another one for descent. Plus we had lots of hot tea from boiled water. What we had with us and found useful: good trekking boots, hats, 2 complete sets of clothes (one you are wearing, and one is packed so you can change for the second day), gloves (a must for descent), headlamps, raincoats, fleece balaclavas (smell and wind on the top!), some medicine including band aids and antiseptic, waterproof camera, copies of our passports (gave to Een to arrange for permits). What we did not have and wished we brought it: more warm clothes!! 6) Physical fitness and altitude sickness: You do not need any specific skills in mountaineering to get to the top! If you want to do it and reasonably fit, you can get there! I am not an athlete just love outdoors, take a few aerobics classes a week, and did squats on everyday basis specifically for this trip one month before leaving. I did not have any muscle pain the next day except for some back and arm (did not expect to use them so much, but I had, on the descent especially). For me it was the first time going to such heights, and I was quite worried about unpredictable organism reactions, but everything went fine. We did not experience any altitude sickness at all, no headaches, no nausea, nothing. Probably we adapted well as we did it in 2 days and stayed for the night at 3000 m. But we did hear the stories of people who were suffering from it at Kerinci. Overall, fantastic experience, and thank you Een!! It wouldn't have been the same without you! Good luck everybody with your climb!!

5oskariakala24 5:00 PM Jan 27, 2018

First mountain hiking expirience with king of the Kerinci
I arrived to Padang couple days before meeting with Een. He suggested me hotel from kersik tuo. I arrived to the hotel around 8pm, Een came meet me around 9pm. 1 hour we talked and planned the trip to mount Kerinci. He asked me of course do i have any food allergies, is this my first trip etc. Een came pick me up 8am, 9am we were at the line of the plantasions and rainforest. We started slowly to walk the flat part of jungle. Een make sure that I have everything okay all the time. I took 2D1N trip. We slept at 3000m luckily, with nearly 700 times climbed Een knew where we should stay the night and good did he knew, around 5.30pm we got our tent in place, after that started hell of a wind that lasted whole next day. Next morning we woke up at 3am and Een started to cook breakfast for us like he did cooked every other meals too, and they were amazing. Just before 4am we started to climb to the summit and we kept breaks once in a while. In the darkness with headlamps and very, very hard wind we passed one group ahead of us and reached the top around 6am as a first group, before sunrise as we planned. The climb was very very exhausting. But when we reached the summit, I knew it was worth it, even there was a lot of clouds, and couldn't see very long. We were hour or hour and half at the top, Een taking pictures of me conquering the summit. Then we started to come down fast, because of the wind and we were able to be fast because it was a dry season, wet season there will be much more slippery. About 8.30am we were back in our tent at 3000m, Een making dinner for us, around 10am we have had packed our thing and started to come down. Around mid-day we came out of the rainforest to the plantasions. Een asked me if i would like to come to his place to get a little rest after the hiking. He gave me bananas, tea, coffee and ride back to the hotel, where my ride will leave to Padang in the evening. In the end everything went perfect and as planned. So if u want great guide with you, who keeps you safe and is very good company, I suggest you Een. I came from Finland to Indonesia for hiking to Kerinci, I had one of the greatest expirience of my life and without Een that wouldn't happen. So thanks to Een and If u want great expirience, i suggest you to contact Een, I'll leave his contacts below. Regards Oskari from Finland Email : [email protected] Phone : +6285266266992 / WA Facebook : Endatno een