As I mentioned in the last post, I was picked up at 2:15am by a driver to take me to the starting point for the tour. This tour was the one I booked through Viator. I had an Amex offer and booking both tours through Viator saved me some money.

We were driven in the dark about an hour to the starting point at the base of the mountain. The driver seemed to know the route well as he probably drives it in the dark quite often.

We arrived at a waiting area and were offered coffee or tea. After about 20 minutes, our guide came over and introduced himself. We set off from the waiting area and crossed the street to the start of the trail. It was pitch black so we were given headlamps to wear. My small group consisted of me and two German women around my daughters’ ages so they of course were subjected to dad jokes in their second language.

The initial part of the trail was shared with jeeps who go up about halfway for folks who don’t want to hike or can’t manage it. It was wide and not that steep.

After we passed the jeep parking spot, it got narrow and more rocky. We had to scramble up a few steep sections and the tour guide was quick to offer a hand if I needed it. After about an hour, we made it up to the viewing platform near the summit. We sat and watched the sunrise while our guide brought us a simple breakfast of an egg, granola bar, banana sandwich and local fruit.

We just sat and caught our breath while we watched the light appear behind the two mountains just in front of us, Mount Agung and Mount Abang.

As the sun came up, every picture seemed to get better than the last one.

Once the sun was up, we hiked up a bit further to the top of the caldera. There were steam vents up there where they had boiled the eggs for our breakfast. There were also some monkeys.

After a while, it was time to hike down. While it was much easier, I did slip a few times as the loose rocks made it a bit treacherous. The guide was helpful again in helping us down the roughest parts of the hike. It definitely helped to be able to see where we were going this time.

We made it back down around 7:30am. The driver took me back to the Viceroy and the other participants went back to their accommodation in Ubud. I was even back in time for the end of breakfast so I grabbed some before my wife and I went out again.

It was a great tour and definitely the highlight of my trip. While I’ve seen sunrise on the top of a mountain in Maui, you can’t actually hike up the whole way. This was definitely a unique experience.

Up Next: More Monkeys and the Campuhan Ridge Walk

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