Landscape Photography on Location - Solo Hiking to Mount Papandayan
I love the woods, I always love them. Ever since I was a
child I always take my time to wander around in the woods or bushes nearby. As
time passed, my fondness toward the forests’ atmosphere grew. Following my
college graduation, I kept doing those kind of activities; walking in the
forests, tracking into waterfall, doing some camp, or doing some macro
photography in the bushes. So, one day I decided to do a little further by
doing some kind of solo hiking (and photography) in the mountain.
The problem is, I am a person who (currently) works for some
kind of corporation. I work eight hours a day, six days a week, so yes my job
really take my time.I could do it on sunday actually, but I always avoid going
into places during end due to traffics and crowds. So, I did some plan and
researches for more than two weeks and took some days of afterwards. Then, on
early august, I did it. I did something that (hopefully) will change my view
towards the enjoyment of life; hiking in to mount Papandayan…
There are three main reason why chose to hike this mountain.
Firstly because it is one of the nearest mountain near my place. It took me
only three hours to get there by riding my bike. Second, it is said that the
mountain is easy to hike, even for a beginner like me. And the third, it is
because mount Papandayan is “exotic”, meaning that it has amazing landscape
view that no other mountain offer. I started doing my hike on 7 a.m. in the
morning. One thing to note is that I actually had no worry with my supply,
because there are lots of tents in the entrance which sells supplies, food,
T-shirt and even some kind of accessories (that is very common if we visit
tourism places in Indonesia). However, most of them are closed because I came
on the weekday.
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| the entrance |
I had a very relaxing feeling when I started my hike. I was
surrounded by green, lush vegetation. However, fifteen minutes later, the
landscape dramatically changed into a barren field withsome weed growing
around. I was stunned by the landscape and never thought that I would find this
beautiful landscape. Around half an hour, I came into the crater (which becomes
the most attractive spot in this place) and decided to stop by to take the
photograph. You see, photographing the crater is actually very hard for me. I didn’t find an appropriate
foreground for my image, and I had no clue what to do with the smoke coming out
of the crater. So, I just go on, made use of my filters and get the image
which, I personally think is acceptable (it’s not great, but not bad). See my photograph in the video at the end of this page.
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| amazing views of barren landscape. |
I continued my hike and couldn’t believe that I was the only one walking the trail. It was some time later that I met few fellow hikers going up/down the trail. The longer I walked, the barren landscape slowly turned back into green vegetation. The trail was also becoming much steeper, which very slippery if the rain came (which luckily did not). It was around one and half an hour later that I passed the dense woods, which is a sign that I almost arrived in my camp site.
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| back to the woods |
I arrived in a place called “Pondok Saladah", a wide area which
is used for camp site. The area is surrounded by woods and dense vegetation of
edelweiss. In some kind occasion, we might encounter a boar here. To my
surprise, I found some tents (the ones I mentioned earlier in the entrance) up
here. They mainly sells foods and actually helps a lot for those who run out of
supply, but still it strange for me to find them. so I talked to the owner and
had a little conversation about this place. He told me that during the weekend,
this place would be packed wih hundreds of hikers ! I really felt glad that I
decided to do it during weekday hehe. So I set my camp, had some lunch, and
relaxed my legs for a while before I continue my hike.
Minutes later, I felt a not well. My head was dizzy and I
was trembled a bit, but I decided to continue because it would be a waste if I
just spending time in my tent. So I walked again for 45 minutes, and I arrived in a place called
“Hutan Mati” (Dead Forest). Yes, the forest is actually DEAD, you’ll see
nothing but dead trees and white ground as far as you can see. According to my
information, the dead forest is a result of the mountain’s eruption which
happened a long time ago, leaving an awesome landscape environment. Then I just
go on, still with no one else around, I wandered around looking for a
composition (which is NOT easy), and do some photograph (see the video).
Sadly, I’ve got a fever after taking the image. It is
perhaps due to my “unprepared” physical condition. This situation left me no
choice but to get back to my tent and get some rest. I spent the rest of the
day in my tent, recovering my body. What a shame…
I was hoping that the next day everything will get better,
so that my plan to catch up with sunrise in Dead Forest would succeed. Of course
I was recovered the next day, however, there was a heavy rain falling the
entire morning, making the area surrounded by a dense mist. I chose to wait
until the mist fade away, because it would be a bad idea walking in a condition
like that, I would easily get lost. It is when I realized that I’ve had another
problem. I ran out of the battery of my action camera due to the extensive
filming the day before (my mistake). So, everything from that morning didn’t
get recorded, how unfortunate.
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| the dense mist on my way back |
Around 9 a.m. the mist faded a little, and the sun had
already up in the sky. So, I decided to pack my things and hike back down (I
ran out of my vacation time). I know, my hiking plan didn’t work well, but I
didn’t regret it. It was a very important lesson for me, to always plan
everything thoroughly. It was a nice, relieving walk after all, and I’m
planning to get back there when the rainy season is over J
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