A week later and still sore

I want to start off by saying I have never legitimately hiked in my life prior to this little excursion. Yes, I have climbed some mountains and hills (for like 2 hours tops), but never anything to this magnitude.

Ok so maybe I am exaggerating slightly, but for me this was huge.

I knew before coming to Indonesia that I wanted to do some sort of hiking/trekking. Rinjani seemed perfect, and it was a pretty good price, so I jumped in headfirst.

There were 6 of us in our group, plus a guide and 5 porters to carry our things (cooking supplies/tents).

We started off early at 7am and began the 9 hour long trek The actual hiking was about 6 hours uphill, but we took breaks along the way for snacks and lunch.

I really enjoyed most of the way up. After I got too tired to speak, I began listening to my iPod, which helped out immensely!

The final part of the hike was treacherous and really just annoying. It was out of the jungle and into the hot sun. It was very dusty and rocky and very steep, so all of us (except for Josh) were having a hard time.

But, alas, we made it. And it was entirely worth it. Mt. Rinjani is an active volcano with a deep blue lake in the crater at the top. It was breathtaking...pictures don't do it justice.

I did the 2 day/1 night trip, so I actually, for the very first time, camped. Outside----in a tent. It all started out fine, but the temperature started to drop (fucking FREEZING I mean!!!) and the fatigue set in, so all of us called it an early night.

I have an extremely small bladder unfortunately, so only a few hours in I had to pee. Well, I am (also unfortunately) petrified of the dark, so I did my thing like a foot in front of the tent, heard a rustling in the bushes, and flung myself in backwards through the small opening in the tent I had made scaring my poor tent-mate.

The next day coming down was pretty much a living hell. My legs were not prepared for that, so I was aching all the way down and managed to fall a good 7 times.

I am becoming less and less sore, but there is still a slight ache in my calves.

A supposedly fun thing I may try to do again....