THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok - page 427

TREKKING GUIDES
Senaru is by far the busiest trekking centre, with hundreds of local guides and porters.
Sembalun Lawang is much quieter and has far fewer trek organizers. Ask at the Lembah
Rinjani guesthouse; there are also agents based in Senggigi .
John's Adventures Senaru 0817 578 8018, rinjanimaster.com .
Rudy Trekker Senaru 0818 0365 2874, lombok-rinjanitrekking-info.com .
Rinjani Trekking Club Sengiggi 0370 693202, info2lombok.com . Ronnie is a reput-
able agent at this centre.
The routes
The shortest trek is from Senaru to the crater rim (two days, one night). This starts at the
top of the village (601m) and ascends through forest to Pos II (1500m) and Pos III (2000m);
you then leave the forest for the steep slog up to the rim (2641m). Most people take six to
seven hours to reach the sheltered camp area, from where it's about thirty minutes to the rim
the next morning for sunrise, with classic views across Segara Anak to Gunung Baru. You
can return to Senaru the same way.
The most popular trek is a longer version of the above: from Senaru to the crater rim and
down to the lake (three days, two nights). From the crater rim, a path (2hr) descends into the
crater to the lake (2050m). It is steep and scary at the top, with metal handrails and occasion-
al ropes, but gets better. You can bathe in the lakeside hot springs and will probably camp
nearby, walking back to Senaru the next day.
You can also combine the lake and summit from Senaru (four days, three nights). From
the lake, a different path (3hr; pretty steep but not as bad as previous descent) climbs to the
rim on the Sembalun side and a site called Plawangan II (2639m), where everyone aiming
for the summit overnights. From there it's an extraordinarily steep haul up to the summit of
Rinjani (3726m; another 3-4hr, usually done for sunrise, then 3hr back down to Plawangan
II). Trekkers usually descend via the shortest route, to Sembalun Lawang.
The shortest route to the summit is to climb from Sembalun Lawang (two days, one
night). It takes seven to eight hours from Sembalun Lawang (1156m) to Plawangan II and
you attack the summit the next morning before returning to Sembalun.
The most complete exploration of the mountain involves a round trip from Sembalun
Lawang to Senaru, via the summit and the lake (three days, two nights). This gets the most
exhausting ascent over while you are fresh and enables you to soak tired muscles in the hot
springs afterwards. Longer trips of up to six days, featuring the “milk caves” and hot springs
around the lake as well as the summit, are also possible.