How to get there:
Banda Aceh is the natural starting point. This city is served
by both domestic and international airlines.
From Banda Aceh , drive to the small village Saree,
and then to the trailhead
located at N5.45408, E95.70117, just below 600 meter of elevation. This drive takes
about 1.5 hours with light traffic.
Route description:
Follow the narrow rough road that continues gently uphill.
This road is now only useful
for hikers and motorbikes. The road will curve right higher up, just continue along, at a
small fork, keep right. The road sort of ends in a small open area and turns into trails.
Curve right here and follow this (rightmost) trail as it descends, crosses a water pipe and
finally a small creek. Pay attention here and turn sharp right immediately after this crossing.
The trail is marked with small ribbons, it is not hard to follow if a minimum of attention
is with you. If the "trail" you are on suddenly is more bush, then immediately backtrack
and stay on the trail that never turns into a bushwack. The upper, last part, just before the
summit, is a little steeper and may require a few touches with your hands, but nothing more
than (YDS) class 2. Finally, the trail ends in a
small clearing with the summit marker. The highest
(rock) point is just behind this marker.
Comments:
This was the first peak on my October/November trip to Indonesia. I arrived in Banda Aceh early
evening on Saturday, October 18. Muhammad Yusuf (whatsapp: +62 813-6011-2324) was there to pick me
up. We stopped by a restaurant for dinner as well as a grocery store for some supplies, then to
my hotel, Kyriad Muraya.
We left at 0530 the next morning and arrived at the trailhead shortly after 0700. I left at 0715 and
asked Muhammad to be back before 1315 (6 hour estimate). It had been a while since I was last time in
proper jungle, listening
to birds and animals, in particular, the monkeys telling each other that
a hiker was coming below. I made reasonable progress and soon discovered a few tents ahead. After another
steeper section, more tents, in fact surprisingly many. Unlike the first tents, everybody seemed to be around.
I said hello and continued uphill. The last section was slightly steeper and as often is the case, the
expected summit needed yet another small hill to be climbed. I was there at 1030, so 3:15 up.
I rested and had some water, 2 young boys arrived and they asked politely if they could have their
picture taken together with me. This is actually a very common situation in Indonesia. After 20 minutes,
I told my 2 young friends goodbye and headed down. About half way to the tent camp, I met all the
people, now going uphill towards the summit.
I came back down to the car in slightly less than 2:30, about 2 minutes after the stipulated
6 hour trip time.
