Route B1 has become a sort of poster child for the circle routes in the foothills of Gn Gede and Pangrango, because of its scenic beauty, cool forests and easy navigation. (A free download of the map and narratives in 2 languages are available on the puncaktrek website).
On 27 June, I took an old friend, Aryati Mowll, along this route. She and I had explored the Ring Route on many occasions during 1993-96, so she was curious to see how the maps could be used to hike in this area. Aryati, now the mother of two children, climbed Annapurna and Acancagua before she was married. Now she is studying for a Ph D in physical education at the University of Minnesota, and is still a strong athlete.
On 7 July, Robert Baldwin accompanied me on route B1. He has become a local boy (bule masuk kampung), with a cabin in Pancawati village, overlooking the start of B1. We had been previously to the starting point of B1 when exploring the ring route south from Pancawati, so we agreed to meet offroad, at the bridge over the Ci Mande. I walked down from the start in kmp Nangleng, and he walked down from his cabin in Pancawati. The photo of Robert alone shows him in front of a sign at the turnoff at the junction of Pasir Pondok Cateng and Pr Cipakis. The other photo shows him with Pk Husni and his daughter at a lone house in Kmp Bangrung on Pr Pondok Cateng.
Toward the end of July, I walked this route with Antony Sutton, author of several blogs on tourism near Jakarta. It was a hard slog for Antony, as he relates on one of his blogs (http://jakartabirding.blogspot.com/2008/07/gunung-mas.html), but he was a good sport and we managed to complete the trip without incident.
No comments:
Post a Comment