"It was the very end of a 9-month backpacking trip, and I skipped an important and beautiful scuba diving lesson to do it. I had to get up at 3 AM for the drive to reach the base of the volcano. My best friend and only travel companion at the time was too lazy to join me, leaving me alone with a Balinese guide that knew not a word of English. We reached the end of the road at around halfway up the volcano with ~1½ hours left of steep hiking on wet rugged rocks. The higher we went, the more I realized how grossly I had underestimated the freezing temperatures at the top of the volcano, not wearing any jacket at all. We finally reached the top 15 minutes before the sunrise, inside a dense and moist cloud, giving us visibility of 16-32 feet and our clothes and skin were utterly soaked. Top left: The peak of the volcano. Top right: The beautiful sunrise. Bottom left: The immense crater. Bottom right: Freezing, 19-year-old me. "