Volcano - Visit50

Did you know you can hike a volcano and visit a sulfur mine? Hike up to the top of the volcano at Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia. There you’ll find volcano sulfur mining. I found it fascinating!

Firstly, I’ll explain how it works and where you can find it. Next, I’ll explain what sulfur is used for. Then, I’ll provide some photos from my experience.

Where can you find Sulfur Mining?

Visit Indonesia in eastern Java, Indonesia. Upon arrival you can hike up to the top of Kawah Ijen volcano. Start your day early.

Also, ideally you’ll want to choose a clear day, since it’s overlooking the turquoise acid crater lake.

This sulfur mine has been active since 1968. There’s a labor intensive sulfur mining operation there with about 300 miners.

How Sulfur Mining works?

Miners extract the sulfur and carry it 8,660 feet up and down the mountain. These miners face excruciating heat, toxic fumes, and heavy loads.

In exchange the miners are rewarded with only about five dollars per trip.

Volcano Sulfur Mining photo tour

Sulfur Mining photos from our Kawah Ijen volcano adventure are below.

What is Sulfur mining used for?

The main use is in making chemicals for agriculture, mostly for fertilizers. Other uses of sulfur include refining petroleum, metal mining, and the production of organic and inorganic chemicals.

Sulfur mining at Kawah Ijen volcano | Java, Indonesia — looked like fire

Sulfur is called “Devil’s Gold” by some

Man carries sulfur up from the sulfur mine, around the mountain, and then down — Can I help you carry something?

miner carries sulfur down the mountain — guess not.

What does sulfur look like?

Sulfur is yellow in color. Sulfur’s odor is the most distinctive feature.

the yellow brick road leads to... this -- a sulfur mine at Kawah Ijen volcano | Java, Indonesia — the “yellow brick road” leads to… this.

Why is sulfur in volcanoes?

Sulfur is produced by volcanoes because it’s common in our crust and upper mantle.

“Sulfur readily comes to the surface of our planet because it is a relatively light element. The sulfur is kept in a liquid form at the higher pressures within a magmatic body prior to eruption.” (Quora)

"eating" sulfur deposits at the Kawah Ijen volcano Kawah Ijen volcano — note – I don’t recommend eating sulfur deposits

Kawah Ijen – I certainly don’t recommend eating sulfur deposits

Sulfur is VERY heavy

Hike up Kawah Ijen volcano

As you hike up towards the peak of the Kawah Ijen volcano crater, visibility gets worse with each step.

Hiking up to see Kawah Ijen. Visibility declined rapidly – at one point I couldn’t see 5 feet in front of me!

Visibility and colors change with each step. The air gets more difficult to breathe you get towards the peak due to the sulfur.

Kawah Ijen, turquose crater lake

Visit Kawah Ijen for the view of a turquoise crater lake surrounded by Volcanoes. After seeing this photo of Ijen I knew I wanted to visit! It looks gorgeous – a turquoise crater lake in the middle of a group of volcanoes.

But manage your expectations, because you might end up with zero visibility like my experience.

We took a red-eye road trip to the base. Then, a difficult 2-hour drive up the mountain to the base. Next, a hike up where air that became more difficult to breathe. Additionally, the overcast sky became nothing but fog, with visibility only a few feet in some places. All we saw was this:

View from the top of the Ijen volcano — View from the top – you’ll have to use your imagination because this is all we saw.

More sulfur mining volcano photos

My favorite photos of Kawah Ijen come from the on the Boston Globe website, as well as photography of the sulfur mines at Ijen here, and here.

My favorite volcano experience was volcano boarding in Nicaragua. You can actually hike up the and go volcano sledding!

Trip to Mount Bromo – Gungung Bromo volcano

I was so excited to get to visit the Gungung Bromo volcano, the famous volcano in Indonesia!

After leaving Bali at 9am, we arrived at Surabaya (SUB) airport on the island of Java at 9am. Nadya and I were picked up at the airport by her cousin’s friend, who was kind enough to drive us 2.5 hours to her cousins place. That’s exceptionally nice – would you do that for a friend’s friend visiting? Would you drive 2.5 hours to pick up a friend’s cousin’s new friend at the airport?

Indonesia has 129 volcanoes, most in the world!

The Plan: Volcano Sunrise!

The plan was to head to Gungung Bromo, their largest volcano to watch it at sunrise. We got a ride to her cousins, at which point we’d we’d take another leg of transportation towards the base of the mountain, and leave for the mountain around 4am. It’s a lot of effort, but Lonely Planet Indonesia (travel guide, linked below) raved about it.

What is Indonesia’s Gungung Bromo volcano?

Indonesia has 129 volcanoes (debated number; some place the number as more than 150), most in the world. None are more beautiful than Gunung Bromo.

It’s located on the eastern side of the island of Java. This is the same island as Jakarta, Indonesia, where former U.S. President Barack Obama once lived.

There’s actually 40 volcanoes on the island of Java alone, but beautiful postcards from Indonesia with a volcano are typically of Bromo. It’s impressive!

after leaving Bali at 9am, we arrived at Surabaya (SUB) on the island of Java at 9am (1 hr time difference from Bali). Nadya and I were picked up at the airport by her cousins friend, who was kind enough to drive us 2.5 hours to her cousins place. That’s exceptionally nice – would you do that for a friend’s friend visiting? Would you drive 2.5 hours to pick up a friend’s cousin’s new friend at the airport?The plan was to head to Gungung Bromo, their largest volcano to watch it at sunrise. We got a ride to her cousins, at which point we’d we’d take another leg of transportation towards the base of the mountain, and leave for the mountain around 4am. It’s a lot of effort but Lonely Planet (link) raved about it.

There’s actually 40 volcanos on the island of Java alone (of the 129 in all of Indonesia, most in the world), but beautiful postcards from Indonesia with a volcano are typically of Bromo.

While Bromo was too active to visit, I ended up hiking a different volcano. My day included hiking to see I volcano sulfur mining nearby at Kawah Ijen!

Here’s the Bromo wiki.

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