mount wilhelm - 14793'
May 2023
This was a last minute trip I cobbled together after another work trip to West Papua, Indonesia. I actually was unaware there were overland options between West Papua and PNG, so I ended up booking a circuitous series of flights from Timika-Jakarta-Singapore-Manila-Port Moresby on a 40 hour marathon of travel. Once I got to Port Moresby, I walked the short bit over to the domestic terminal and boarded a short 50 minute flight to Mt. Hagan. in the highlands of PNG. Thankfully everything went smooth and nothing was delayed. Once I landed in Mt. Hagan, a friend of Betty (who runs Bettys Lodge at the foot of Mount Wilhelm) picked me up and took me to their motel in town. I was greeted by very friendly people who made some delicious food and shared some of their storied history with me while I rested from nearly 2 days of air travel. The following morning Betty had her driver pick me up and we drove the 3.5 hour drive up to her lodge, all the way at the end of the dit road past the last village of Denglagu Mission. I was actually lucky to get a half price discount on the 4x4 transport because Betty coincidentally needed the ride into Mt. Hagan in the morning, which the driver was then able to drop her off at the airport, then take me back to the lodge. Then, upon finishing my hike, the driver took me back into Mt. Hagan and was able to pick Betty back up. This way, the round trip transport only ended up costing me about $250.
As I rode west on the Highlands Highway, many small villages were passed, with very rural, but well farmed areas separating them. Despite the rural nature of the highlands, there were many young people walking along the highway, and through the farmlands going about their normal daily routines, picking crops, walking to school, or just hanging out. Life is very simple for these people. I had my window down since the temperature was quite warm in the land cruiser, and many locals were quick to point me out as a white person! Many people possibly may never have seen a foreigner before. We turned off the paved highway after a quick stop for some basic groceries in the village of Kundiawa. The next 2 hours were up a long windy dirt road which was primarily a walking path rather than a road. We were the only car driving up that afternoon, and we did not see any cars coming down. At the very end of the road, the driveway to Bettys Lodge appeared and we finally arrived. Her lodge is a beautiful oasis in the mountain forest with only the sounds of the PNG song birds to soothe your soul.
Bettys lodge keepers were very friendly and set me up in a nice room, which at the time I was the only person there. I chatted with a few of the employees she has to operate her fish farm, and got to see it up close. Betty actually sells her fish to various restaurants in Port Moresby and other villages, and also offers the fresh fish to anyone staying at the lodge. I settled in and immersed myself with all the history and decor inside the lodge. The guestbook was interesting to read, and I even saw my friend Eric's comment from nearly 4 years prior when he climbed Wilhelm. My first full day in PNG was interesting and I learned a lot about the local culture and some of the history. While it had some similarities to the history of West Papua, there are big differences that led to the island of New Guinea being chopped in half politically, with Indonesia now owning the western half. I was fed a delicious meal including fresh trout, vegetables and potatoes before preparing my light pack for the hike in the next day, and headed to sleep.
The next morning my local guide (required to have) met me at the lodge. He had simply just walked up from the village down the road and we started hiking up the gentle forested slopes along the edge of Bettys farmland. Starting elevation was at 9170 feet and the trail leading to the northwest was easy to follow and in good condition as we made our way towards the first of two lakes at 11,750 feet where a couple small huts offer a place to escape the rain for the night. It only took us a few hours to reach the hut, and the forested hike up to this point was not too exciting, but once we arrived at the lake it was a beautiful serene place to enjoy the early afternoon sun to nap before some clouds and rain showers rolled in. At that point we went back to the hut and made a quick dinner. It got dark early due to the very close proximity to the equator so we went to sleep early at 7pm with a 4am wake up.
As I rode west on the Highlands Highway, many small villages were passed, with very rural, but well farmed areas separating them. Despite the rural nature of the highlands, there were many young people walking along the highway, and through the farmlands going about their normal daily routines, picking crops, walking to school, or just hanging out. Life is very simple for these people. I had my window down since the temperature was quite warm in the land cruiser, and many locals were quick to point me out as a white person! Many people possibly may never have seen a foreigner before. We turned off the paved highway after a quick stop for some basic groceries in the village of Kundiawa. The next 2 hours were up a long windy dirt road which was primarily a walking path rather than a road. We were the only car driving up that afternoon, and we did not see any cars coming down. At the very end of the road, the driveway to Bettys Lodge appeared and we finally arrived. Her lodge is a beautiful oasis in the mountain forest with only the sounds of the PNG song birds to soothe your soul.
Bettys lodge keepers were very friendly and set me up in a nice room, which at the time I was the only person there. I chatted with a few of the employees she has to operate her fish farm, and got to see it up close. Betty actually sells her fish to various restaurants in Port Moresby and other villages, and also offers the fresh fish to anyone staying at the lodge. I settled in and immersed myself with all the history and decor inside the lodge. The guestbook was interesting to read, and I even saw my friend Eric's comment from nearly 4 years prior when he climbed Wilhelm. My first full day in PNG was interesting and I learned a lot about the local culture and some of the history. While it had some similarities to the history of West Papua, there are big differences that led to the island of New Guinea being chopped in half politically, with Indonesia now owning the western half. I was fed a delicious meal including fresh trout, vegetables and potatoes before preparing my light pack for the hike in the next day, and headed to sleep.
The next morning my local guide (required to have) met me at the lodge. He had simply just walked up from the village down the road and we started hiking up the gentle forested slopes along the edge of Bettys farmland. Starting elevation was at 9170 feet and the trail leading to the northwest was easy to follow and in good condition as we made our way towards the first of two lakes at 11,750 feet where a couple small huts offer a place to escape the rain for the night. It only took us a few hours to reach the hut, and the forested hike up to this point was not too exciting, but once we arrived at the lake it was a beautiful serene place to enjoy the early afternoon sun to nap before some clouds and rain showers rolled in. At that point we went back to the hut and made a quick dinner. It got dark early due to the very close proximity to the equator so we went to sleep early at 7pm with a 4am wake up.
Early the following morning, we followed the trail as it initially ascended steeply up above the left of the lakes and onto the broad ridge above. The trail never actually went right next to the upper lake, but there was a great view of it (on the way down). Of course we were headed up in the dark. The route to the summit was very easy, following a nice trail all the way to the final summit block area. It was somewhat longer than I expected, but very low angle most of the way. Twilight started showing enough light to where we didn't need our headlights anymore just as we reached the final short scramble, which involved a short class 3 gully after looping around to the west side of the summit block (shady side in the wee morning hours). Map below shows the route, and the painting on the wall of Bettys lodge is also shown below! We reached the summit just before sunrise, and had a brilliant sunrise view from the top, similar to my experience on Puncak Jaya just to the west (which unfortunately the air was a bit too hazy to see that far away). It was chilly though and my hands got a bit cold taking photos, so after just 30 minutes we started down. The hike back to the hut, and then back to Bettys lodge was quick and scenic. The guide only asked for $50 and each night at the lodge was about $30 per night which included meals. Al in all an affordable endeavor, however the transport would have been double the price if I wasn't lucky as Betty just happened to be getting transport to Mt Hagen with the opposite itinerary as when I was coming in.
Somehow I managed to keep a splitting headache the remainder of that afternoon despite having worked at a high elevation for 10 days leading up to this trip. I imagine I just didn't drink enough water on the entire 2 weeks I was there since the tap water generally wasn't safe. After another tasty trout dinner I had a nice sleep before my ride back to Mt. Hagan the next morning. Unfortunately my flight back to Port Moresby on Air Niugini was delayed 4 hours and I missed my connection to Brisbane on Qantas. Thankfully Qantas simply allowed me to just get on their next itinerary back to Los Angeles through Brisbane, but the next flight didn't leave Port Moresby until the day after the next day, so I had to wait in a hotel near the Port Moresby airport for two nights before I was able to continue my journey back home. When I finally arrived back to Los Angeles, i then had to spend another night there before I could make it back home to Grand Junction. That was one of the worst travel marathons I have ever needed to do.
Somehow I managed to keep a splitting headache the remainder of that afternoon despite having worked at a high elevation for 10 days leading up to this trip. I imagine I just didn't drink enough water on the entire 2 weeks I was there since the tap water generally wasn't safe. After another tasty trout dinner I had a nice sleep before my ride back to Mt. Hagan the next morning. Unfortunately my flight back to Port Moresby on Air Niugini was delayed 4 hours and I missed my connection to Brisbane on Qantas. Thankfully Qantas simply allowed me to just get on their next itinerary back to Los Angeles through Brisbane, but the next flight didn't leave Port Moresby until the day after the next day, so I had to wait in a hotel near the Port Moresby airport for two nights before I was able to continue my journey back home. When I finally arrived back to Los Angeles, i then had to spend another night there before I could make it back home to Grand Junction. That was one of the worst travel marathons I have ever needed to do.
Mount Wilhelm route map from Bettys Lodge
