The PHOTO of Bromo

And here it is.....the photo I was after when dreaming of going to Bromo. Click on the photo for a bigger version.

We got up at 3;30 in the morning to drive to the top of the mountain for this view. The sun rose to the left of the photo. When we got to the top, there must have been literally a thousand people up there. There was only a small area at the top of the sheer cliff for people to stand, and it was really about 5 people deep from the railing. I was VERY disappointed as I needed to set up my tripod, and I wanted a good shot.

I decided to do some exploring in the dark for a spot. I managed to climb over the wall to a small trail just right of the cement standing area. The trail was a very small trail on top of a VERY steep cliff. Just in front of the standing area (about 50 feet below where people were standing) was a nice tree, and a small spot just large enough for me to sit and place my tripod and camera. The view was flawless. So, I climbed back up all excited that I found a spot, grabbed my camera, carefully climbed back to my spot, set up my camera, and got this shot....just as Mount Semeru blew a nice plume of smoke from it's top. Mount Bromo is the short steaming volocano in the front left of the photo, and the mountain in front is an extinct volcano.

This is truly a unique location in the world....not sure you will ever see a view like this anywhere else. A very special day.