Deadpool and the Blue Fire
Mt. Ijen is an active volcano situated in the very east of Indonesia's island Java. This place is famous for its phenomenon of "Blue Fire", sulfuric gases that escape from the volcano at extreme temperatures. When these gases hit the air, they ignite creating electric-blue flames that can even appear to “flow” like lava. It’s not lava though, it’s burning sulfur.
You can only see this in the dark, which is why most hikes start around 2–3 AM. By sunrise, the blue flames disappear in the daylight
We were still a little sleepy while waiting with many other tourists at the entrance gate of the National Park in the middle of the night. They advised to rent gas masks due to sulfur vapours in the crater area. The crater rim of Mount Ijen is at 2386 m (7800 ft). It is a steep hike and takes around 1,5 to 2 hours. You should bring head lights and warm clothes, because it is pitch black and the temperatures can drop really low. We only had 5°C (41°F)
In the first kilometers the crowd was spread, but the last part into the crater ended in a huge queue of people. It was a very narrow path and among the many tourists, the miners were still carrying heavy baskets of sulfur.
Depending on the conditions it is not guaranteed that you can see the “Blue Fire”. However we were lucky that night. We could clearly see the blue glow between noisy columns of smoke and steam. In this area was an extreme smell of sulfur all around. We wouldn’t have needed the masks until this point, but they were useful to observe the blue fire. Despite these hundreds of tourists, it was a great spectacle.
A little bit further down the track, we could see the miners breaking sulfur and the acid lake. However you shouldn’t take a dip here. The lake has a pH value of 0.5 - truely a "Deadpool"!
