Day 3, 4 & 5

We left Shira Plateau, in the rain, and headed toward Lava Tower. This was to be the longest hike of the trip. We started to enter the alpine zone and the plant life ceased to exist. We also started hiking in snow. Can you believe that, I had to travel all the way to Africa to hike in snow. We arrived at Lava Tower camp (14,300 feet) and almost everyone was feeling the altitude in one way or another. Some were definitely worse than others. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset here that evening and the stars were amazing. I have never seen stars twinkle like they did that night. It was beautiful. You have to make the best of going to the bathroom in the freezing cold during the middle of the night!

We left Lava Tower the next morning and headed to Karanga Valley. This hike was amazing. We climbed up and down lots of small hills during the day and even got to boulder up a 500 foot rock wall. It was so much fun. Everyone felt much better at Karanga than they did at Lava Tower which meant we were all acclimatizing. When it stopped raining that afternoon and the clouds disappeared we finally got to see this mountain they kept telling us we were going to summit. It was still massive and seemed so far away yet, after all it was 6,000 ft from us yet.

We hiked toward Barafu Hut Camp at 14,200 ft. That Camp is where several trails converge and many groups leave at midnight to reach the summit at sunrise. Because of all the snow on the mountain the camp was full because some groups were staying longer to try to summit. Our trip leader bargained (i.e. paid the Rangers so we could hike up another 1,000 ft and camp above the camp. We were all relieved because Barafu Hut was so dirty. Once again we got to camp in the snow (a foot and a half of it). Since we got to camp pretty early we had time to play cards and sequence and a couple of people even made a snowman. Most of the porters and guides had never seen a snowman so we kept them quite entertained.

Once again we got to enjoy great view of the mountain as the clouds moved off.

Once again our plans had to change, more on that to come....