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Today was a short day in that we only hiked a little over 2 miles. We headed toward Barafu Camp at 15,200ft where we would depart for the summit the next morning. We were now almost south of Kibo. Again, we had a sunny morning and clear skies the whole day. The beauty and solitude […] We arrived in camp at 13,222ft to find our tents pitched on a high ledge with awesome views down the slope to the west, and of the mountain to the east. View from Karanga Valley Camp The nights were getting colder, our pulses rates were going up, our oxygen saturation was going down, […] The next morning was sunny again. We set off on a 5.5 mile hike that would take us to 15,300ft at the top of the Lava Tower (optional but highly recommended for acclimitization) and then back down to near 13,000ft for the night. We were going to be near 13,000 feet for several days […] The trail brought us to Moir Camp, where there was an old abandoned hut. The temperature continued to drop and we were glad to have our -30degF rated mummy bags. We learned from Wilbert that the less you wear inside these high altitude sleeping bags the warmer you are. It worked. I was much warmer […] The morning was a complete surprise: sunny and not a cloud in the sky. The hike took us about 7 miles across the Plateau to Moir Camp, at 13,700. The landscape was littered with volcanic rocks from prehistoric eruptions of Kilimanjaro. It turns out the volcano is not extinct, but inactive. The crater at the […] When we walked into Shira 1 camp in the late afternoon Kanini was there to greet me, as he’d be every day, and show me to my tent. Greg had brought a frisbee, so we played that for awhile in the cold, wind and fog, waiting for the others to arrive. It seemed like a […] I was awakened in my tent at 6:30 and offered hot coffee, chocolate or tea. I was also given a small basin of warm water to wash with. Yes there were several small luxuries on this trip. I had learned from Peru to get completely organized, packed, and ready to go before breakfast so that […] Forest Camp We arrived at the campsite to find our tents set up and the porters welcoming us. I met Kanini, who was to be the man assigned to me for the trek, and he showed me to my tent. He would set up my tent in the evening, take it down in […] |