We awoke to a chilly morning and saw a little frost on the ground but three things made it all worth it: (1) Emmanuel’s delicious hot tea, (2) this view of Mt. Meru in the distance,
and (3) seeing the sunrise over Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Simon also warmed up extra quickly by doing his best impression of a plant in photosynthesis.
We began our hike to the Lava Tower (4600m) around 8:20am, fueled by Edward’s breakfast. Over the next four and a half hours, we trudged up the mountain, pole pole, and even stopped to help Simon overcome his fear of heights on the way. We also saw that the carin we constructed yesterday made it through the night.
Simon chose to build another carin rather than help Erika down the boulder. Oops.
(Joseph helping Erika. Simon doing nothing of the sort.)
Along the misty climb, the vegetation changed significantly as we rose into the Alpine Desert Zone. We made it up to Lava Tower for our picnic lunch and celebrated getting to the highest point that we’ve reached in our lives so far - 4600m (15331ft).
(L to R: Joseph, us, Priscus)
After lunch, we descended 700m down to the Baranco Camp and went past some remarkable vegetation back in the Moorland Zone.
When we reached camp, after climbing and then descending more than 2300 feet, we rested - fairly exhausted - in our tents, but excited for the second half of our trek to the summit. Finally, after recharging for a little while, we had some tea and popcorn and introduced the crew to Kroger’s finest teriyaki beef jerky. They told us they liked it and also then treated us to songs and dancing (which they did and we joined in with to stay warm!). They’re an incredible group and we are lucky to have their support.
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