Day 4 - Climb High, Sleep Low - Moir Camp to Barranco Camp via Lava Tower
Into the mist toward Barranco Camp
Starting our hike. Heading toward Lava Tower. I'm used to hikes, even hikes longer than, but besides the elevation what i'm not used to is heading toward the horizon. The trail can be faintly seen hading toward Mount Kilimanjaro. We're heading up and over the cliffs right before the mountain. Somewhere in there is Lava Tower at 15,000ft. That's nothing for a true mountaineer, but higher than I thought I would ever go.
Not sure who are what are all leaning here. Celebrating making up to 15,000 ft today!
Dendrosenecio kilimanjari is a giant groundsel found only on Kilimanjaro. These crazy plants inhabit the middle altitudes on the Shira Plateau and around Barranco Camp. Is it the fog, the streams or both that cause them to grow only here?
The Everlasting Flowers or Helichrysum newii were plentiful along the trail today.
Walking through the "forest" of Dendrosenecio kilimanjari as we approach Barranco Camp.
I wanted to look at the stars each night but the moon was competing for the sky's attention and sleep often over took me very fast. Not tonight though!
in a few days, it will seem like nothing but today we celebrated our achievement in getting to 15,000 ft at Lava Tower. We got to head back down to 13,000 ft to then sleep at Barranco Camp.
I've been so focused on surviving and the daily footfalls of the path that I haven't truly appreciated where I am. I'm in Africa! Nearing the rooftop of the continent, the land of the early explorers, of Hemingway, of Livingston, and more recently Rick Ridgeway. I am following the footsteps of tens of thousands through an ever changing landscape.
The sights, sounds, and smells of Africa are totally different than other places I've been. The first night in Mti Mkubwa Camp listening to the growls of the monkeys and their strange clucks kept me aware in awe. Later, thought I heard a dog bark, but was told in the morning it was a jackal. Now, going ever higher, the sounds fade replaced only by the wind and when that is silent just your heart beating and the sounds of your breathing.
Today as we approached Barranca Camp we went though a Dendrosenecio kilimanjari forest. They're prehistoric, palm like trees dotting the landscapes on the valleys and gullies where streams flow and the fog rolls in and out. I don't know if its the streams that give them water directly or the fog that seems to drift down the valleys constantly, yet intermittently that provides them the water they need. Their dead leaves stay on and have a cotton like substance underneath that apparently helps insulate them from the cold.
We reached 15,000 feet earlier in the day as we hiked past Lava Tower, but then decended to be be greeted by the Dendrosenecio sentinels. Today we camp at Barranco Camp in the shadow of tomorrow's challenge, the massive Barranco Wall.