Journey to Mount Kilimanjaro, Part 2

Bed Tea, or Bed Cocoa, or Bed Coffee... whatever you’re in the mood for when they wake you up at dawn. The “company” gives you some time before the walking begins, and it always begins with “Bed Tea” - although I usually opted for cocoa once again concerned that drinking caffeine so early could affect my hiking health. 30 minutes after your warm wake-up beverage is delivered another warm-water basin is placed in your tent vestibule for “washy-washy”, and 30 minutes after that we were expected in the mess tent for breakfast. Today we were greeted with frost, although it didn’t seem particularly cold outside.
The first meal of the day consisted of toast, eggs, bacon, porridge & fruit (mango & papaya) - pretty damned impressive. But again I’m not one to dwell over any meal especially in a tent when new scenery is just through a canvas flap, so I wolfed it down and packed my gear ready to begin our second day of hiking. 

Today I followed Hashim, another assistant guide with an amazing attitude who continued yesterdays pole-pole pace. Still not much uphill, just some mild meandering across the plateau through the grassy moorlands working our way closer and closer to that piece of cake topped with ice cream in the distance. Eventually the Shira Cathedral became visible in the distance off to our right, that was our halfway point for today’s walking and location of our 1st acclimatisation hike. A final uphill push brought us to the saddle, we dropped our packs and made our way up the skinny trail into the mist.

The Trail to Shira Cathedral's Summit

About 15 minutes later we had a 360 degree view in every direction from the top (12,303 ft.), and a sheer drop to our south. We snapped some shots and found our way back to the stashed day packs... it was time to continue on, up a little & along the pinnacles that make up the crater rim eventually leveling out onto the plateau once again. An emergency access road became visible in the distance, and then a Helipad... apparently the only people to utilize have been film crews, and the road is for evacuation only. We trudged on, our final push of the day towards the Shira Huts (12,598 ft.) was uphill and I finally noticed the altitude... when we arrived to camp I was once again brought to a cylindrical green metal building to sign my name and other various facts about our expedition, and then sent to find our tent to drop my daypack and meet the group for lunch.

Lunchtime, Shira 2

It had ended up a gorgeous day, we were instructed to chill for an hour and then we would be taking another acclimatization hike... we had covered a lot of ground today, I organized my gear until it was time for our pole-pole uphill walk. It was only about 20 minutes, relatively short comparatively, with a full tummy and light footwear it felt like we were skipping uphill towards the behemoth. Once the trail flattened out again we all got comfy on some boulders while enjoying the view and recording it with our cameras.

We came back down, from this vantage we could see the Shira Huts camp was made up of several different groups AND we could see the neighboring "New Shira" campsite to the southeast, about a twenty minute walk away meant for trekkers heading in a different direction. Back at the tent I made good use of “washy-washy”, packed for the next day and met the group in the tent for dinner... tonight was chicken with rice & veggies. A few minutes in I was politely interrupted by an amazing sunset over the hills we’d camped next to the previous night that cast a perfect golden hue upon the upper reaches of the mountain.

We finished dinner and I browsed the guidebook while Jabs taught some of the group a game similar to dice called “pigs” - seems the mess tent is a nice warm place to spend time when one’s not quite ready for the sleeping bag.

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

No conflict, no drama, no questioning of authority... everyone just listening and doing their best to move forward as a team, I'm not exactly used to this. I signed up for a career in media, which in essence boils down to the fact that I, along with my co-workers, enjoy questioning authority. It’s what makes us good journalists, and good reporters. For most of us it’s instinct, and one of these co-worker's enlightened me to a reason why I probably enjoy traveling so much, the term is “mono-tasking.” My career, my life (personal & professional) revolves around multitasking. I’m extremely good at it, my role within every broadcast demands it, and fatherhood requires it. If I wasn’t good at balancing these items I would not have taken these responsibilities on, but this break from reality opened my eyes and made me appreciate the singular task of surviving... and this time it wasn’t for myself, I was surviving for my wife & child. Mono-tasking for my family while appreciating life, I was not taking this trip for granted, Journey will understand.

Glasses Courtesy C. Lampe

Day Three began the same as yesterday; bed cocoa, packing, breakfast, we were set for another departure. Today was only two hours till the Moir Hut, our next camp at 13,780 feet, and then another 1.5 to 2 hours round-trip for acclimatization purposes cresting the distant tower named little Lent Hill. (14,354 feet)
The hike was gorgeous as we entered the true foothills of Kilimanjaro, bearing left as we crossed the 4000 meter stone - the landscape was changing slightly, more igneous rock mixed with shiny chunks of obsidian. Vegetation was getting sparse, but we did come across a new yellow flower as we entered the valley.

The Moir Hut

The routine continues, a version I'm sure has been tested by many giving this route & company that 89% success rate we had chosen it for... we dropped our packs at our tents, gathered the water bottles for depositing in the buckets outside the mess tent for refilling, and had a hot lunch. Today was really amazing so far, or I should say the porters were amazing... the tents weren't even taken down when we departed from the Shira Huts, but when we crested that ridge less than two hours later every tent be it for sleeping, eating, prepping or pooping was set up and ready. After lunch there was a little time for chillin' before we headed into the Lent Hills, it was windy and the sun was brutal so I welcomed the break from exposure, sunscreen has become a mandatory layer.

The hill was the steepest yet, and by now we were starting to realize who needed more time and who didn't, with 7 guides no one was ever alone so we all had the opportunity to go at a variety of paces. We had left the moorlands and entered the upland desert, which basically meant more rock... and dust. Today was the first day I really noticed this dust, which became a standard from here on out. The hike continued through the rocks up to the backside of the tower, turning from Class 3 to Class 4... and then it became vertical, Class 5, not a big deal for any rock climber but challenging for anyone thinking we were only on a walk. Everyone negotiated the "climb" and wandered up the final slope to the summit, pics were taken and we came back down... but on the way down we could see Milton the cook and another guide coming down via another stream bed. We had seen antelope tracks earlier, and the guides explained this is because they migrate at night to the highlands for a certain spice, or salt, that can be found in the mountains caves. Milton enjoyed cooking with this spice, and had retrieved some to infuse with our dinner - salt of the earth, perhaps another element necessary in our quest for success. I stopped into the kitchen for a taste, and met the crew responsible for our nightly feasts.

Dinner was pasta & veggies. Afterward I heard that Davis, one of the assistant guides, had been sent home due to malaria... apparently he had contracted near his rural home outside of Moshi. (all of a sudden that blue-green capsule I was swallowing every morning didn't seem like such a burden) I enjoyed the stars, it was a brisk night, I finally opted for my puffy Patagonia jacket which was almost too warm. Tonight's sleep was not as deep, I felt chilled and dehydrated - the dreaded headache had appeared freaking me out a little, I drank so much water I was up several times relieving myself.

Headaches are the primary symptom of AMS, Acute Mountain Sickness - I'd never had this, we still weren't over 14k feet so I shouldn't be feeling anything, but it's been three years. I'm not in the shape I was three years ago, I knew this was going too well, I began considering Diamox in retaliation. I'd never taken a drug for altitude but our guides are recommending. They don't care about my experience, the only thing they cared about was my success and the prime element in that goal is my health.

To be continued