Tanzania: You Want Me To Climb Down That?!?

I think so far we can say that each day got progressively harder, so let's continue that trend.  Day 4 started out with a climb and maxed out in the middle with a trip up to Lava Tower, the highest point on the trail until you're actually summitting the mountain.  Day 4 was also the first day that you could really tell that Kilimanjaro is a volcano (or three) because this was when we started walking through some old lava fields.  Research says that the last time the main peak/volcano erupted was sometime around 150,000 to 200,000 years ago, but due to the fact that gases still sometimes steam out of the crater, it is not considered extinct, just dormant. 

We got up earlier on Day 4 than we had any day up to that point.  It was still somewhat dark when we left camp and many of us used our headlamps for the first 20 minutes or so until things brightened up.  And up was the name of the game today.  When we left Moir Camp, we left for up.  Up, up, and up.  Africans seems to only slightly believe in switchbacks, and their switchbacks are mostly up and less side to side.  It was after we scaled our first hill of the day that we got a little bit of a break by meandering through some lava fields.  We also got some great views of Kilimanjaro for one of the first times on the trip.  The whole thing for once!  Looking up at it from where we were, it still seemed like a really long way to go.  Was I really going to climb that?

We met back up with the people on the Lemosho Route who had spent the night at Shira 2, as well as those coming from the Machame Route.  The Machame Route was the first time we met up with another trail, but by the time we reached the Barafu Camp the night before summitting, we had met up with all, but one trail.

Lava Tower was the plan for the day.  Lava Tower stands at 15,190 feet tall, but the highest we would reach was 15,090 feet, because we were scaling Lava Tower, just going up to the plateau next to it.  The rise from our camp at Moir at 13k to 15k was really noticeable.  It definitely got a lot harder and when I got to the top, I had a bit of a headache.  I think everyone really felt a bit worse than they looked in photos.

Getting to the top of Lava Tower seemed like the hard part, but that was because we didn't know how it was coming down!  We were literally walking through a creek, that was a very steep drop.  It was frightening.  I'm not great with down because my knees don't really like doing it.  I was glad for once to actually be in the front because that meant I was able to watch where our guide Simon put his feet and he would help me down the really steep areas which was great.  By the time we got down the steepest part of the way down Lava Tower, my right knee was screaming at me.  I decided to wear my knee brace for the remainder of the trip.

Simon helping Mimi down.  As you can see, it was very steep and very rocky.

After leaving Lava Tower we still had a couple hours hike to our camp at Barranco for the night so we kept pushing.  Unfortunately we couldn't push enough to stay out of the rain.  It ended up being the wettest day so far.  My pants got soaked through and I probably should have put my rain pants on, but I didn't.  Oh well...hiking pants dry pretty quickly. 

What I call a "Pinapple Tree". 

There was still quite a bit of down and we got to pass through an area with some really unusual trees.  I don't remember what type of tree they are, but I call them pineapple trees because it kind of looks like a few really large pineapple are hanging from them (like, really, really large pineapple).  We were slow enough on the way down that some of our porters came back, met us, and took our daypacks from us so we didn't have to carry them.  It is amazing how much taking 15 pounds off your back helps.  

As usual, when we got to camp, everything was all set up.  The good news was that the camp was already set up before the rain arrived, so things stayed fairly dry in our tents.

By Day 4, Tim, Sunny, and Jay were all dealing with loss of appetite and nausea.  We may have found the source of Jay's issues that evening when it was discovered that Jay had been taking Cipro (an anti-diarrheal) since arriving in Tanzania and typically a doctor would only recommend you take it if you are having diarrhea.  In his defense, someone screwed up at his doctor's office or his pharmacy because he was just following the directions on the bottle.  While some of the others were obviously showing signs of alititude, the little bit I dealt with up at Lava Tower had long disappeared.

With Day 4 done, and the toughest by far, we were looking at an even tougher Day 5 because the Barranco Wall was literally staring down on us in camp.  Also, interesting note...we found out on the way down from summitting that a rock fall about two days after we pass through the area blocked the trail to Lava Tower, causing people to have to turn around and go back.  No one was hurt, it was just unfortunate.  It took a little time for it to be cleared.  Glad we passed through when we did.