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| Campsite with the Barranco Wall in the background |
We left camp a bit before 8am and made a slight descent, crossing some frozen streams and walking among the giant groundsels before reaching the base of the Barranco Wall.
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| Looking back towards Barranco Camp |
My son worries about me quite a bit when I go on treks, but I had told him that based on my research, Kilimanjaro was mostly trails and wasn't really a mountain that you could fall off. That information turned out to be a bit inaccurate as getting up the Barranco Wall involved some rock scrambling that required both hands and both feet (and sometimes all four at the same time). The guides had instructed us the night before to put away our poles and I'm glad I did. There were a couple of sections that could have gotten really interesting if someone had slipped. The guides were there to helpfully point out handholds and explain how to get over certain spots.
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| Barranco Wall - a bit tricky in spots, but not too bad as long as you don't look down |
We made it to the top of the wall at 9:15am and enjoyed a couple of minutes of sunshine before the morning clouds rolled in on us. After a brief rest, we continued on our way. The plan for the day was a 5-mile hike through the Karanga Valley and up to Barafu Camp at an elevation of about 15,300ft. Barafu is also considered 'base camp,' as this is where climbers (probably more accurate to be called trekkers) depart for the summit.
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| Walking across the slopes of Kilimanjaro towards Karanga Camp |
Right before getting to Karanga Camp, where a hot lunch was waiting for us, we had to go down into a steep valley using dusty trails with tough footing, and then back up the valley to the camp. This is the last spot on the Machame Trail with water, so the "G Fighters" (we didn't call them porters) had to bring up water for drinking and cooking. It was nice to get into the camp about 11:30am and we enjoyed a nice lunch of 'coco and chips' - fried chicken and French fries, along with some tea.
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| Karanga Camp |
Some trekking groups take an extra day and stay overnight at Karanga Camp. This gives them the advantage of having two short hiking days and plenty of rest at Barafu before attempting to summit. We, however, were on the 6-day trek and departed after lunch at about 1pm so that we could get to Barafu. The temperature varied from 40-55 degrees F depending on how much sun we got. There were mostly clouds as the trail out of Karanga seemed to steadily climb a ridgeline further up the mountain for about an hour and a half before we got onto a nice section of rolling trail. We then got more sunshine and some nice views down the mountain and into the valley, where we could see the city of Moshi two miles below us and many miles distant.
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| Looking back along the afternoon trail |
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| Barafu Camp - steep, littered and full of loose rock and scree |
It had been a long, tough day of hiking, but the day really wasn't over. We'd get some time to rest, have dinner and then get only three or so hours of sleep/rest before getting out of our tents at 11pm to get ready for a start at the summit about 12:30am.
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| Tired legs not happy to walk down the slope to our campsite |
I spent some time in my tent doing some personal hygiene, changing into some clean clothes and laying out my clothes and equipment for the summit attempt. At this altitude, I was very particular about what I was planning to wear (because of the cold weather for the nighttime climb) and carry (because I didn't want to carry any unnecessary weight). My legs were tired, so I was hoping to get some sleep after dinner.
Dinner was at 6pm and I went back to my tent afterwards. Despite being tired, I got some rest, but I don't think I ever really got to sleep before one of the guides stopped by our tent, shook one of the poles and let my tent mate and I know that it was 11pm. We grumbled a bit, but quickly got up.
Still a bit tired, but excited and ready to head for the summit, I quickly got dressed and rechecked the gear that I was planning to carry. My clothing consisted of layers:
Head - balaclava and knit cap
Top - wool long-sleeved underwear top, long-sleeved dry wicking shirt, heavy sweater and a Columbia jacket shell (wind-/waterproof and breatheable)
Bottom - underwear, wool underwear pants, lightweight hiking pants, and insulated trekking pants
Hands - thin glove liners and medium-weight windproof gloves
Feet - medium-weight wool socks and hiking boots
And in my rucksack I carried: 2 water bottles (each covered by a sock to help insulate it from the cold), snacks, a pair of heavy gloves, an extra pair of socks, camera, iPod (some music to make the time go by and take my mind off the climb), sunglasses, sunscreen, toilet paper, hand sanitizer and some meds.
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| A daytime view of the way towards the summit of Kilimanjaro |
It was dark and below freezing as we stumbled over loose rocks to the dining tent for a snack of hot drinks and cookies. We finally got everything and everyone together and left our campsite at 12:30am (now officially Day 5) - 5 guides, 2 assistants and 11 trekkers. The sky was clear and once again the Milky Way was beautiful. A 'new' recognizable constellation, Orion, lay on his side against the horizon to the east. We peered up the dark slope and saw a string of lights higher on the mountain from the climbers who had started earlier in the night. This is what I had trained many months for - going to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro over 4,000ft above us.
Next up: Day 5 from Barafu Camp to the Summit and back down to Barafu Camp and Millennia Camp.
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