DAY 3 - Shira Camp to Barranco Huts

Nothing like a warm cup of tea on a very cold morning.

Today we climb again and really prepare for a major acclimatization effort...in fact we end with a very depressing decent to an altitude not much higher than where we started from. The day is only some 10 km but it is a good hike and the climb is challenging at times.

The morning offers another dramatic view of mount Meru.



....on the other side "Kibo": our ultimate destination.

From the fog of the previous evening, we emerge from our tents this morning to a very clear sky. The temperature however is still quite cold (averaging no more than 5 degrees). The sun rising above the mountain ridge is a very welcome sight and once again we do well and head off by 8:50.

We head off under a bright beautiful African sky.

Behind Spencer, in the distance, we still see the peak of Mount Meru.

We started this day at over 3840m. This time we manage to climb to 4450m where we stop for lunch and then further up to a very respectable 4530m, passing by what is called the Lava Tower camp site. The scenery changes again from brush to dry expanses of rocks and formations of lava flows.

Tristan and Liberate...little did Tristan know how the "Medic" would become so important.

From what has been the highest altitude reached on this trek so far, we begin a very depressing decent. From a ridge we walk down, down, down...to the point where my kness begin to hurt (not for the last time).

As we decend, a new form of flora greets us.

Our decent into a new dramatic flora keeps my mind off of my kness. We are greeted by strange "trees" called Senecio Kilimanjari. We penetrate a strange moorland completely covered by these odd plants.

"Senecio" eveywhere make for a dramatic moorland. (l. to r. Spencer, Steve and Connie)

By 3:45 we arrive at camp...once again in a cold fog. And after reaching over 4500m we have now decended all the way to 3950m. Nevertheless, the team does not encounter any major problems. Aside from a few headaches and Nancy suffering from Nausea, we are all in good shape.

Arriving at another cold and foggy camp.