Start: Karanga Valley; 3,930 meters
End: Barafu Base Camp; 4,620 meters
Hiking time: 2:50
I opened the tent flap this morning fully expecting to see frost covering the ground. Instead I found myself looking upon a silent sea of clouds with pink crests and blue shadows so impressive that I mumbled an instinctive, “Wow,” and forgot all about the chilly temperature.
Today was the day we reached base camp. The hike wasn’t too strenuous but the incline was constant. I could hardly take my eyes off of Kilimanjaro the whole time. The trail was noticeably more crowded than in the previous days because about four different routes all join up at Barafu and use it as base camp for the summit attempt.
Lunch was a flop: another meal where everything was fried. The last time we had a fried meal like this, everyone had a miserable stomach for hours. Now that we are just hours from leaving for the summit, there was no way any of us were going to touch that food. Shailey saved me from starvation by giving me a ClifBar. Just in case you think I’m exaggerating about the fried food situation, here’s a picture of our first fried meal.
After lunch, we retreated to our tents to rest a bit and then emerged for dinner before returning to our tents. It took Shailey and I about half an hour to get ourselves set for the summit. We packed our bags with water and snacks, checked our headlamps, and put on most of our layers. I’m still not sure if I managed to fall asleep or not but I felt as ready as I could when 11:30 pm rolled around. We put on our last layers, had some tea and biscuits, and then we were off to the summit!