Day 4: To Lava Tower (~14,200 feet)

Our hike today was much shorter as we made our way to Lava Tower Camp, just below 14,500 feet, but was a bit tough. It was another beautiful day and a great, exposed hike. Today was tough not because of the terrain, but because the altitude and the fact that consecutive days of hard work are beginning to add up. It was still a good day, but I was less buoyant and more irritable. It may have been the altitude, its associated dehydration (which I keep trying to fight but manage to slip up on, despite constant reminders from all of our guides to drink more), lack of sleep (I kept waking up last night, my heels tingling from Diamox, throat dry, nose stuffy...) or simply because sometimes irritability happens.

 

We've hiked above almost all vegetation and are now surrounded by fields of boulders and lava formations. The Lemosho trail is starting to meet up with other routes up the mountain, so we're coming into contact with more groups, all heading towards the summit. After a few days of having camp almost to ourselves, its kind of exciting to see other groups heading up! (Though it's nice that we still aren't with many people in camp.)  We arrived at camp just before lunch (grilled cheese and soup!), after which we relaxed in the warm sun and cold breeze until a small group of us went for an afternoon hike. We went and climbed Lava Tower, which was a TON of fun. That and some down time in the tent before dinner really made me feel better. I guess that's why the have the short days as we get higher.

Hiking from the campsite at 14.2k to the top of Lava Tower at 15k and back again was good for acclimatization and really fun! It was a lot of hand-over-hand climbing and general scrambling up to the top, where we got an amazing view of where we'd come from and where we were heading next. After perching at the top for a while, where Steve and Lema got some service on their iPhones to call home/make sure that SPS's other trips were going according to schedule, we climbed back down to camp. We got back to camp just in time for a delicious dinner, after which a bunch of us stuck around. For the last two days, our porters have welcomed us to camp with amazing, upbeat, and joyous singing and dancing that makes all of smile. We'd been trying to come up with something to sing to them. We went through song ideas ranging from the Beatles to Broadway, staying in the tent for quite a while, singing loudly. It was a lot of fun! I'm now trying to rewrite the lyrics of "Kokomo" to be "Kilimanjaro."

It's now 8:30 and freezing. Later wake up and another short but STEEP hike tomorrow. Two and a half hours, 1,800 feet(ish). By this afternoon, I was back to feeling good moving around at this altitude, so hopefully that keeps up. We're actually right next to the final slope of the mountain now. On the way up to Lava Tower, we cross streams melting directly off the glaciers. We'll be at the bottom of the Western Breach by tomorrow afternoon. We're really here!