Kilimanjaro Day 4 – Shira II Camp to Lava Tower to Baranco Camp

Kilimanjaro Day 4
Shira II Camp (12,768′) to Lava Tower (15,183′) to Baranco Camp (13,038′)
Zone: Heath Moorland to Alpine Desert to Heath Moorland
Quoted Distance: 10km/6.2 miles
Guide Service: Everlasting Tanzania

I really could have used more sleep last night. I fell asleep around 9pm and the cold wasn’t bad, I actually had to strip off my second layer. I slept well until about 3am when I randomly woke up and struggled to fall back asleep. When I did, I had a terrible nightmare. I was able to wake myself out of it but after that there was no chance of getting any more sleep so it was another morning where I got to lay there and watch my tent brighten as the sun rose.

Essau noticed the light in my tent and realized that I was up early so he brought me my morning tea before 6am. The hot tea was quite welcome in my 45F tent. I crab crawled out to use the bathroom. Shane was also out already, up on the porch of the ranger station. A little too late, I realized that there was no toilet paper left! I had to yell for help to have someone bring me some. I have had to call for help too many times from our camp toilet!

As I finished packing up my gear I was hit by a wave of nausea. A thick wave of nausea. Wave probably isn’t the right word because it didn’t go away, more like a flood of nausea that was washing over me. Why am I nauseous?! I’m on diamox and I know it has worked for me at much higher altitudes than this, I’m only at 12,768’ this morning.

Sitting down for breakfast I knew I needed to eat but there was no way. Just seeing the food made my stomach somersault. Shane reported that he was also nauseous. He had a bad night; having a hard time in the small tent he had a bit of a panic attack from the confinement and ended up spending most of the night on the ranger station porch. I had thought I heard movement and voices at some point last night so apparently that’s what I heard. The poor guy got basically no sleep last night. Tonight I will give him some of my rationed sleeping cocktail to see if that helps. Chaz slept well again though, Kyra’s ear plugs are really saving him! Kyra came to our rescue, producing a little baggie of anti-nausea pills. I dissolved one under my tongue and the effect was almost immediate. My nausea subsided and I was able to eat a full breakfast of toast, eggs, crepes, and fruit. The saucy veggies offered felt like they would be pushing my limit though.

The air was crisp and the ground still frosty as we left camp; the sky grey but the clouds sparse enough to still see the summit off in the distance.

Today is another 10km day with a 7km climb to Lava Tower and then a 3km climb down the other side of Lava Tower to Baranco Camp. This is a very key day as Lava Tower stands at roughly 15,200’ and is a solid indicator of success of reaching final summit. Reaching Lava Tower indicates that you have an 80-90% chance of making summit. Today we will also enter the next climate zone of the mountain, the alpine desert, and then drop back down into heather moorland for camp.

It wasn’t raining but it was cold as we trekked along the wet trail with the summit looming ahead of us. Thinking about my morning nausea was messing with my head a little bit; making me doubt my abilities and worrying about altitude sickness. Why isn’t my diamox working?! And we still have THOUSANDS of feet left to climb. I asked Saidi if I could hike in front for a while simply because I needed some time to introvert and feel like I was alone to sort through my thoughts and try to get my head straight.

The most exquisite, symmetric, bright green succulent-looking plant was growing from the base of a large boulder, lobelia deckenii; its bright green hues in sharp contrast to the dreary grey of the morning. When I stood over it and looked directly down from the top it was hypnotizingly brilliant. Another plant I need to figure out how to grow at home!

It wasn’t long before the rain started. After yesterday’s dry day I had gotten my hopes up that we would be done with the rain. Hah!! I should have known better. Just as my wet clothes and gear had barely dried out, here we go again.

The rain occasionally teased us with patches of clear sky ahead but refused to stop for more than a minute at a time. Rocks overtook the trail requiring us to scramble, trying not to trip on our rain ponchos. For the first time on the mountain we saw a small cave in the side of a ridge. Saidi said there was a story behind the cave but it was tough and he would tell us about it the last day. He didn’t want to talk about it. Surveying both the expression on his face and the terrain I had an idea what the story was. We knew from our research that once upon a time Saidi led a trek were someone was struck by lightning in a freak accident and died; I had a feeling this spot had something to do with it. Knowing about this experience was actually one of the myriad reasons Katie and I felt extra safe knowing he would be our guide since he knows how to deal with a major emergency.

Twenty minutes later we were officially in the alpine desert climate zone. The terrain did another dramatic shift with very little vegetation and instead fields of small boulders with yellowish moss. Saidi pointed to a large boulder that had a tower of smaller rocks built into at triangle on top of it. He told us it was a very important spot that he’d tell us about the last day. I whispered back to Katie my suspicion that this area was also related to the lighting strike story.

The girls and I finally synced up our pee cycles for the sake of our efficient pee circles and we bouldered further on; passing in a narrow crevice between two tall walls of rock. Trying not to trip on my poncho we emerged into a large lava field. It felt desolate and like we were on another planet. We were in the clouds and they rolled over us as we trudged on in the freezing rain. Finally feeling like I was on the side of a volcano my mood perked up a bit in the drizzle. On the ridge towering in front of us I could see large mushroom-shaped rocks; in the one paragraph I read in my Kilimanjaro mountain guidebook yesterday I remembered that these mushrooms were indicative of being close to Lava Tower. Ok, we’re almost there.

We reached the mushroom rocks and I still couldn’t see Lava Tower. We stopped for another pee circle as the guys gave us some space. Still no trail poopers. After we had done our deeds, a chipmunk approached us looking for food. It was the first wildlife I had seen in days! And this little bugger was a beggar. Inspecting us intently, it was brave enough to come all the way to Kyra’s hand. Joke’s on Kyra though, the little dude reached out and nipped her hand expecting food. We don’t have “getting bit by a chipmunk” on our bingo card!

Half an hour after passing the mushroom rocks we still weren’t to Lava Tower. I asked Saidi to break it down for me again, where is this Lava Tower?! Half an hour ago I thought we were only 1km away but I still could barely see it. And I was getting tired of being cold and wet. I am so mad at myself for being cold. It was really stupid of me not to pack an extra layer in my day pack. I can’t believe I didn’t do that and it’s such a rookie move to not have one more layer than I anticipated needing in my pack. We kept on keeping on and then it was another porter miracle! Our team of porters showed up to relieve us of our day packs for what we were told was our last 200 meters to Lava Tower. The rain had let up again and we were close so we took off our ponchos with our packs.

I think Saidi meant 200 meters more in elevation not distance since it was another 50 minutes before we climbed the final steps to Lava Tower, at an elevation of 15,183’. Lava Tower is both a camp and a mid-day destination like it is for us today. Some of our porters had made it to Lava Tower well before we did and our dining tent was set up with a hot meal waiting for us. The rest of our porters had bypassed Lava Tower and were headed straight to Baranco Camp. Lava Tower itself was blurred with a haze of clouds and rain. This is the most people that I have seen since we left Arusha. We’ve hardly seen any other trekkers since we started but multiple routes converge here and the camp was busy.

We crowded into our dining tent in the freezing rain and shivered while we tried to warm our hands with hot mugs of tea and our bellies with a hot meal. I’m disappointed that I forgot to check my thermodrop for the outside temperature but that thing has proven itself to show numbers irrationally higher than reality so it likely wouldn’t have been accurate anyways.

Katie had the great idea during lunch to have our Nalgenes filled with hot water to help warm us. Genius! Essau and Kasimu whisked away our Nalgenes and brought them back warm. I had asked them to only fill mine part way because I didn’t want the extra weight of more water and I immediately regretted my decision. Katie cradled her warm water baby. After an hour it was time for us to get moving. GodBless had brought our toilet up to Lava Tower and it was so nice to not have to squat in the freezing cold. Leaving our lunch tent sucked, it was cold when we got there and even colder now. No longer freezing rain, now it was snow. None of us properly planned for temperatures this cold and all three of us ladies agreed that this sucks, we were miserable. We cradled our hot water babies for what little comfort we could get from them and forced ourselves to smile for pictures before we left Lava Tower.

I imagine that in clearer weather Lava Tower is a stunner but it is hard to really see and appreciate it in the clouds and snow. The clouds parted and let one sliver of sun escape as we began descending down the other side, with ours and others’ porters passing us. Snow turned back into rain, heavy rain, and pelted us as I tried not to trip over my poncho.I

An hour later we we had descended out of the alpine desert zone and back into the heather moorland zone. The clouds cleared and the rain let up, finally giving us a break and teasing us with glimpses of blue skies.

The clouds moved quickly; the Western Breach approach and summit appeared to our left. One moment it was just a wall of clouds, the next it was the top Kilimanjaro with glaciers and window box rock formations.

Rain returned as we continued our descent to Baranco Camp. But sure enough, the landscape was filled with the senecios that Katie had been so excited for. I can imagine on a clear day that the senecios paint a mystic scene but with the clouds and rain diluting the atmosphere everything was muted and grey, hidden in fog.

My mood had also become more muted and grey. We had all already been quite miserable from the wet cold at Lava Tower and after two hours of descending in the freezing rain I was feeling defeated. I am cold, wet, and questioning what is enjoyable about this. I just wanted to get to Baranco Camp, put on warmer dry clothes, and be done having to march in the rain. I was at a point where every time one of my crew wanted to stop to take a picture or ooh and ahh over something I just wanted to keep moving to get to camp ASAP and before dark. I really hate setting up camp after dark. I was so annoyed by being wet and cold I didn’t care to appreciate the landscape anymore. It sucks to be on this remarkable mountain and too beaten down by the rain to appreciate it.

A stream trickled down the landscape, creating little waterfalls. While the others wanted to stop and admire them I just wanted to keep moving. At this point every minute we stop is a minute to get colder and a minute closer to getting to camp after dark. The guides could tell that I was not happy and asked if I was ok. I told them that I just wanted to get to camp and be done with this day so Chaz said, “Ok, let’s go” and led me on ahead so I didn’t have to wait. Kyra caught up and the three of us eventually rolled into camp as the rain finally broke and the sun began to set. Kasimu and Pude, the lone female porter on our team, met us as we approached to take our day packs. I hopped up for my obligatory picture with the camp sign and Pude hopped up on the other side and joined me, outstretching her arm to hold my hand.

Baranco Camp sits at the base of the Baranco Wall, the most technical part of the climb, which we will start tomorrow by scaling to the top. This camp is the first time that any towns or civilization can be seen off far far away in the valley below. I could see a line of light, headlights on a major road, down in the valley and I would have given anything for one of those cars to come rescue me from this mountain, I am so over being cold and wet. I’m not sure what the outside temperature was but it was somewhere in the 30s.

As the evening wore on the skies cleared and Kibu Peak with Uhuru loomed over us. With the almost full moon there was so much light on the camp that taking pictures long after the sun set looked like it was hardly twilight out.

We gathered for dinner and Shane left after we ate to go get his and Katie’s tent set for the night. Baranco is a supply camp, there is a supply road close enough that porters are able to meet supply vehicles and get back to camp in the same day. Since Shane’s cleithrophobia was wearing on his anxiety they had a tent much larger than you normally see on the mountain brought up with supplies today.

Us ladies and Chaz sat around after dinner, desperately trying to warm our hands with cups of hot tea and chatting with Chaz. I am so down on this wet, freezing weather. I asked Chaz what would happen if I decided that I didn’t want to summit. He was confused as to why I would come all this way and not summit. Easy. This is not my dream. Climbing Kilimanjaro was not my bucket list item. It’s not something that I ever thought I would do or had considered doing before agreeing to do it. I’m just sick of being wet. If it’s raining come summit night I am more than happy to say, “fuck this” and stay behind at base camp. There is no ego in this trek for me. And then it happened, I broke down in tears. Tears of exhaustion, frustration, being overwhelmed. Kyra and Katie tried to console me and Chaz called for Essau to come sit with us too. Chaz and Essau had no idea what to do with me and gave me empathetic looks while I tried to pull myself together.

I excused myself to retreat to bed, first stopping in our little bathroom where I started crying again on the toilet. But at least I wasn’t needing to call for help. I took some deep breaths. Got myself back together, made it to my tent, and cried for another minute. It was 40F in my tent so at least I have my hot water bottle and hot Nalgene to comfort me with some warmth. Cold itself is manageable, it’s wet and cold that is pretty much my idea of hell. Fuck today was hard, today has just about broken me.