Kilimanjaro Day 6 – Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp

Kilimanjaro Day 6
Karanga Camp (13,184′) to Barafu Camp (15,331′)
Zone: Alpine Desert
Quoted Distance: 4km/2.5 miles
Guide Service: Everlasting Tanzania

I am sick. Not altitude sick but sick sick. I woke up today feeling like I’ve been hit by a freight train. I have a terrible sore throat, my lungs feel tired and full of crud, and I have zero energy. It doesn’t help that it’s all of a balmy 34F in my tent so it’s probably in the high 20s outside. It is bright and sunny out so there’s a mad scramble by the porters to make sure all the gear is as dry as they can get it. Last night Saidi had us bring over any of our gear that was still damp. The porters hung it all in the kitchen tent where it’s warmest, and it worked. My gloves and shirt came back dry. Smelling like food, but dry.

After packing up my tent, I’m so sick of packing up each morning, I joined the others in the breakfast tent but I had zero appetite. Today, well, I should say this morning, is a very short day. Only 2.5 miles, estimated at 3-4 hours until we get to Barafu Camp, base camp for the summit. But don’t be fooled by the easy morning; once we get there we have to eat, try to sleep, and then we’ll be waken up around 10:30 to leave at 11pm for summit. So yah, easy morning but a huge day. I wish I had an appetite because I know I need fuel but I feel so crappy and don’t even have the energy to eat.

Saidi called us out; he hand each of his hands on the shoulder of two porters. He was letting us know that these two young men would be leaving us today and not continue on the trek with us. One must leave to haul trash down, there’s a mountain regulation on the limit of trash each group can carry and when that limit has been reached, a porter must descend and bring it down to help ensure the mountain stays clean. The other got word that he has a family emergency and he must get home. That young man looked quite upset and I wished there was a way we could help comfort him. We thanked them sincerely and extensively for everything they’ve done to us and I fished out tip envelopes for each of them before we parted ways. So glad that we did the individual tip envelopes before we started the trek!

Katie is also very sick. Her lungs are cruddy, she has a terrible cough, and she’s worried that it feels like it could be becoming pneumonia. We sat in the dining tent after barely eating breakfast and at least finished our tea; I may not be able to eat much right now but I’ll be damed if I don’t stay hydrated. Since the sun was out we had the sides of our dining tent open and could watch the happenings of camp around us. The large group we had passed leaving Baranco Camp has their tents set up just below us. One of their porters was breaking down tents with his shirt off and, I’m not going to lie, I did a double-take and, staring like a creepy cougar, told Katie she had to see this. Talk about lean muscle. There was not an ounce of fat on this man and every muscle was perfectly chiseled. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised give the athleticism we’ve seen from all these incredible porters but still.

Waiting for the rest of the team to be geared up I couldn’t even stand. I had to sit on a rock and fixate on how the heck am I going to muster up the energy I need right now. When everyone was ready we stopped at the Karanga Camp sign to get the picture we didn’t get when we rolled into camp yesterday; I was winded and felt like I could just lay down and fall asleep right there. But that’s not an option so I made myself put on my happy face and put one step in front of the other; it’s not like I have a choice.

Another sign in Karanga Camp was a warning sign to climbers, urging us to strongly consider if descending from there is a better option than continuing up the mountain. That oddly gave me some motivation that I wasn’t bad enough off to need to leave. And even though my ego isn’t in this summit, it’s definitely in it up to at least base camp!

Lethargically hiking I was trying to find a way to distract myself. We had played the alphabet game a few days ago and that was fun but with my sore throat calling out words seemed uncomfortable. I’m thankful to have packed throat lozenges and clicking a lozenge against my tongue it hit me, music would be so nice. I have headphones in my pack, maybe I should put them on.

We were happy to have dry air and sun but we were all watching the clouds rolling in behind us; all of us hopeful that we could stay ahead of them. Kyra said we’re going to be thinking positive and Saidi encouraged our positive thinking, “Positive. All the time.” He always sounds like he’s giving sage wisdom with how he chooses his words. I love it. I told our little crew that I wanted to put on some music to help pump me up and everyone, Kyra, Katie, Shane, Saidi, and Chaz, everyone encouraged me to do what I needed and I should just play from the speaker. It really is one team, one dream on this mountain.

I have a very eclectic mix of songs downloaded on my phone, and plenty of them, so I put the music on shuffle and tucked my phone into my cargo pocket with the speaker side facing out. It immediately energized me and put me in a better mode.

Everyone seemed to perk up a bit and we hiked on and on chatting about our first concerts, concerts we’ve been, memories we have around certain songs, I have something for everyone in this mix of songs. Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” serenaded us and Saidi stopped to tell how he had to sing that song in boarding school. It was so fun to watch him share this memory.

When our porters passed us, including our only female porter, Pude, Chaz again tried to negotiate Pude’s hand. That is one strong woman!

We all danced along to Was (Not Was)’s “Walk the Dinosaur” because how do you NOT stop and bop along to that song?!

With Redmond Glacier looming over us, Imagine Dragons’ “Whatever It Takes.” Came on, I think we were all struck in the power of that song in that moment and we agreed that this, this was the anthem of our climb. The sun, the music, and the moderate trail had us all in good moods and Pharrell Williams “Happy” came on just time for another sing along. In a very different manner, Godsmack’s “Awake” also fit this trek just right.

Today’s climb was pretty much as promised, gentle and easy for the most part and then steep and conniving at the end for the climb to Barafu Camp. It was also sunny and dry! Clouds swirled overhead as we climbed towards camp with Paula Abdul’s “Rush Rush.” Another of my favorites, Chris Cornell, serenaded with “Call me a Dog” as we scrambled the final few hundred meters into Barafu Camp.

With “Gangster’s Paradise” in the background Saidi led us to our camp site and explained that they placed our tents at the far end of camp so we’d be protected from the wind by a ridge. We are here, holy crap we are at base camp, 15,331′ and another 4,000 to go.

The main helicopter rescue pad is right below our camp site, so that’s comforting. We arrived at camp about 1:15pm. All four of us had some type of ailment; Katie, Shane, and I all have terrible coughs and congested lungs and Kyra has her own discomfort that she’s dealing with. But we were all so so happy to make it into camp dry and the music really did pump us all up and encouraged me.

Our spot at Barafu Camp is sheltered and the clouds remain below us so the sun was shining directly down on our tents. The Barafu Camp sign is at the top of camp so we’ll get our customary group picture on our way down from summit tomorrow instead of trying to deal with it now.

For the first time on this mountain I was overwhelmingly hot trying to set up my bed and get organized; it’s like a little oven in there. I opened the vestibule and any vents that I could find to get some air moving through.

I struggled to eat lunch. I had two bowls of soup because that was easy to get down and some rice but I couldn’t manage much else. I know that I need to eat but feeling so sick it just wasn’t possible. We all were in a bit of a daze in the dining tent over lunch. We are at base camp. We talked about the music and how much it helped today, so I plan to make sure my phone is fully charged and carry an extra battery pack so I can play DJ as we head up the mountain tonight. At 10pm they are waking us up to get ready and eat and at 11pm we are officially beginning our summit push. I’m hoping that I can get some sleep this afternoon and feel better for this evening but at this point I’m still questioning whether I’m really doing this. I feel like I have the momentum right now though. Whatever happens, we are one team, one dream.