The Ever Elusive Peak

Day 6 - True Date 6/11/13

Today was much like yesterday, though a slightly slower start. We planned to get up by 7, eat at 7:30 and be on the trail again by 8:30. We were again woken on schedule with an offer of hot beverage and warm water bowls to wash up. Breakfast began with porridge and was followed by fried eggs, toast and a type of sausage that was very reminiscent of hot dogs. The best part of the morning (in my opinion) was the view of Kibo from the campsite. Early in the day the clouds that would later surround the peak had parted and it was an unobstructed view of the summit.

At 8:30 we loaded our packs and hit the trail. We left the West Side Camp (11,450 ft) on the edge of the Shira Plateau. Our hike took us east away from Shira, across the plateau and towards the main mountain. The plateau itself is aptly named. For a few hours the hike was entirely flat with the rare rise or fall of the trail to traverse some minor ravine. After

the first hour of hiking we had hardly seen a cloud in the sky above us and when looking around the setting was a bit surreal. Behind us was the (relatively) shallow ridge of Shira and before us was the towering summit of Kibo. To either side there was the occasional rock mound, but the plateau extended to what appeared to be the horizon. From our vantage point, it simply looked like we were on a flat plane hiking towards a lone mountain. You would never believe from that view that we were above 10,000 feet and had been climbing for 2 days already.

When we reached the end of the plateau we began to deal with brief spurts of short but steep rock slopes. These slopes,

and most (if not all) of the rocks we passed on this hike (as well as the coming days) were all lava rocks formed when the volcanoes were erupting long ago. We experienced one large vegetation change before lunch. At the beginning of the day the plant-life was an assortment of shallow plants, flowers, grasses and shrubberies. However, just before lunch these plants became thinner and taller - mimicking a very sparse and scraggly and small forest. My favorite plant was a small, green, leafy one that protects itself by closing in the cold of night and reopening with the sun in the day.

At noon we stopped for lunch on the top of yet another ridge. Given the increase in wind strength we were now dealing with the porters had assembled the lunch table inside the mess tent. Lunch was fried chicken with fries, fruit and an avocado salad. We were told that the afternoon would be about another 2 hours of hiking and the terrain would become increasingly rocky.

Our route continued along various ridges of lava rock and grew a bit steeper (though quite shallow to what we'd experience in the days to come - we're comparing to a plateau right now after all). Every so often we would see a small cave in the rocks but they were often inaccessible and far from the trail so we did not explore them. We stayed to the left side of what seemed like the larges ridge around and our view of Kibo was frequently obscured, but was clearly closer when it was visible. While in the morning the peak seemed to be just another mountain in the distance, now it began to

dominate the view and loomed over us. My favorite part of this afternoon hike occurred about 30 minutes before camp. The ridge to our right opened inwards into a massive (but very shallow) arched cave with a steady flow of water down its back. The ground was muddy and covered in moss and seemed to not fit the rest of the area.

From there it was only a short remaining hike to where we would spend the night, Moir Hut. We climbed just over 2,000 ft today and crossed 6.8 miles. It took the group 5 hours and 15 minutes. We ended the day at an elevation of 13,540 feet and had hiked for a total of 13 hours and 7 minutes. At camp the group once more broke into their own tents to rest. Some people enjoyed the weather by resting on bed pads outside in the sun. The snack was again served at 4:30, where we gathered in preparation for dinner at 6.

Dinner's began with another soup, this time a tomato and ginger soup (as before it remained my favorite part of the meal). The soup was followed by spaghetti and a meat sauce with carrots on the side. For the first time this trip we were offered dessert which were fried bananas (or plantains - because who really knows which?) and they were quite tasty. Dinner today was accompanied by one of our more "normal" conversations which was a nice change of pace. We talked about sports, politics and in the end/over dessert people began exchanging riddles. My favorite riddle was told by one of the guides:

     "A man is walking along the road and gets thirsty. He keeps walking and becomes more and more thirsty.      Finally, when he cannot take it any more he finds a house, and he is so thirsty that he enters with purpose. Inside he finds the owner and asks for some water. Suddenly, the owner pulls a gun on the man and he runs out of the house. Why did the man leave?"

I'll leave you wondering... After the riddles, which pulled in the attention of many members of our crew, we headed to bed. It was another cold night (about 30 F and the first night the water froze) as well as cloudless and starry. I look forward to new views of Kibo in the morning.