Monday, July 3, 2023; Day 4

I didn’t feel quite as cold last night, and I got a solid amount of sleep. I had two mild-but-elaborate nightmares though, both featuring my ex. Ugh. I was a little congested, which is worrisome, but there’s so much dust in the air that blowing my nose leads to a gritty tissue stained dark brown, a common complaint from others.

I didn’t need the bathroom all night. I jotted in my journal while finishing up my morning coffee in the tent awaiting the call to breakfast. Today we’ll hike from camp to the Lava Tower at 15000 feet, lunch there, and then descend to camp at 13000 feet. Supposedly, today will be the second hardest hiking day of the trip, but I feel strong. At breakfast, my oxygen saturation measures at 92%.

We pack, huddle, chant/sing, and set off up the same trail we climbed yesterday afternoon.

While my thumb-shirt protects the base of my hands, I haven’t been applying sunblock to my knuckles regularly enough:

The hike to Lava Tower is a long uphill, but painless. I worried about my gurgling belly for a while, but had no problems.

The combination of a great adventure, close quarters, tents (which provide visual isolation but no sound dampening at all), sharing of meals, and hours-long walks has caused our group to develop a rapid, if uneven, intimacy. Never before have I known the state of so many adults’ bladders and bowels, and what they achieved the last time they went to the toilet tent. (Constipation is a real problem for some, while my fear is the opposite problem). The combination of our diet, altitude, exercise, and hiking in a line leads to a frequency of nearby flatulence unexperienced anywhere else. Some of us try to awkwardly ignore it, while our Air Force trekker gleefully calls out “Air Power!” after each fart. What else can you do?

We’ve mostly settled down on nicknames — the Doctor is, predictably, “Doc”, Jason H has been dubbed “Gadget” (he’s got a fancy 360° camera, and a 2-way GPS that uploads our location to the internet over satellite), and I continue to answer to an occasional “REI.” Respicius is now commonly called “Suspicious Respicius” (mostly by Liza) due to his minor and good-natured deceptions.

Our guides periodically pause beside the trail to cheer us on and ask how we’re doing as we pass. I’ve gotten in the habit of replying “All is bliss,” a line I’ve cribbed from The Great, and which has delighted me since it was first mentioned.

While we wait for lunch, we survey the Lava Tower, Kili (which feels close enough to touch), and the trail that led us here:

Our dining tent is set up at the foot of the tower, perhaps 50 feet away from a sign warning about not getting too close to the rocks. 😬

Lunch is a tasty chicken noodle soup and spaghetti.

While I felt great, my Ox has declined to 84%, a figure that would lead to a race to the hospital under normal circumstances. After lunch and a trip to the bathroom, it was time to get our packs back on.

Our “easy” post-lunch downhill to Barranco proves more challenging than our morning’s hike. Leaving the camp involved climbing down a steep set of rocks, and later the trail was slippery in spots; three of us fell. Bob fell less than a foot in front of me and I felt guilty that I didn’t catch him, as my hands were wrapped in fists around my poles. He’s incredibly tough, however, and pops back up in seconds. Minutes later, Robert slipped and hurt his knee and ended up spending the evening in his tent after the Doctor gave him something from her bag.

As we approach Barranco, we see some of the most interesting landscape and flora of the trip so far.

We’re all excited when the camp finally comes into sight, again next to a sea of clouds, with the famous Barranco Wall close by.

I have a headache coming into Barranco at 13K, but attribute it not to altitude but instead to being tired from carrying my pack, which felt heavier than usual. I decided that I’d probably leave my camera behind for the summit day.

The mountain feels really close now, even if I can’t fathom how we’ll get up it.

Dinner is chicken over rice with a delicious fried/breaded banana dessert.

Our after-dinner briefing reveals that tomorrow’s trek sounds short but perhaps hairy — thousands of people (the vast majority of them porters) will take a long, narrow, and winding cliffside path up the mountain to the Karanga camp. But we’re slated to arrive by lunch, and will have the afternoon to relax, at around the same altitude as here in Barranco.

I cross my fingers for a good sleep tonight; we’ll have an extra early wakeup at 5am tomorrow in the hopes of getting up the famous Barranco Wall before the crowds arrive. I’m excited!

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