Karibu Tanzania: Climbing Kili: Shira Plateau to Barranco Camp

The morning of day 3 dawned white with frost - something I haven't seen in over 2 years. Brrr! I had forgotten how hard it is to get out of a warm sleeping bag when it is cold outside. I shivered as my boots crunched a circle in the grass to face Kibo. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky to distract from its imposing mass. It's relentless gaze followed us as we worked our way across the plateau. Shira was the first volcano of Kilimanjaro to erupt, and it formed the caldera through which we were walking. Mawenzi, on the far side of Kibo was second to erupt, and Kibo, the highest was last.

White everlasting flowers with yellow centers covered the plateau looking (as one of our group aptly observed) like sheep hunkered down in the grasses to escape the wind. Except for the illusion of sheep, and the scat of jackal and buffalo, the plateau was empty of animals and other hikers. We reached the far side and climbed up the narrow ridge until we reached the top where we could see the spire of rock called Shira Cathedral. Facing away from the plateau you could see the ridges and peaks of the mountain's roots spread down to the plains. Clouds floated between us and ground - a view that would become familiar the higher we climbed.

We arrived at our camp in time for a late lunch and an acclimatization hike up to 4100m. The next morning, we retraced our footsteps up and beyond. All the vegetation vanished as we walked "pole pole" (slowly slowly) up to Lava Tower through the boulder fields. Clouds engulfed our camp where we had spent the night, moving at a pace much quicker than ours. Soon it began to drizzle, and then to sleet. We arrived at our lunch stop at Lava Tower at 4600m frozen and hungry. After thawing out with soup, grilled cheese and fried bread (healthy, I know) we headed back into the icy weather on our way down to Barranco Camp. The sleet changed to rain. The Barranco valley was beautiful although unphotographable in the rain. Wisps of cloud floated in and around the groves of tree groundsel, a bizarrely shaped plant which keeps all its dead leaves in order to stay warm - smart plant! A stream cascaded down the center and to complete the picture, a rainbow appeared. We went to sleep with the rain sounding on our tents.