The Climb - part 2

we had a good start on day 2. while the over hanging trees made for shadows and there were alot of roots, the trail was gradual and not too rocky. we were doing well and making descent time. about the time we broke out of the forest that all changed. the terrain got noticably steeper, the tall heather (that was everywhere) cast plenty of shadows, and the rocks seemed to grow from the trail. with this set-back, our pace slowed considerably but our spirits remained high. we were working our way up a ridge to the rim of the shira platue and as we gained elevation and could see over the trees, our view changed. we could now see were we came from, and where we were going. as the day progressed, the strain on brad's eyes increased as he intensely focused on the trail through the shadows that were starting to be more of a problem as the sun was sinking in the sky. this turned into a long day! to add to the discomfort, where there weren't rocks on the trail, the dirt was a fine powder that "puffed" up around you with every step. when we finally rolled into camp, we were all dirty and dusty and glad to have finally made it to camp. being only the second day on the mountain, we were still learning what was going to be easy for us, and what was going to be more difficult. the big picture wasn't showing us much of anything that was going to be easy!...but we had made it through the first couple days on the mountain and were resting, getting ready for day 3.

the camp was nice. it was fairly flat, not alot of rock, but dusty! i think it was brian that put his crocks on to walk the 20 yards to the dining tent and ended up with brown/gray feet and legs almost up to his knees! if we knew the volume of climbers we would be with from the next camp forward, we may not have thought the dust was too bad! this day also afforded us our first good look at the upper mountain. it was all we had hoped for, and just what we needed to keep us hungry to keep pushing up the mountain.

on the third day we were hiking across the shira platue. this was a shorter day, both in distance and in time. it was a good acclimatization day as we had gained quite a bit of elevation in the last couple days. this day we were only gaining a few hunderd feet, and the trail was the clearest we had seen so far (or would ever see again!). brad cruised today and finished the day in the "normal" time range. this got us to camp just after lunch and gave brad plenty of time to rest his eyes from the strain of the day before. though this camp would fill with people by night fall, it was a beautiful setting. a layer of clouds had formed below us on the mountain giving you a feeling of being higher than the 11,600 ft that we were. also, kibo was directly behind us to the northeast showing itself between the clouds that were rolling through with a big moon above it. it was a nice place to camp.

this was also the day we met up with the other 4 climbers on the "climb for sight". this was only their 2nd day on the trail as they had come up the machame route. they all seemed to be good guys and we were all excited to get further down the trail together. the sunset from shira 2 camp (day 3) was very nice, and brad, brian and i walked to a nice rock outcropping to watch it before dinner. had soup for dinner (but that's a different story), and got a good night's sleep for a big day 4.