Kilimanjaro Day 3 and 4

Day 3

It was a chilly morning with frost covering the tent. Good thing I brought in my clothes from drying the night before! 

Breakfast was eggs, crepes, sausage and toast. The coffee was called Africafe, which was an actually pretty decent instant coffee. Though sure not as good as Peakview and Ice Ranch Coffee (coffee shops I work at)!

Started hiking about 9am at a brisk pace. I was still feeling fresh, so thought I'd try for a little faster pace today.

Looking back at camp after heading out on day 3

The landscape for day 3- a little different than the rain forest on day 1!

Today we reached 15,190ft, but only stayed for about half an hour at this elevation before dropping back down. This helped us acclimatize.

Reached Barranco Camp (13k ft) around 1pm. We had to sign in at each camp, and today I was the first to sign the book! The downhill from 15k to 13k was really scenic and enjoyable I didn't even notice I was ahead of everybody.

Barranco Camp- Evening of Day 3

Kili in the evening sunlight

Enjoyed a dinner of beef stew, green beans and rice, and then had time to relax, grab some pictures, and read. I read a few chapters from the book Born to Run. As I was reading, I looked up at Kili and thought how amazing it was to be reading about ultra running in Mexico, while sitting in Africa with a 19k ft mountain in front of you!

Day 4

Today was more of the same as the last few days- hiking to the next camp. Though today's end camp is at 15k ft, which we were all excited for and ready to get to.

Looking back at the descent (from day 3)

Started the day up Barranco Wall- It was fun to get to use your hands and actually climb for a little bit! 

Part of the team headed up the wall

Descent into the valley

Ascent out

Continuing onto high camp (circled)

Reached Barafu camp (High camp) at about 3:30pm. It was very windy and cold! I reorganized my pack and got everything out for the summit. We spent most of the evening inside our tents as it was a bit too windy to be out! 

Dinner was spaghetti with a veggie sauce and lentil soup. Didn't eat much for dinner so that I wouldn't still be digesting food the whole night and save energy. 

The next day (day 5) was summit day- so we all headed right to bed after dinner! With a planned start time of 2am, we needed to rest up as much as we could. 

I laid in my sleeping bag that evening and thought back on everything it took to get here. All of the 5am mornings in the coffee shop, all the weekends I had to work instead of climbing 14ers, the many miles of running and prepping, etc. I reflected on everybody who had helped me out financially and who supported me for this climb. It really made me grateful! I was a bundle of pure happiness in my sleeping bag there in my tent that night- the night before heading out for the summit. ..