Shira II Camp
Like an approaching thunderstorm, rumbling in the intestines generally means rough times are coming. Part way through the night, something I ate decided to fight back and, despite hitting the medicine bag, it made for an eventful morning. Sorry, Peter.
The porridge pot is full again but, wiser, I scoop only enough to hopefully not offend our cook while holding out for the second course. It’s early, but apparently not too early for to fly your drone around the camp, thoughtfully breaking the unbearable silence of being far out in nature. What an a-hole.
We spend the first few hours of our day walking leisurely across the floor of a caldera, the remnants, our guide tells us, of a volcano that was once taller than Kilimanjaro itself. Once the sun rises, the layers quickly come off until we are down to t-shirts.
Our pace is quite good (or so we’re told) and instead of arriving at camp early with very little to do, we take a detour to Shira Peak, the highest remnant of this former mountain at a little over 12,700 feet. Unfortunately, our timing matches that of the incoming clouds, spoiling the views of the caldera below.
From the peak, it is another fairly flat walk (downhill a bit, actually – woohoo!) to Shira II Camp. All in, we’ve covered a little over six miles and while the terrain has not been difficult, I am definitely starting to feel the change in altitude. Even resting in the tent my heart rate stays higher than normal and every once in a while I need to take a few deep breaths just to catch up.
The clouds have cleared away (above us anyway, below us there is a layer that is still quite thick) and we can see our goal getting closer. Off in the distance we can also see Mount Meru, the fifth highest peak in Africa.
After a quick health check – they monitor our vitals here everyday to make sure we aren’t getting altitude sickness – we settle in for a fancy dinner. There are no dehydrated meals here, everything has been hauled up fresh by porters. It isn’t always great (who makes pizza with green beans?) but I’m still amazed at what they manage to pull off this far away from town. Perhaps my crew back home in Redmond would have made the journey if they knew they wouldn’t have to eat Ichiban noodles and OvaEasy for eight days straight.
The sun is setting as we head back to our tent and the views are spectacular. Quite the ending to Day 3 on the mountain.
