Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Horombo Hut – 12,204 feet above sea level


The second day was about a 5 hour hike to Horombo Hut, the second base camp on the way to Kilimanjaro. Essentially, I entered Kilimanjaro National Park below Mandara Hut and started walking uphill. It would be 4 days of walking up hill before getting to the top.

The trek to Horombo was interesting for a while, the landscape slowly changed as I gained altitude. Gone were the lush trees, they were replaced by scrub brush and low grasses. I could feel a change in the weather too, although the sun was out I could feel the beginning of a cool breeze coming from the north. It was coming from the direction of the mountain.

About an hour from Horombo the brush was replaced with something that reminded me of a large cactus and the grasses were gone. I could feel the wind picking up.

I had yet to see the mountain because it was obscured by some cloud cover.

I had a lot of time to think. At Ernest’s request I was going very slow so it felt like I was sneaking up on the mountain. Everything was happening as planned. I actually thought I may be able to sneak up the mountain before it noticed me.

At least that’s what I hoped.

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