Once again, the day started with the “tent tea” ritual, and the group slowly roused itself at about 7:00am, groggily packed up our gear and enjoyed another hearty breakfast while we got the rundown for our day. We would head up the Shira plateau to the camp at Barranco, ascending to about 14,700’ by a huge rock extrusion called the Lava Tower, and roll through a couple valleys before descending to our camp, back down at 12,700’.

By 8:30, we were once again rolling out of camp, pretty much along the same schedule as just about everyone else…the line of climbers and porters along the trail stretched off into the distance and over the hills in front of us. The morning’s trail was a smooth and steady climb, and we all assumed our slow, even pace. The clear brightness of the morning was replaced with low clouds and fog zooming in and out as the morning waned.

At about 11:00 the blocky Lava Tower came into view….a ~300’ block of volcanic rock jutting up from the plain in front of us. As we drew a little closer, a small blue dot on the landscape resolved itself into our dining tent. With the weather continuing to move in, it looked like lunch today would be an indoor affair. The tent was a welcome sight for all of us, now that we were trekking above 14,000’ and the altitude was definitely having an effect. Everyone was more than happy to drop packs and slump into our canvas chairs for a hot drink and a hearty meal.

After lunch our guides gave us a couple options. Those interested could make the short climb up the Lava Tower just for the heck of it (and also for acclimatization purposes). For those who were already feeling a little sapped by the altitude, they could continue the trek past the Lava Tower and head straight to camp. The group split about half and half, and I opted for the Lava Tower climb.

The climb up the Tower was mostly a Class II/Class III scramble on very solid volcanic rock, and I had a really good time with it, despite the fact we were encased in fog for most of the climb up and back down. On a clear day, the views from the top are supposed to be fantastic, but we couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of us, unfortunately. By the time we’d finished scrambling back down and continued down the trail, the fog had thickened and it began to rain lightly. We began the rest of the trek to camp, everyone spreading out at their own pace (pretty hard to get lost on the well-beaten trail).

The next hour or so was a soggy trek across a pair of shallow valleys. I had my rain jacket out, but foolishly forgot to put my shell pants on, and gradually I became aware that my trekking pants were slowly getting soaked. I decided to just keep moving and hope the rain cleared up by the time I got to camp so I could hang ‘em out to try. Luckily, the rains stopped well before camp, during the long and occasionally steep descent into the Barranco Valley. As the clouds broke and the sun shone for the first time in hours, I dried out pretty quickly and the valley around me was displayed, to my amazement.

We had descended back under 13,500’, and here the vegetation was coming back, and then some! Lush ferns and ground cover changed the landscape from grey to green, and giant groundsels stood everywhere. These huge trees looked to me like some prehistoric ferm/palm imaginings…like nothing I’ve ever seen before. A small waterfall rushed down the center of the valley, and looming above us was the bulk of the Barranco Wall and the south face of Kilimanjaro, covered in glaciers and a fresh dusting of snow. The scenery was absolutely eye-popping as I rolled into the camp, to be greeted by the folks who were already there and the porters who were bustling about getting water boiled for drinks and starting dinner.

While we had some sunlight, I McGyver-ed a clothesline between two tents to dry out my remaining gear. It felt great to change into some dry clothes, get a mug of hot tea and lounge around the campsite as the afternoon waned, and greeting my fellow climbers with words of encouragement as they trekked into camp. The skies opened up for about an hour around dinnertime, but the rest of the night was cool and clear.