Day 6: Moir Hut to Baranco Camp

After our third night tenting under the stars on Kilimanjaro, we are doing great. The temperatures dropped below freezing again, but we are well-prepared with plenty of layers and our rental Mountain Hardwear Lamina -30F sleeping bags are getting the job done. Because Moir Hut is in the alpine desert zone, we did not have any animal antagonists for the first time last night. The monkeys and jackals don’t like it much at 13,600 ft.

The only hiccup so far, is we confirmed one of our air mattresses is faulty. At Shira 1 camp, there was a debate if the problem involved the valve (August’s vote) or the seam (Cordwood’s vote). Assuming valve, we jerry-rigged a solution with tenacious tape and a plastic bag, but no dice (Cordwood wins, probably). Silver lining is that whatever is leaking, it is a very slow — maybe 60-90 minutes before you are on the ground. Matt determined he can fall asleep on the mattress before that happens. When awoken later, he can restore some cushion with a few deep breaths of air into the valve — rinse and repeat! Not perfect, but it worked last night.

After emerging from our tents to another bright sunny morning, we passed our health checks and enjoyed a breakfast of peanut butter & banana sandwiches, porridge (of course), eggs (surprisingly salty!), and sausages (going full sausage-fest with Ari & Aaron to finish the entire plate). Making final preparations by the tarp, it was cold and windy enough to warrant an extra layer or two to start the hike. Even Lily put on a jacket.

Warming up and heading out

Today’s hike departs from Moir Hut at 13,600 ft, rises to 15,200 ft at Lava Tower — where we will eat lunch — and then drops back down to 13,000 ft at Baranco Camp, which is back on the border of the moorland and the alpine desert zones. You could say, “today will certainly have it’s ups and downs.” And then Adam will probably say it again as one of the terrible dad jokes he’s been dispensing along the trail for our amusement/horror.

Day 4 hike map

Day 4 hike (detail)

The very first section was about a 500 ft incline, almost exactly like our acclimatization hike yesterday. If practice makes perfect, that explains why we crushed it. Plus, we warmed up very quickly.

The Fellowship of the Temu Rings

After the steep section, we continued to climb gradually through the Alpine zone for the next three miles. The terrain was rocky and mostly barren except for the “everlasting flower” which looks like a bush of daisies with spikes.

Hiking through the alpine zone

While our path yesterday took us to a less-travelled section near Moir Hut, today’s route merged back with the main thoroughfare that takes all travelers from the Shira Plateau to the Lava Tower. There were plenty of other hikers — and porters by the hundreds — sharing the trail with us heading east. Some appeared less beholden to the “Pole, Pole” concept than others. Florence and the Machine was the musical motivation in the earbuds today.

Bridge to the Lava Tower

We arrived at Lava Tower around lunch time and observed the controlled chaos of porters erecting and dismantling dining, kitchen, and WiFi tents all over the place. Technically, it’s a camp, but it seems most tour operators just plan a lunchtime/acclimatization visit for their clients (like us). With flat real estate at a premium, tent stakes are fair game to be placed nearly anywhere. It was like Ravinia — find a spot and claim it, even if it’s right next to somebody else’s tent. Ninja skills are required to avoid tripping over the maze of guy lines!

Welcome new members to the 15,000 ft club!

Lava Tower tent city changes fast… Yellow tent already gone!

Stopping for lunch at Lava Tower helps with acclimatization since we spend an hour or two at 15,000 ft before hiking down to Baranco camp. The primary concern is making sure your body is cool with the lower amount of oxygen in the air at this elevation. Our guides said we were all doing fine — despite some minor headaches. Another rapidly-changing environmental aspect of Lava Tower camp was the temperature, depending on if the sun was shining, or if cloud cover rolled in. Both dining tent flaps were put to good use — opened and closed.

Team Cordina ready for lunch (mostly)

Lunch started with a round of tomato soup — a popular selection that didn’t require any assistance from the Soup Bros to finish the pot (featuring founding members Ari & Matt, with honorary members Mel & Aaron pending the soup). Having observed the patterns of the Ultimate Kilimanjaro kitchen over the past few days, we thought we could start predicting the courses at meals. For example, a rice dish preceded a curry dish, and a noodle dish preceded a meat sauce/pasta option. Plus, Adam straight-up manifested pizza for dinner last night.

So we all determined the next course following tomato soup was going to be grilled cheese (right?). For a few minutes, we prepared ourselves to devour the most glorious grilled cheese sandwiches we’d ever seen, having worked up amazing appetites climbing 1,600 ft in the last four hours. And then… we were served a delicious lunch of grilled chicken, potato fries, and a garden pepper salad. Let this be a warning! The UK kitchen is NOT an imaginarium! 🙂

Two more random dining tent observations… First, the green thermos bottles filled with hot water for the table have handles that fold to the left or right thanks to hinges on the top and bottom of the handle. I suppose the idea is to save space when you pack the thermos, but it made grabbing, passing, or pouring the thermos an adventure every time. Lily simply “could not” with this design. Others agreed. Second, the plates used to serve meals in the UK dining tent are the heaviest metal plates I’ve ever seen — presumably to avoid losing your meal in a Category 5 hurricane. OR… perhaps to defend yourself in mortal combat. Because those plates, used in an aggressive manner, could kill a man.

After lunch, we grabbed our packs and started to hike down to Baranco Camp (both in altitude and cardinal direction). During lunch, clouds rolled in over Lava tower and remained present as we embarked on the trail down the mountain. Fog on this portion of the mountain is not uncommon, and while the temperatures were a bit cooler, it was nothing a extra layer or jacket couldn’t handle.

Strong Emyn Muil vibes

Everlasting flowers – life finds a way

Every now and then on the descent thru the alpine desert of black and brown volcanic rocks, if you turned around, you’d catch a glimpse of Kilimanjaro between the clouds, putting on a dramatic show.

Still on target

Dropping nearly 2,000 ft in elevation, we returned to areas where vegetation grows. In particular, this was our first glimpse at the iconic-looking Giant Groudsel. Per the UK website, the Giant Groundsel (Dendrosenecio kilimanjari) is a species of the Senecio genus, found predominantly in the alpine zones of Mount Kilimanjaro. This prehistoric plant is unique for its otherworldly appearance and impressive adaptability. Some of the larger “trees” are over 100 years old. When the leaves die, new ones grow on top of them, leaving the dead leaves intact to protect the trunk. This adaptation gives the Groundsels the tools they need to survive at roughly 14,000 ft on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.

Giant groundsels are beautiful and strange

New album cover for the band “They Might Be Giant Grounsels”

Is James… a Giant?

The trail was rocky because it used to be a river bed. We were able to walk a little faster on the downhill, but we still took it “Pole, Pole” to make sure we got down safely. The last section was full of groundsels which made for a great view.

Back on the trail to camp

Baranco Camp appearing in the distance thru the fog/cloud

We arrived at Baranco Camp by mid-afternoon and checked in with the ranger station. Adam and James arrived a few minutes later, having been delayed by knees and hiking pole conditions, respectively. Fortunately for Adam, the next couple days will be primarily uphill. And as for James, the hiking pole repair efforts may or may not prove to be successful, but the hiking pole repair discussion was classic.

Made it to Baranco Camp

Spotting our tents at Baranco Camp

After locating our tents and settling in, we had time to relax and enjoy happy hour. We learned that the larger camps on Kilimanjaro actually offer WiFi. You get 30 minutes for free (and if you have an iPhone, Ari can get you an additional 30 by virtue of his technological wizardry and Apple’s IP privacy feature). This prompted all of us to consider our most pressing queries for the outside world and what to do with our 30 precious minutes of internet. For example… How many tik toks can you watch in 30 minutes? How many podcasts can you download in 30 minutes? How long will it take to upload a couple photos to the “left behind” Google chat group so they know we are still alive? Who is winning the early stages of the Tour de France?

Moment of zen at happy hour

Amid these pressing questions and strategically-timed WiFi activations, we passed our health checks and prepared for dinner. Tonight the menu featured zucchini soup (Mel approved), noodles, mashed potatoes, pepper steak, and a pineapple/papaya fruit combo. The giant mound of mashed potatoes was very useful to create a 3D map to illustrate our hiking route up Kilimanjaro. (Note to self: should get a Kilimanjaro mashed potato or jello mold, lol)

After dinner, August presented us our usual briefing on tomorrow’s hike, telling us what to expect and what we should wear (or “how to wear” as August phrases it). In particular, tomorrow’s hike includes the infamous Barranco Wall that we climb almost immediately after we depart in the morning. The name “Baranco Wall” sounds imposing, but according to August and most of the internet, it’ll be fine. Nevertheless, anything involving scaling a wall does not enthuse James, especially the part called the “kissing stone”, named as such because hikers need to pass by a very narrow path close to a sheer face of rock. Ari re-dubbed it the “African Blarney Stone” to help make it sound less scary, but I’m not sure that helped. Tomorrow we shall see!