Mawenzi Tarn Hut
4330 m, 14,200 feet
It is cold here.
A little rougher start this morning; another cold night with restless sleep and everything starts to feel a little soggy. The novelty of packing and re-packing our stuff has worn off, and today we do not even get a sunny breakfast. Our appetite starts to diminish anyway, and eating our lovely meals begins to feel like duty rather than pleasure. We also discover that our cook, Frankie, has taken ill. We supply him with Tums, metaclopramide and Advil and hope for the best – this would not be a good man to lose. As we being our daily trek to the next campsite, we are not feeling our best. Our packs seem heavier, the ascent steeper…. As we continue through the foggy moorland, however, we settle into a slow but steady pace, our breathing evens out, and conversation resumes. Our spirits rise as the landscape changes to alpine desert and lava rock, and we catch a glimpse of Mawenzi peak in the distance (the secondary peak on Mt. Kilimanjaro). The remainder of our hike over rocks and stones is easy and we incessantly chatter the time away. We reach Mawenzi Tarn Hut once again in a great mood as we realize we are higher than we have ever been, and yet feel surprising good. It is, however, very cold. We settle into our tent that is waiting for us and bundle up in warm clothes, looking forward to a long nap to compensate for last night’s poor sleep.
Tags: Travel
jilljaimi
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