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John Mascavage, David Pumpelly, John
Brislin's:
Visit to East Africa
- Hike to Shira Plateau -
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| I hung my bivvy and
sleeping bag to dry for a while before packing them up for the hike. |
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Journal:
"September 8, 1998 - Trek to Shira -
Breakfast is at 7am an includes bread with honey, warm cream of wheat, a slice
of (extremely soft) cantaloupe, and scrambled eggs - I can't believe I am on a
mountain. After breakfast we begin to pack our tents and a porter brings a
warm pan of water so that we can clean ourselves - not easy for three people to
share one small tub of water, but we never expected to be clean after day
1. The terrain around the camp is very different from that of the trek
yesterday. The jungle has been replaced with a sparse forest of brown
trees and shrubs - we are in an alpine forest without evergreens. The trek
starts at 2900 m. (~9000 feet) and immediately takes a path of steep
ascent. We hike for 2 hours and stop for lunch - thank goodness, lugging a
heavy bag has taken a lot out of me. The lunch is similar to yesterday's -
sandwiches, a banana, an orange, and tea this time. Apparently it will be
a short day based upon how early we stopped. We begin our ascent again and
after an hour we reach Shira Plateau - we will go no higher today. We look
down and can see the ridge we had been ascending and a sea of clouds
below. We have reached 3750m. (~11,000 feet) and are well above the cloud
level of Tanzania's African plain. After another mile of walking along the
plateau, we reach the Shira Huts where we will stay the night."
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| A view from the trail
back down onto the camp. |
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The porters and cooks clean and gather their things to
hike to the next camp. Many porters return to the base to do another day's
work to this same camp - they go no higher.
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View as we ascend above the Machame Camp.
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We pass clusters of trees intermittently. They were
like evergreens but without the fullness or color.
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We start to break through the tree line and look down on
the hills in the distance, and at the fog rolling in.
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The trees have broken and the fog gets closer.
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Me with my "little" pack.
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Trees have turned to shrubs and the ground is much drier.
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Brislin and I rest a moment on a rock over looking the
valley.
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Pumps takes Brislin's place.
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A shot down on some interesting trees. These
apparently only grow around the Kilimanjaro area.
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We hit the final steep ascent, scrambling over rocks to
reach the plateau above.
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Brislin and Éle. Éle is typically more cheerful.
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The last mile to the camp.
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Me, Brislin, Chris, and Roger (Pumps takes the picture). You can see by the clothing that it is cold here, but I
have to take off my shoes and cool my feet. A 55-pound pack is not really
heavy, but when you try to keep pace with people less burdened you really feel
it.
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