“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.”
(Andy Rooney)
July 12, 2017
On the morning of July 12, 2017, I woke up to a clear blue sky. I felt well rested and ready to conquer the day. Just like the first two mornings before this one, I woke up and immediately drank some water and started packing my gear. While packing my gear, I could hear a pleasant voice singing from a short distance away. The woman was singing a song that I had never heard before, but her voice was very soothing. After I packed my daypack, I finally exited my tent and realized the pleasant singing was coming from Sawsan. I complimented her on her wonderful singing skills. However, she must have gotten embarrassed because unfortunately, I never heard her sing again for the rest of the trip.
After finishing breakfast, we were on our way to Shira Camp 2 (approximately 12,795 feet). Just like the first two days, we started hiking at a slow pace. The scenery was amazing. A slight breeze kept me cool through the early morning hours. The first hour or so we had to hike through some rocky terrain. However, we did not have to hike up any major inclines like the first two days.
About once an hour or so during the hike, we would take a break to drink some water and use the bathroom. One of the silly things I found funny during our hike is that our guides would ask us if we needed to take a break to get a drink of water or to go look for monkeys. If someone said they needed to “look for monkeys” it meant that he or she had to use the bathroom. So almost every time I needed to use the bathroom while hiking, I just yelled up at one of our guides and told him I needed to go “look for monkeys.”
Shown from left to right: Laura, Jim, Eric, Mark, Sawsan, Evans Eric (Guide)
For the most part, our hike on day three was more relaxed than the first two days. Mount Kilimanjaro was visible in the far distance during most of the day. However, that does not mean that day three was any easier. The accumulation of the hours of hiking for the first two days wore me down a little. As the day went on, my legs grew restless and my back and shoulders grew sore as a result of wearing my daypack.
After a little less than five hours of hiking, I was finally relieved when I finally arrived at Shira Camp 2 in the late evening. After signing in at the Park Ranger station, I went and laid down in my tent. After a short rest and some quiet personal time, I was ready to wash up and have dinner.
However, before dinner, I decided to take a few photos of the beautiful sunset. I also asked my fellow group member, Laura, to explore the camp with me to take some photos.
After Laura and I explored camp and took pictures of the beautiful surroundings, it was time for dinner. And dinner was excellent as always. Soon thereafter, I said goodnight to everyone and went back to my tent to rest. It felt so amazing to finally lie down after the long day of hiking. However, before I fell asleep I decided to take a moment to write in my journal.
Journal Entry for Day 3:
Yesterday’s hike was a little less than 5 hours, but it wasn’t easy. Although it was mostly flat it was very rocky, and I was very tired from the previous days before. We took a lot of pictures as usual, but the surroundings after a while did not change, so the second half of the hike was very boring. The food was good as always. We had a big lunch with cooked ham and for dinner we had lasagna. The lasagna was good, but I couldn’t eat it all because I was still full from lunch. Our group consists of 8 people. All of them are very smart and successful. They are kind hearted and care for others. I couldn’t ask for a better group to spend all these days on this wonderful journey with . . .
After a long night of tossing and turning throughout the cold, windy night, I finally woke up ready to start day four of the hike. Just like the first three mornings, I woke up and packed my daypack and dressed for the day. Like always, breakfast was fantastic. I ate crapes and fruit and drank hot tea. But right before we headed off on the trail towards Lava Tower, I was able to record the following short video to document my thoughts and feelings about the previous day.
The following video shows how our camp was set up at Shira Camp 2.
Right after I recorded the videos above, I strapped my daypack on and headed toward the trail, excited to see what adventure day four would bring.
Climbing To The Roof Of Africa 