Day 2 – Anticipation
Distance hiked – 12 km (7.5 miles)
Starting altitude – 3,300 meters (10,830 feet)
Ending altitude – 4,200 meters (13,780 feet)
Distance ascended – 900 meters (2,950 feet)
We woke up early on Day 2 to a beautiful, sunny sky and started out on a very enjoyable hike. The scenery was beautiful as we hiked up Mackinders Valley towards Shiptons Camp. About halfway through the hike, we were finally able to see Point Lenana in the distance, and it was great to be able to see our ultimate goal. (That’s the first photo I posted of Mt. Kenya on the blog.)
After a few hours, fog and low clouds started to roll in, but luckily, it didn’t rain, so we stayed quite a bit drier than we did on Day 1. Except for me. I managed to find a patch of quicksand-like mud and fall into it. It looked like regular mud on the surface, but when I stepped on it, I sank knee-deep into really soft, squishy mud. I managed to pull myself out without losing either of my hiking shoes – they were getting sucked off as I tried to pull myself out – but my feet were pretty wet and muddy for the rest of the day.
As we climbed higher and higher, I definitely noticed that it was getting to harder to catch my breath as we hiked, which made me a little nervous about the next day. But we arrived at Shiptons Camp, again in one piece, dumped our stuff on our bunkbeds, and grabbed an early dinner so that we could go to bed very early – the plan was to wake up at around 3:00 the next morning so that we could reach the top of Point Lenana to see the sunrise.
I really didn’t sleep very much at all that night. I found that I was breathing very heavily just lying in my sleeping bag, and that the simple act of turning over onto my side would make me completely out of breath. This made me very anxious about the next day, when we’d be doing a very strenuous hike and gaining another 700 meters (about 2,280 feet) into thinner and thinner air. Luckily, I had my headphones with me, so I tried to drown out my anxieties about the next day with David Gray and U2.
Before I knew it, it was 2:30 and everyone who hadn’t gone up to the summit the day before was beginning to stir …
Starting altitude – 3,300 meters (10,830 feet)
Ending altitude – 4,200 meters (13,780 feet)
Distance ascended – 900 meters (2,950 feet)
We woke up early on Day 2 to a beautiful, sunny sky and started out on a very enjoyable hike. The scenery was beautiful as we hiked up Mackinders Valley towards Shiptons Camp. About halfway through the hike, we were finally able to see Point Lenana in the distance, and it was great to be able to see our ultimate goal. (That’s the first photo I posted of Mt. Kenya on the blog.)
After a few hours, fog and low clouds started to roll in, but luckily, it didn’t rain, so we stayed quite a bit drier than we did on Day 1. Except for me. I managed to find a patch of quicksand-like mud and fall into it. It looked like regular mud on the surface, but when I stepped on it, I sank knee-deep into really soft, squishy mud. I managed to pull myself out without losing either of my hiking shoes – they were getting sucked off as I tried to pull myself out – but my feet were pretty wet and muddy for the rest of the day.
As we climbed higher and higher, I definitely noticed that it was getting to harder to catch my breath as we hiked, which made me a little nervous about the next day. But we arrived at Shiptons Camp, again in one piece, dumped our stuff on our bunkbeds, and grabbed an early dinner so that we could go to bed very early – the plan was to wake up at around 3:00 the next morning so that we could reach the top of Point Lenana to see the sunrise.
I really didn’t sleep very much at all that night. I found that I was breathing very heavily just lying in my sleeping bag, and that the simple act of turning over onto my side would make me completely out of breath. This made me very anxious about the next day, when we’d be doing a very strenuous hike and gaining another 700 meters (about 2,280 feet) into thinner and thinner air. Luckily, I had my headphones with me, so I tried to drown out my anxieties about the next day with David Gray and U2.
Before I knew it, it was 2:30 and everyone who hadn’t gone up to the summit the day before was beginning to stir …
Hiking along Mackinders Valley.
Rock hyrax. Odd fact for the day – the closest living relative of the hyrax is not the marmot, possum, or rat, but the elephant!
Shipton’s Camp. (You can't really tell from this photo, but people's clothes are laid out on all the rocks to dry in the sun.)
The view of Point Lenana from Shipton’s Camp. (It’s the one in the middle with the two little jagged points on either side of it.)
posted by Erica at
5:37 PM
3 Comments:
You're making that up about that the rock hyrax. Elephants don't like climbing on rocks. Below from the African Wildlife Foundation, to set the record straight:
The hyrax is so unlike other animals that it is placed in a separate order (Hyracoidea) by itself. It is said to be the elephant's nearest living relative. This is true to a certain extent, but misleading since the relationship stems from a remote ancestor common to hyraxes, sea cows (dugongs and manatees) and elephants. These three are unlike other mammals, but they share various if disproportionate physiological similarities in teeth, leg and foot bones, testes (that do not descend into a scrotum) and other more obscure details.
But maybe you should bring one home, if you can.
By
Daniel, at 6:07 PM
Dude, I’ll be lucky if they let me take a purse on the plane, instead of making me carry my wallet and passport in a plastic baggie -- something tells me they’re not going to let me on the plane with a hyrax on my lap!
Besides, it wouldn’t be very environmentally responsible of me to introduce a non-native species to the Washington, DC area, now would it?
:)
By
Erica, at 5:53 PM
They allowed GW Bush into Washington, didn't they? ;)
By
Pritilata, at 11:46 PM
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