Dave Ford Does Earth

Posted by Dave Ford

 Climbing Mt. Kilimanjar0- Day 3 on the Mountain

– I wrote this in my journal on the mountain.

I am sitting on the edge of camp watching the clouds draw nearer. Like clockwork, they are beginning their daily assault on us between 10:30 and 11:30 am. The sun vanishes and a cold breeze causes us to put on another layer. In an hour we will be taking the layer off. We play a game of take it off, put it on, put it on, take it off everyday. The weather is unpredictable and does whatever it wants. It does not seem to care that we are getting annoyed.

The landscape is littered with volcanic rocks. The brownish hue is not entirely from the dirt and dust, it is also due to the moss that grows everywhere on everything. Every few feet there are pretty yellow flowers emerging from the dreary surroundings. Scott the NASA guy from Houston picks the flowers and presses them in a book– a thoughtful present to take home to his girlfriend. Marvin and I instantly begin to make fun of him.

The guides continue to pace us well. A few of the people in our group get light headaches, including myself. We are camping at 4200 meters today. It is the same altitude of the highest point on the Inca trail in Peru–the Dead Women’s Pass. I remember how grueling that day was almost a year ago.

Our group dynamics are strong. Each day we get to know each other better and better. Link and I talk a lot about what it takes to get a book published. Marvin and David talk in the foreign language of computer programming.

This morning for breakfast everyone had a not very satisfying French toast of sorts to compliment our daily regiment of “PORRIDGE FROM HELL”. Everyone had to endure except “Isaac the terrible”, who mysteriously had eggs. There is widespread speculation that he is bribing the cook.

We have been walking and walking and walking and walking and walking. Kilimanjaro is getting closer. But, it seems we have such a long way to go. Following the rules of acclimatization, we hike high and sleep low.

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