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Well big surprise, today is like every other day we have had so far. Wake up, eat food, hike, eat more food, hike, eat yet again, and then sleep. One thing different about today though, is that we are another day closer to the summit! Since we added the extra day onto our hike, it made day 4 a shorter hike which turned out to be very beneficial. This helped us for when we were to begin our hike to the summit the following night. Waking up around 6:30 in the morning it was quite chilly and took a little longer to get going. Luckily for us we weren’t in a rush and ended up being one of the last groups out of the camp this morning. There was one other camp behind us and they were busy partying and singing and having a good ‘ol time before they left!
One of the tour groups having a little fun
9am rolled around and were finally ready for the hike to begin. Of all the days, this one is said to be one of the more ‘technical’ climbs. For example, we had to climb around ‘kissing rock’ which you pretty much have to kiss and hug to keep from falling down the cliff a little way. We also had to do some scrambling up the mountain, getting down and dirty on our hands climbing up some sections and squeezing through others. For these reasons, today was one of my favorite uphill hiking sections.
Looking down on what’s left of camp
Scaling Mount Kilimanjaro
Lasse squeezing through one of the many obstacles
Not tired at all from the hike up
Day 4 hike starts at 3970m (13,025ft) and lasted for 3 1/2 hours. We climbed up to 4200m (13,779ft) and then back down to Karanga Hut which sat at 3930m (12,893ft). Overall it was a good hike and we had a lot of fun. Once our group got to the peak of our hike at 4200m, we were given some awesome views!! So naturally we hung out in this elevation for quite awhile and took lots of pictures.
Having some fun hanging out
Cloud Cover Below
Lasse
Standing on the clouds….almost
Kilimanjaro Glacier from a Distance
Enough energy and lungs to whip out a backflip
After hanging out in the elevation and having some fun, it was time to hike back down to Karanga Camp. Climbing back down wasn’t as steep as going up but there were quite a few places where we were sliding down in some loose dirt. With the short day of hiking completed, we arrived at camp around 12:30.
Looking Out of the Tent
Arriving so early was super nice because we were able to enjoy a hot lunch today! Not only was it a hot lunch, it was also fresh chicken because a porter had just made the trek from town and brought in some more food. After lunch we had some down time to relax.
Acclimatizing Hike
Before dinner, since the weather stayed good, we went for a short acclimatizing walk up the hill to spend some time in elevation again. This hike lasted just over an hour and it was really nice walking without a pack on. Arriving back at camp, it was dinner time! Food was great yet again and we spent the rest of the night hanging out and talking until 8:30, when we decided it was bedtime.
Dukie Hut Close to Camp
Karanga Camp With Our Goal in the Background
Another Great Sunset
WorldKlunker 