Day two started off a little rough when I woke up in the middle of the night to my stomach turning and churning. Needless to say, something I ate hit my stomach and gave me the bug. It was freezing cold outside as I made my way to the the toilet. This was the start of some unfriendly trips to the dukie hut over the next few days. Luckily for me, both Lasse and I had decided to spend the extra $100 on the portable toilet because we had heard some horrid stories about the ones on the mountain. At 3am a five gallon bucket with a little toilet seat on it never felt so friendly.

Finally I was able to crawl back into my sleeping bag and get a little more sleep before our 6am wake up call. Morning came early and Lasse and I slowly woke up to the nice chilly morning air. Once our belongings were all packed up it was breakfast time. Food was surprisingly good and had some tea to help warm us up a little. Today was going to be a good hike with quite a bit of elevation gain. Total length of Day 2 hike was 5.5km (3.5mi). We started at 3000m (9842ft) and climbed to 3860m (12667ft). 8:30am came around and we were ready to start our 4 1/2 hour steep hike up the mountain to Shira Camp. The terrain would also change along our hike as we ascended out of the rain forest section and into the heath zone.

The pace was a little slower today because of the steepness as well as starting to gain some elevation. As we climbed up the mountain we passed through the clouds and before we knew it the cloud cover was below us. For the rest of the hike we would be looking down on the clouds that would hide the cities and land below.

We arrived at camp right around 1pm and got all settle in before a late lunch was served. Today we were fortunate to have a hot lunch instead of a packed lunch. Also it was Lasse’s Birthday! So much to our surprised our guide Salim had managed to to set up a little birthday celebration.

After eating food, we were given a few hours to rest before our second hike of the day. This second hike was an acclimatizing hike trying to get us into higher elevation for a short while. It was supposed to be about an hour and a half. Unfortunately, or fortunately for us it began raining so we spent the rest of the day relaxing, talking, and drinking tea.

The rain finally began to let up around the time the sun started going down. This made for a very beautiful sunset which we all enjoyed. It was so good in fact that when dinner was ready, no one went to get food and we just postponed eating.

 

Another great day of hiking even with the afternoon shower. Happy Birthday Lasse!