January 4th: Mt. Meru, Day 3 & Summit Day!

Summit Day! Our alarm was supposed to go off at 4:00 a.m., but Dave was the first to wake at 4:20 a.m. That's OK, because we pretty much had everything ready to go, and I think I wore my hiking clothes to bed that night (it was cold!). Our breakfast of biscuits (a.k.a. cookies) was at 4:30 a.m. and we departed at 5:00 a.m. The start of our trek was relatively flat and since it was pitch black we used our flashlights. Dawn was appearing on the horizon, so shortly thereafter we turned off our flashlights and used the dawn light and moon to guide us up the switchbacks. Bernard, our ranger, set a slow pace, and Dave, Tyler, and Christopher quickly passed us. Once above treeline and about 30-40 minutes of switchbacks we came to Rhino Point. After that we followed the ridge all the way up. It wasn't too steep, and we hiked on different materials, from what seemed to be a fine volcanic sand to larger stone/rubble rocks to rock outcroppings.

The view was spectacular on both sides. I loved the ash cone and am fascinated by it as it was something new to learn. It's a small cone located in the crater that is built up with eruptions. While looking to the left we could see the valley where we started, Kilimanjaro in the distance, and the Socialist Peak, which we were to summit. To the right we saw the city of Arusha, the long and steep slop of the volcano and distant mountains and volcanoes, including Ngorogoro.

We reached the summit about 40 minutes after Dave and Tyler. Tom was a doll and hiked with me the whole time. We hung out at the summit for about 1/2 an hour and headed down. Tom, I think, could have stayed for another hour or so, but it was 9:30 and since breakfast I only had a power bar and a box of juice and we didn't have any more food with us. The hike down was relatively uneventful except that my knee started to ache and I started to feel a little bit of a headache. I'm not sure if it was the altitude or absence of food in my stomach! We didn't arrive back to camp until about 1:00 p.m. and I was hungry! 3,000 ft up and then down!

About an 1 1/2 hours later we had soup and french toast and then we continued another 3,000 ft down to the first hut. My knee really started hurting on the last leg of the hike. We played cards with the Germans when we arrived. After dinner I promptly went to bed. Very, very tired.