Climbing Mt Karisimbi, Day 2

An early start this morning - we started hiking just as the sun was coming up.

From camp up to the top is pretty steep the whole way.  Not many switchbacks to break up the slope,  so pretty much every step is a step up - with a lot of them shin-high step-ups.    For about an hour we had more of the Dr.  Suess-like senecios and lots of other thick green trees and plants.

Then we hit the "jungle gym":  the slope is steeper and maybe at some point a hundred years ago there was a bit of a landslide or something, because there are living trees at all kinds of angles .    It was fun and breathe-taking, literally!

As we climbed,  the trees start to get thinner,  and a nice thick mat of grass and othe groundcover takes over...

As we reach the cloudline,  the winds pick up a bit...

The last 200 ft are rocky, and soon we find ourselves at the top.     What a rewarding view!  Uh, well I'm sure there is a view back there somewhere.....

We did get a nice view of the cell-phone tower,  and what may have been an old fence separating the Democratic Republic of the Condo.    Here's Chris "in the Congo".... note our military escorts are now in top water buffalo spotting mode:   as long as the buffalo only come from the Congo side.  :-)

After a few minutes at the top,  then we start our descent.   We backtrack on the same route we came in on, going down to base camp to pick up gear and then the rest of the way out.   Camp is the bright green square that Jodi's pointing at.

What took approx 10 hours total (6 on day 1,  4 on day 2) of climbing up,  took around 6 hours of climbing down.  Chris turned his GoPro on and snapped photos every 5 seconds for most of it.....  here are a few pretty ones!



In the picture above -   the ground is super soft spongey soil.  Maybe watercress growing on top?   Since it hadn't rained for a week or so it was really nice to walk on,  but you can see all of the hoof prints in the ground....  maybe there are a few water buffalo around here after all....

As we got to an easier section, our porters went a bit ahead.   Soon we walked up on them standing in a field and pointing in the woods to the side....  a water buffalo!    It was laying down,  watching us.    Stood up, and walked into the woods.     Chris was expecting a flabby and non-athletic type of cow or something.   After seen the linebacker build and muscles on this,   he didn't want to see any more of them.

We kept walking,  and didn't see any more large animals.   Soon the farmers fields were in sight and we knew we were close to the end.  

What a great hike!