Day 7: The Luxury of Dry Clothing

We did a long trek today, 8 miles.  It took about 8 hours.  Distance here in the Rwenzoi's s different from distance elsewhere. For reference here are the flavors of trail in these mountains: steep muddy uphill; steep muddy downhill, rocky scrambles either up or down; flat muddy bog.  It makes for slow hiking.  But this place is magically beautiful.

After leaving camp this morning we climbed a 4500m pass on a new trail.  It was new to us but also only recently built.  We had lunch at the highlands not long after cresting the pass.  It was stark but lovely.  White quartz everywhere, deep and lush yellow moss I lay down in after eating.  The moss was soft and warm.  We transited areas that look so different: rocky highlands, bogs, forested areas that had burned, a bit of everything.  At one point it began sprinkling.  I placed my camera bag into my day pack and donned my rain shell.  Our guide asked if we wanted to put on rain pants.  silly us, we declined thinking it would not last.  Plus it had turned to small hail.  The precipitation alternated between rain and hail for several hours as our pants got quite wet.  Luckily it was cool but much warmer than it has been.  So it was tolerable. 

Now we are at our last camp.  We've changed into dry clothes which seems such a luxury.  Tomorrow we hike out to the hostle.  I don't know how long we'll be hiking but I do know a warm shower and clean hair after 8 days will be most welcome!