Day 3 is the hike to Lava Tower. Today we climbed high and slept low to better acclimate ourselves. The lava tower is at 15,190 ft and Barranco Camp is at 13,044 ft. The information tells us to watch out for signs of altitude sickness today (we found them). The hike was fairly easy and the climate changed from moorland to desert. We were also hiking toward the mountain today. At about 14,000 ft Andy noticed that I was a little clumsier than normal. We see the lava tower, which is a tower of volcanic rock, and is where we stopped long enough to eat lunch. We could also see Arrow glacier, one of the glaciers on the mountain. The few steps before stopping were very difficult. We had to take frequent breaks and go slower. We got there, sat down and I felt fine. Andy then started to feel sick. We didn’t stay there very long and Omari (our guide) tells us we are climbing down to camp. It’s a short hike, but it’s down. When they say down and up they pretty much mean vertical. We get to Barranco camp and we can see Mt. Meru in the background. We also have a view of Barranco wall. What I thought from the description was a small rocky wall was actually a large ridge that we had to climb up (vertical). It was getting colder at camp, so we spent most of our time in the tent playing cards or trying to take naps. Keeping in mind what the South Africans told us, Andy tried to eat some dinner but didn’t get further than the soup. We enjoyed the beautiful landscape surrounding Barranco Camp, including the steep ridges around us and the desert base of the mountain.