Day 3 – 7km – The Temple and Lake Michelson…
Today was another early start, getting up
at 6am in order to leave by 7am. We had to leave this early in order to
complete the day’s hike before the weather turned ugly, and being the same
level as the clouds we were the first to know if the rain/hail fell!
So
as I put my coat and boots on my guide gave me a pair of gloves and told me to
wear my hat! Being in Africa I was slightly puzzled but once we were outside
and I saw that everything was covered in deep snow I understood. Our first task
was to climb almost as high as the summit in order to veer off for out detour,
but for someone like me at 7am and considering the weather I was less than
enthusiastic! However Nicholas ensured me that this was the best thing to see
in the vicinity of the mountain, and coming from someone who has climbed it for
the past 12 years I felt inclined to believe him. So we started to climb and
after about 1.5 hours we turned left and found somewhere to rest for a moment
and Nicholas pointed out a cliff in the distance past miles of vast, white,
rocky landscape. From where I was sat it looked cool so I couldn't wait to get
nearer, so with my rucksack back on we honed in on this awesome piece of
natural architecture. It took another hour
or so to reach the top of ‘the temple’ but I was enjoying the relatively flat
and downhill landscape considering my AM climb.
The view from the top of ‘the temple’ was
immense at every angle but especially when I looked over ‘Lake Michelson’,
which led onto the ‘Gorges Valley’ – talk about postcard material!
Nicholas
asked if I fancied climbing down the cliff to the lake, of course I wasn't going to say no but in the back of my mind I did wonder how we might get back
up! Heading down to the lake was the most fun I’d had so far as the descent was
a near vertical drop and the shortcuts Nicholas insisted on taking made me feel
like Indiana Jones. After 30 minutes of clinging on for dear life we reached
the lakeside…. WOW!!
If you could set up camp anywhere in the world this would
definitely have to be the location of choice. The water sparkled like diamonds
reflecting off of the blistering African sun, and was surrounded by American
canyon looking rocky peaks. The opposite side of the lake from where I was sitting
looked like the gateway to heaven as it was past a golden lake to the valley
that was covered with clouds for as far as the eye could see. On the rocks
behind me about 50 meters up I spotted a large eagle which Nicholas told me was
an ‘Argur Buzzard’. I must admit I did try and scare the bird in order to see
it fly but my screeching had nowhere near the desired affect!
The day’s euphoria was short lived as I
then realized we were about to embark on a 4km climb back to Camp Shipton and
to make matters worse I was dying for the loo!
The way back to camp seemed a completely
different world as by now all the snow had melted and all the rocks and
obstacles were now visible. The climb back wasn't all-bad as every time I
turned around I was blessed with fantastic views and lizards were constantly
shooting across my path which was pretty cool. After a couple more hours we
reached the point where I first saw ‘the temple’ and I knew I only had to
travel downhill from now on, which made my legs and my bottom very happy…
