Last weekend I climbed a volcano! (No, it wasn't active. But there's still an active one I would love to climb in Congo, if they ever drop their visa price down again.) I headed up to the Virunga Mountain Range, with Clay, Mark and Wes, and we woke up at 5am, in order to be at Volcanoes Park Headquarters at 7:00. Edward was our guide, and we drove to the base of Bisoke. Bisoke is one of many peaks in the Virungas, and it actually straddles Rwanda and the DRC border. But we get to climb it, because the summit is in Rwanda! Bisoke is 12,200 feet tall, and has the largest crater lake of all the volcanos. Sadly, we didn't get to see the crater lake, because it was shrouded in fog when we finally made it up. Dian Fossey's grave was a short distance away from where we began our hike; but the weather conditions and time weren't on our side, so we didn't venture off to see it. (Dian Fossey was the American zoologist who studied the mountain gorillas here for almost 20 years before she was murdered. The movie, Gorillas in the Mist, is about Fossey's work.)
Rwanda usually has pretty great weather, but we must have picked the absolute WORST outdoor activity day of the year! We ended up climbing in freezing cold rain, and a nasty wind chill that crept up on us. We sunk KNEE-DEEP in mud the whole way up and down. And Bisoke has NO switchbacks! They don't believe in them. So straight up we went! We looked like a complete disaster when we finally descended. Covered in mud from head to toe. I can honestly say I have never before been that muddy. The whole trek took us about 7 hours, and I think if we hadn't have been having so much fun, we would have been miserable! :) It was that kind of day! But once we realized there was no turning back, we just embraced the mud, and got going! I'm proud to say I left all those boys behind and made it up a half hour before the rest of them. :) Afterwards, we came back to the B2R house, made a big pot of cafeteria-style spaghetti, and slept like babies.
The sign at the summit. Seriously, who's gonna attempt to swim in a volcano lake??
A view of Bisoke from Musanze town
The crater lake we were supposed to see on the top; but the fog blocked our view.
Hikers in the Mist
Dan and Frances live in Musanze, and they joined us for the hike, along with two other Koreans from Kigali.
Our guard. His gun is just in case we spotted gorillas, buffalo, or Congolese rebels. That day, we only spotted buffalos. Dang it.
We love mud.
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