Weekend Adventures Pt.3

"...on the top of a mountain"- Ron Burgundy?

Well it wasn't a mountain, it was actually a volcano, but from where we live it looks like one picturesque mountain. This last Saturday Jodi had Tracey(one of our roommates) and I getting up before the sun, at 530 in the morning, to set out for Mt. Longonot. This dormant volcano lies only 20km to the east of our house and stands alone in the Rift Valley beneath us at meager height of 2777m. We arrived at the trail head around 7, paid our lucrative fee of $20, and headed up. It was a relatively easy hike to the rim because the main approach is on the side on the mountain that a gradual incline. It took us about an hour to reach the rim and this included the several photo opportunities the girls took due to the "beautiful" sunrise (if you've seen one in the mountains you've seen them all). The point of the rim we reached first was almost the lowest and the highest was directly across from us. With a little rest it was onward again to reach the summit of the volcano rim. This part of the hike took a bit longer because it was steeper and we had scramble up few sections. But by 930 we were at the top and because the sun was not yet beating down on us we were able to sit up there and enjoy the view for a while. From up there we were able to see as far as the eye can see in every direction in the Rift Valley. There was only one lonely tree at the top which provided some shade and which we used to hang our camera in order to get a photo of the three of us at the top. We started to head down the other side as the sun began to shine harder on us and little dots of other hikers began to appear on the rim. By 12 we had arrived back at the trail head and were glad that we had started so soon as the sun was shinning and the temperature was in the 90s. The 9km hike made for a good morning adventure and my bed made for an even better afternoon nap.



Note to all readers (mainly Nick):
Pictures cannot be posted at this time due to extremely slow internet connectivity. But we have plenty of the whole trip that we will share when we arrive home. Also, everything here, as you all doubt know, is in kilometers and meters enjoy converting the numbers with us :)