Hello Mountain Zone cybernauts, this is Vern Tejas with Alpine Ascents on Mount Kilimanjaro with Team Juris and Prudence.

Today we got up bright and early and were met by a moist mist coming down from the sky which kind of put a damper on what we thought we could today. However, we're up and out and back to Machame Gate by 10 o'clock, unloaded our 4WD vehicles and put the stuff on our backs and our porters put the rest of the stuff on their heads. Then we started up the trail, a trail that started off real nice and then got slimy with mud and roots and all sorts of good things.

But fortunately the sky never broke; we never ended up with a big rain downpour, just kind of moisture from the clouds blowing through the trees and dripping off the leaves onto the trail. But as we gained elevation it got drier. And finally we got to 9,500 feet, camping at Camp Machame and guess what? You know the moist, muddy stuff at the lower elevation zones and up into the middle elevations? Well it's very nice up here, it dried right out. And we just had a wonderful meal of pork chops and rice, green beans and just finished off a slice of watermelon.

Spirits are running high even though we gained 4,000 feet today we're looking forward to heading up tomorrow to our next camp so stay tuned and join us with Team Juris and Prudence on Kilimanjaro. Any P.S.'s?

Hi kids from George. And Alex. Hi Nicholas and Katherine from John, and Ann you get a big kiss.

Okay, well goodnight and we'll see you tomorrow. Pray for some sunshine; the boys have been working hard on a really moist day so we're looking forward to sunny weather. Keep your fingers crossed. Ciao for now.

— Vern Tejas, Alpine Ascents International Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent