1. Yes! Lunch is over and we are finally on our way! This is the hut at the end of the road. We ate lunch here and then shouldered our packs and headed out. The porters started out ahead of us, but they must have stopped and hid from us because we passed them without knowing it. In this picture we are still clean That didn’t last long however. We were soon sweating buckets as we hiked across the savannah. We only hiked 3 ½ hours on the first day, so we reached camp in time to have a swim in the nearby river. Our group of 4 were added on to another group because the guide who was supposed to take us had some family issues come up. There were 14 in the group to start with. Five Germans, two from the UK, one from Norway, two Venezuelans, and us 4 Americans.

2. Photo Album by Daniel Adams This is our first clear view of Mt. Roraima. If you look closely you will see a ledge going up just a little to the left of center. That is the route up. This picture was taken on the first day of hiking. It was interesting because throughout the entire hike the vegetarians in the group were quite a ways ahead of the rest of the group.

3. At the end of the first day of hiking we asked the guide (Riley) if he knew where Pastor Davis was buried. He was quite surprised that we knew about Pastor Davis. It turned out that he did know the general location of the grave. We did a little bit of hunting but then found it just as the sun was setting. It was really neat to be there and to remember the story of the Davis Indians. They had been taught by angels before Davis got there and had been told that a white man with a black book was going to come and teach them. So when Davis arrived he was surprised to find the Indians very receptive to the gospel. This grave marker was placed here by a group of pathfinders several years ago. It was hard to read the writing on it, but it said something about Pastor Davis being the first Adventist missionary in the area and that he is now waiting for the resurrection. The year of his death was 1911. Since it was quite dark by the time we found it on the first night, we went back the next morning and took more pictures, as you can see in the next picture.

5. This is a little Catholic church that we passed on the first day of hiking. It is a very pretty little church, though I wish it were Adventist instead of Catholic. At first we thought that the church may have been built right over Davis’s grave, but this was not the case. The grave was another 30 minute walk from the church.

6. This not-so-weary traveler managed to keep ahead of the rest of the group the entire way to the top of the mountain. Well, not quite the whole way but close enough. Mt. Roraima makes its own weather and here the clouds are covering more than half of the cliffs. When we reached base camp at 2:30 pm on the second day, Daniel and I left our packs at camp and hiked a little more than half way up the cliff. Unfortunately, it rained on us the whole way down.

7. This traveler is a little more weary than the one in the last picture even though this picture is only on the first day of the hike. The reason is that I was trying my best to keep up with Daniel, who was trying to catch up to the porters. On the second day, he and Buckley took off and I went a tad bit slower.

8. This is Michael Hoppe, the only official IRR student here in Venezuela this year. This was taken on the second day of hiking. Both he and I had given up on keeping up with Daniel and Buckley.

9. And this is Buckley, the other speedy hiker. He was also the faculty that was along to ‘supervise.’ In this picture he is hiking through one of the few patches of jungle that we went through. He made things fun, except that he liked to ruin video clips by making faces and doing funny things He was quite hilarious.

10. This is just one example of some of the scenery on top of Roraima. There were many shallow pools of water and swampy places where many different types of plants grow.

11. This is a picture of the group as we hiked along on top. The trails were well worn and could be seen quite well because the rocks had been turned a lighter color due to many feet walking on them.

12. This is a picture of one of the many beautiful flowers that we saw growing in the harsh conditions on top of the mountain.

13. There were many rock formations on top that were amazing. One that we saw (not the one below) looked like Fidel Castro sitting in an easy chair. Other formations had some rocks balancing in amazing ways. It was rugged and yet beautiful, though the rocks were all the same color. There weren’t any reds or other shades of brown that you see in other places.

14. Riley (our guide) told us that this is a type of orchid that is only found on the top of Mt. Roraima. There were many other plants that he also said were only found there.

15. On the one day that we spent on top, we hiked to the other side of Roraima so that we could look between Roraima and Kukenan as well as at the rainforest on the Guyana side. The view was incredible. The clouds were just starting to form so for a while we were able to have a fairly clear view. It was incredible!

16. And of course, we had to get as close to the edge as possible It was great fun to stick our heads over and see the waterfalls and trees way down below us. Our guide did not like us getting that close, but he didn’t tell us not to. It just made him a little nervous.

17. The edge is definitely the best spot to be, especially as the clouds begin to race up the sides of the cliff and surround you. Before we left this spot, the clouds had grown so much that they completely surrounded us. It was awesome!

18. This is Riley. He was both guide and cook. We discovered at the end of the first day of hiking that he is Adventist, which is really cool. This is our campsite on top of the mountain. The entire group was able to set up their tents under this rock overhang.

19. And here we are looking back on the steepest part of the climb. Usually there is a waterfall that flows over the edge here and showers climbers, but on the day we hiked out there wasn’t much water falling so we didn’t get wet.

20. Here is a good view of the route up the mountain. We are looking forward to climbing it again in the near future. Riley is interested in training Daniel and I in as guides so that we can guide the IRR groups that come instead of having to hire someone else. There is still a lot of exploring to do up top and Riley is really excited about exploring it with us. We want to take a film crew (Gerhard and Rene) with us so they can get film clips for Advenir. And that brings our adventure up Mt. Roraima to an end.