Made it back home today! Good to be back- it feels like I have been gone for months. Though, I will miss packing up and heading to a new place every few days or so like we did for the past 2 1/2 weeks…
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Kilimanjaro Day 1 and 2
The flights from Denver to Tanzania were not as bad as I had
expected. We flew 3hrs from Denver, CO to Washington D.C., 13hrs to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and finally 2 ½ hrs
to Tanzania. We stayed at a hotel in Moshi the 21st, and were ready
to start hiking the next day.
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| Luckily I caught this picture before they shut it off! |
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| Part of the team headed through the airport |
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| Arriving in Tanzania |
We started Sunday June 22nd up the Machame route.
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| Starting point for Machame Route |
A 4hr. hike through the rainforest got us to Machame camp (9,780ft.), which was
our first camp destination . The jungle
was exactly what I have heard about- Lush, green, and rainy. There were low
clouds in the trees, which added to the landscape!
The weather was quite nasty- cold, rainy, and muggy. There
were clouds around Kili, so we could not see any further than the trail ahead
of us.
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| Camp Day 1 |
Day 2.
Woke up to it still cloudy and raining. Packed up my
sleeping bag and mat and put on my rain gear. It was coming down hard enough
that I pulled out my rain poncho to go over my rain coat!
The hike today was more uphill- more steps/rocks. I was
feeling great at this point, besides a few “I wish it would stop raining and
clear up” thoughts. Nothing too challenging
yet!
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| Shira Camp |
Once we reached camp 2, Shira Camp (12,600ft.), it was still
foggy and misting hard. I had this ‘soaked’ feeling, and my clothes were all
damp as I worked up a little sweat from hiking. Sweaty clothing and cold mist
is not a fun combination. And with the low clouds, we still hadn’t seen the
mountain.
I found it hard at this point, 2 days in, to keep a positive attitude
and thoughts as we were told by the porters we missed a lot of good views.
However, later that day, the clouds cleared a bit and we got our first glimpse
of the mountain! The view of my goal, Kili, definitely helped me out of my bad
‘rain mood’ – it assured me that yes, there was a mountain there in the
distance. No, you are not just walking up some random trail! That’s pretty much
what it felt like!
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| Clouds Clearing |
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| Kili finally showing off! |
I really enjoyed the down time we got each evening at our
camps. It gave me time to journal and reorganize my gear if needed. I had one
of the assistant guides point out and talk a little bit about all of the other
mountain peaks around. He had climbed pretty much everything in sight! Chatting
with the porters and guides really helped personalize the trip for me. I
learned a few Swahili words as well from them!
I was definitely looking forward to gaining elevation to get
into the drier climates. The jungle was neat, but I was ready for treeline!
Night 2 assured a good nights sleep as well. No problem
sleeping here!
Day 3 & 4 next post!
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