Day 5: Down, Down, Down

On our fifth and final day of our journey, we descended from Horombo to the entrance of the national park, some 12,775 feet down, down, down.

It was cold and rainy; therefore, I put my parka underneath my raincoat and resembled the 'State Puff Marshmallow Man.' I didn't care, though, as long as I was WARM. There comes a point where 'cold and wet' works its way into your bones and the opportunity to be warm cancels out everything else!

It was particularly hard on the joints on the way down; I honestly felt exactly like I do the day after a marathon, in terms of soreness, stiffness, and muscle aches. So, while it seems like the up, up, up part would be the most difficult, the fifth day was no walk in the park! Of course, we were motivated by a shower and an alcoholic beverage so our spirits were still high despite our awkward gaits.

Keri actually made up a song and it went like this: 'Shower and wine, shower and wine, it's almost time for shower and wine!'

We set off from Horombo just after 8:30am. While we took the 'lower' road to Mandara, we could still catch a glimpse of Mawenzi Peak and Kibo was not the only mountain to get dumped on the previous night!

As we were hiking down, it was our turn to see other groups on their way up and to be the 'wise and experienced' hikers. Many had thought ahead of the smart remarks that they would make if someone asked 'how it went' or 'if we made it.' My favorite was, 'in one word, it was good.' And in 'in two words, it was not good.' Awesome.

Crew members hauling up gear for another group

After a couple of hours we were out of the moorlands and back into the rain forest. Here's a shot of Keri cruising on down; just imagine her singing her song...

We made it to Mandara Camp (where we stayed our first night on the mountain) and had a hot lunch. Here we are posing on the steps of the dining hut

Another two hours or so and we were back to the entrance to the park!

Doug and Paisley about to cross over the threshold and successfully fulfill one of Paisley's dreams! Woo hoo!

We took a couple of shots with our favorite guide, Simon, as well as with Chief Kamili

And of course with our good friends Risa and Dave who traveled around the world to join us in this adventure

As we waited for other members of our group to finish hiking, I took the opportunity to take a couple of pictures of the 'Points to Remember' signs at the start of the trail. Let me just say, if you are just learning of these points for the first time at the entrance to the trail, you are screwed and should promptly turn around.

After receiving our certificates from the National Park Service all of the 'Swazi' members of our group took a shot with the King in an effort to get into the local newspaper, The Swazi Times

Then, it was back in the pick-ups and back to The Marangu Hotel for a hot shower and a celebratory drink with our crew. All 28 of 'em.

Before our showers, the girls in our group took a shot of our luscious locks after 5 days without showering...

All of our guides in prominent seats of importance and ready for the celebration to begin

Doug receiving his certificate from Chief Kamili

Keri, realizing her dream of a shower and wine

Alison and Laura, all suited up for their beach vacation in Zanzibar

Singing and dancing!

And a beautiful sunset to cap off our journey and the day's celebrations

Goodbye, Kilimanjaro. Farewell, my friend.

Day 3 and Day 4: Horombo to Kibo Hut

Our third day was our longest and hardest day, by far. We gave all of our extra gear to our porters and after breakfast we departed from Horombo Huts just before 9:00am.

The weather was not cooperating. It was cold and raining.

Fortunately, there were a couple of signs along the way that boosted our spirits because it felt like we were making progress towards are final destination

Here we are along the trail

There was a rock outcropping that was black and white striped and named, Zebra Rocks. So, we took a pee break and snapped a couple of photos, as well.

Risa and me

Girls

Boys

Like I said, we liked the signs that pointed the way!

As we gained elevation, the clouds settled and we hiked the remainder of the day in intense fog. It was so cold that Alison donned her ‘serial killer’ hat.

Here’s Doug hiking in the fog. If you turned left or right you’d have been lost forever!

Just before 3:00pm the clouds lifted a bit and we could see the base of the final peak of Kibo (they don’t call the mountain ‘Kilimanjaro,’ rather the peak is Uhuru Peak on Kibo Mountain).

There is only one hut at Kibo and this was our first glimpse of where we’d be napping prior to our final ascent.

And of course, with every hut picture, here’s the toilet. Special.

We had a late afternoon snack and then got all of our gear ready for our attempt at the summit.

Since it had been cloudly all day, we didn’t have many vista shots; therefore, when the cloud lifted to reveal Mawenzi Peak, I ran out of the hut to get the shot.

After laying out our clothes and packing our day packs, etc. we had an early dinner and were all tucked in for a nap by 6:30pm. Our guides woke us up at 11:00pm and we layered up as the snow was already coming down. We began our climb at 11:45pm.

And so it begins

Because of the weather, we didn’t take many breaks on the 6 hour trek to the first peak, Gilman’s Point. Although, we did stop under this large boulder for a pee/snack break and since it was like 3:00am and dumping snow, I felt the need to try to capture our experience.

At 6:00am we reached Gilman’s Point at 5681m

Risa and Me. Who knew that in middle school when we were sharing headphones in the back of the bus and rocking out to Garth Brooks on the way to a basketball game that one day we'd be in Tanzania on a mountain in the middle of the night and in a blizzard? Not me.

Dave

Our Chief Guide congratulated us all and then said, ‘okay, let’s go down.’ At which point I was like, ‘ummmmmmmmm, Kamili? Can we at least try for Uhuru Peak and the true summit?’ At which point Kamili said, ‘no, the snow is too high.’ At which point I begged. And so, 4 members of our group were battling with altitude sickness and made the choice to descend while the remaining 10 of us made an agreement with Kamili that we would try for Uhuru and if he decided it wasn’t safe that we’d agree to turn around and descend.

Here’s what we were walking into; nothing but white, white, snow…

[N.B. Doug was not a fan of this whole exchange between me and Kamili. But, I’m just going to say that we had come SO FAR and the true summit was only 90 minutes away…and it just seemed like we should at least TRY before throwing in the towel. ]

Happy (or delirious) hikers

Our resident serial killer

Chief Kamili wondering why we were stopping to take pictures! Documentation, Chief. Proof. I wanted it.

Views along the way; here’s the glacier

And finally after climbing 4000 feet UP, Uhuru Peak! 19,298 feet. Giddy-up.

For the record, I know that had something gone wrong, it would have been on me for doing the begging, but fortunately, all 10 of us made it to Uhuru Peak just after 8:00am; snapped a couple of pictures and got the HECK outta there. Seriously. We didn’t even take a group shot. Sad.

And then it was nothing but DOWN. Slip sliding away.

Another peak at Mawenzi

We arrived back at Kibo Hut 12 hours later; just before noon. P.S. I didn’t turn into a vampire. That’s sunscreen all over my face.

Last members of our group to descend. Congratulations one and all!

This is the mean part. We didn’t even get to nap. Our guides made us pack our gear, eat lunch and then we were back on the trail by 1:30pm for another 10km back down to Horombo Huts. I’m not going to lie, I was hurting. At that point, I had been hiking for 18 out of the last 24 hours.

Girls

More Mawenzi

We arrived back at Horombo at 5:00pm and promptly ate dinner and went to bed. I was for sure sound asleep by 6:30pm and that 12 hours with my sleeping bag never felt so good!