The Ups and Downs of Kilimanjaro

My awesome climbing companion Eivind (a retired teacher from Denmark) and I at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro was by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  But it was also one of the most amazing.  I would say it was about 50% amazing and 50% completely miserable (maybe even 60/40 leaning towards miserable).  Now that I am finished and back in my comfortable apartment, I mostly remember it being amazing, but fortunately, I did write a few notes in a journal every night throughout the week.  Reading through that reminds me of how I really felt at the time!  I’ll share my daily schedule which I received from the company when I signed up, along with a few of my notes.  But first let me say that unfortunately, the pictures do not do the amazing scenery justice at all.

Day 1:  Arusha – Machame Gate – Machame Camp

After breakfast, leave the lodge/hotel drive for 1 hour to Machame gate.  Finish the formalities and start the hiking through the rain forest to Machame Camp (3000m) in about 6 hours.  All meals and overnight, Machame Camp.

It was raining the WHOLE time we were hiking (over 6 hours)!!  My legs are tired, but I feel okay.  The rainforest was beautiful and our meals were delicious.

A picnic in the rainforest

Day 2:  Machame Camp – Shira Camp

Breakfast,  the hike begins through the forest, cross the valley along the steep bridge going into rock ridges and through heather.  The route turns west into a river gorge, reaching Shira camp (3800m) in about 6 hours.  All meals and overnight Shira.

Today was a VERY steep and rocky climb!  We saw a bit of sun in the morning, but it started raining in the afternoon for most of our hike.   I had a stomach ache for most of the hike which caused me a lot of anxiety since stomach problems are not something that I wanted to deal with on Kilimanjaro, but fortunately it turned out to be just a stomach ache.  It was quite cold at the end of our hike, and I was very happy to finally get to camp.

A very rocky climb

Day 3:  Shira Camp – Baranco Camp

Breakfast, continue with hiking east towards Kibo, passing the junction, then east towards the Lave Tower.  Shortly after this, climb down to Baranco camp (3940m) in 3-4 hours.   All meals and overnight Baranco.

The weather started out beautiful this morning.  We had an awesome view of Kili from our campsite, and it was actually sunny!  Unfortunately it started raining after only a couple of hours of hiking.  It was miserable and freezing!!  We reached 4600 meters above sea level (approx 13,800 feet), and stayed for about an hour before hiking back down.  I didn’t feel sick, just tired and a small headache.  It did warm up after lunch and we saw a bit of sun, but it pretty much kept raining the whole afternoon.  We hiked down into a beautiful valley for camping.  At this altitude, you cannot go anywhere fast!  Even walking at a normal pace has me winded in about 30 seconds.  It is really weird.  Also, we’ve discovered that you cannot listen to any time estimations from the guides.  It’s always AT LEAST an hour longer than they say it will be!  And don’t even bother asking if we are almost there because they will always answer “YES” regardless of if we have 20 minutes or 3 hours left!  It’s become a bit of a joke, actually.

Our campsite in the clouds :)

Day 4:  Baranco Camp – Karanga Valley Camp

This is another day for acclimatization, breakfast, continue with the hiking through a steep rocky Baranco walls then up and down until you come to Karanga Valley in about 3 hours.  All meals and overnight Karanga Valley.

I am so tired!  I’m so glad that I decided to do 7 days instead of 6.  I never would have made it.  I actually have cell phone service today, and I got a few much needed motivating text messages from my parents and Louie.  We did some very scary rock climbing today.  I was not prepared for this kind of hiking!  Again, it was sunny in the morning, but raining all afternoon.  Both yesterday and today, we have spent many hours climbing up to a high elevation for acclimatization and then coming back down.  I know this is a good idea, but it is so frustrating to spend hours and hours climbing uphill, only to climb back down knowing that you have to climb right back up the next day!!  At least it is not nearly as cold as yesterday.  I am getting so tired of the rain, but at least it is sunny now which means dry clothes for tomorrow, yay!!  And we are over halfway done!

Very scary rock climbing!

Day 5:  Karanga Valley – Barafu Camp

Breakfast then continue with the hiking up and down along the stone and sand until you reach Barafu camp in about 3 hours.  As soon as you arrive at the campsite make sure you try to rest a lot and prepare all the stuff you brought for the mountain because you will start the last point around 1:00am.  All meals and overnight Barafu.

I am getting quite tired of climbing and rain!  We had a pretty short and easy hike today, only steep at the beginning and the end.  We have a beautiful view of Kili.  We had nice weather in the morning, but cold, rainy, and super windy for the last hour of our hike.  I am happy to be in my tent now and up to the summit tonight.  I am so ready to get off this mountain!!

**That is the last thing that I wrote in my journal, so I am going from memory from here.

Barafu Camp is at quite a high elevation, and after about two hours at camp, I started feeling really sick.  I was completely panicking that I wouldn’t be able to go to the summit because I was feeling so weak and nauseous.  I wanted to take the altitude sickness medicine, but my guides told me it was better to just drink a lot of water and sleep to let my body adjust to the altitude.  That turned out to be good advice, because by the time they woke us up at 11pm to begin hiking to the summit, I was feeling well enough to at least try.  But it was a VERY stressful afternoon!

A typical campsite toilet.....gross.

 

Day 6:  Very early breakfast, then start for the summit at 1:00am, first to Stella Point and then to Uhuru peak (5895m).  It is recommended to take a few minutes for photos and then descend to Mweka camp for dinner and overnight.

We actually started climbing to the summit at midnight.  I was still feeling a little weak, but I was definitely going to try!!  The first two or three hours were kind of fun with everyone hiking in the dark with their headlamps on.  But after that, the only thing I could think of was that this was by far the worst day of my life!  I didn’t think that we were ever going to make it to the top.  And towards the end, the path was so steep, it seemed like it had to be a joke!  Finally, after a miserable nine and a half hours of climbing, we made it to the summit!!  It was an exciting 10 minutes taking pictures and enjoying the view, but then the realization set in that we still had to hike all the way back down!!  It took about 3 ½ hours to get back down to Barafu camp, the whole time feeling terrible from the altitude.  Fortunately, I was able to take two Tylenol and a two hour nap before we packed up and headed to our next and final campsite.  And when we finally reached our campsite and concluded our 15 hours of hiking, we realized that this was the first day that we didn’t have to hike in the rain!!

Day 7:  Mweka Camp – Mweka Gate – Moshi/Arusha

Breakfast, the descent downwards to Mweka gate for 3-4 hours.  Collect your diploma if you make it to the summit.  Transfer back to Arusha in 2 hours.

Last day, finally!!  Don’t ever let anyone tell you that hiking downhill is easier than uphill because it is simply not true!  My legs and knees are still killing me!  But we finally finished….hooray!!!!

Finally finished!!!