The Kili Blow-by-Blow

Despite the technology on Kili (people were using cells, iPhones, solar powered internet) I just kept a short, hand-written account of my trek. Here's what I wrote in chronological order. If you want the big finish....skip down to Day 6.

Day 1: The trek begins. And after a few hours I think "What the ...was I thinking?!" After another hour of mud and rain uphill I was simultaneously thinking "I'm going to die" and "I'll never make it." My guide Gerald says the first day si the hardest. Well, inshallah. Gerald took pity on me and carried 2 liters of my water the rest of the way up that day to lighten my pack. And meanwhile, porters are zooming by me with 20kg of gear plus their own stuff. I'm lame. I'm not sure triathlon season really prepared me for this (as I thought!). Of course, hiking in the rain for 3 1/2 of the 4 1/2 hours I climbed up today didn't help. I was wearing my rain coat to keep my bag dry ,so by the time we got to camp my bag was dry but my body was cold and semi-wet. My rain pants kept my lower half dry but I was sweating through everything so it doesn't really matter. Wet from rain or sweat is still wet. So I've changed my pants to have the thicker, more comfortable ones and hopefully that, plus less rain (fingers crossed) will make tomorrows 1,000meter climb better. The porters have set me up and I have a little table and chair for dinner/breakfast. They also brought me hot water right away with an assortment of drink options (tea, milo, coffee, cadbury drinking chocolate, nido, etc). So it's 5:35 pm but I'm ready for bed. It's still raining so I don't want to be outside. And I'm praying my soaking wet rain coat is dry tomorrow.

Day 2: Woe is me. I woke up at 7ish and got ready to go. The porter, Ben, borught me hot water by with no real place to wash I just washed my face and brushed my teeth. We started up, and I mean UP, at 8 am. We didn't stop going up until about 11:30. No joke. Pole pole yeah, but it's still hard. We got to camp around 12:45 so that last hour was some up and some flat but much easier. But what a view. The rain stopped about the same time we got to the top of the hilliest section...because we're mostly above the clouds now. Here at camp and at 2 spots along the way we could see Kili. It's gorgeous. And with the sun, everything is better. My clothes are dry! Yeah! I'm dry....double yeah!...for the first time in 18 hours. Once the last two porters got here (oh yeah, it's me, a guide, a cook and three porters), they set up my little table, heated some water for washing and gave me some hot toasted peanuts. So I'm sitting here in the sun and 2:45 with nothing else to do. I've met another American traveling sola....Stella...and also a German guy alone. But camp is huge today. Yesterday it was hidden by trees and rain but today our moving village is clear. I can also see Mt. Meru from camp, above the clouds anyway. There's not much snow left on Kili--I guess I thought there would still be more left. The next few days should be shorter and "more less steep" as Gerald says. So that will be good.

Day 3: "More less steep my ....." I was up and at um early. We had a long steady climb until basically lunch. We went up about 800m straight. That was actually ok--it was the 2 hours of steep downhill (and then a steep uphill) after lunch that did me in. Plus, the a.m. sun was gone so it was cold and cloudy. I waver between "I can do it" and "I can't". I think I'm two parts negative and one part poistive--not the best outlook really. During our long uphill to lunch I sang 99 bottles of beer on the wall to keep myself occupied. I spent all day trying to fight off dehydration (why didn't I bring electrolytes?!?!) and the pain of sunburn on my forehead and nose. Just a little sun will do it I guess. So the sky cleared up and I can see two things. 1) Moshi town below (and even twinkling lights at night) and 2) the insanely steep hill we climb tomorrow. Oye!!!

Day 4: BRRRRRR. Holy crap it's cold!!! If it gets much colder I'm in trouble! I haven't broken out my warmest clothes yet but I thought I wouldn't need them for another day or so. My forehead is so sunburn it hurts even when I sleep. I wish I could see it. I tried taking a picture of myself but that didn't work. Oh well. The other hikers don't see too repelled. Today's uphill was some hand holding/rock climbing. It was a rough but fun uphill for a while. Then down, then up, then flat, then down. then up again. Seriously, hasn't anyone thought about building a bridge? Jeez. One porter for another group fell right in front of me going downhill and sprained his ankle. I gave him some advil but in the middle of nowhere he eventually just had to suck it up. He still made it to camp before me. And with his 20 kg too. I have no idea how. Today was a short day. Only 4 hours of hiking. I was told 3 but I guess I'm slow. (though another group I've befriended came in 1 1/2 hours after me and had left earlier so I guess I'm not that slow). So I got to camp at 12ish. I had a warm lunch today. My appetite's stronger--which is good considering not much is sticking. Let's just say I've left a part of myself on the mountain. So it's almost 2 and I've got 4 hours to kill. Hmm. Stupid not to bring a book. I'm going to see if Chad's grou has nail clippers cuz I think I'm losing my big toenail. Ewwww.

Day 5: The start of summit day: Today I started out ok. We climbed to the last camp (around 4,550m). Despite layers of SPF 55 on my face, I feel like my sunburn is getting worse. It feels all leathery. And after arriving at camp, after a steep, steep last hill....I have a massive headache. This leads me to a panic attack (in my head I'm sick and I'll never make it) But I'm already here, so despite my panic attack, I'm going to try. i'm told that if I make it to the snow to just push till the very end....but if I go bonkers before the snow, to think about turning around. My friend Stella made it up and I ran in to her as she was leaving camp for the descent. She said I'd be fine....but that was before my panic attack!!! So we'll see. It's almost 5 pm. We'll leave around midnight I think. I hope I make it--but if I don't, it's still been a good hike with amazing views and I've gone further than ever before!

Day 6: The push to the summit: We started around 11:30 pm. I put on every layer, took all of the other stuff out of my bag and headed out. It was brutal. The moon was just past full so it was bright--which was nice--though you could still see the headlights bobbing along eerily in the night. It was straight up. The whole way. No rest at all--no little flat parts, nothing. I freaked out around 3 or 4 am I think. After much cajoling to just go a little further, I said I quit. Gerald tried to get me to keep going and I would go a little bit further, but I just couldn't make it. My muscles weren't tired, but I was disoriented, and tired from not sleeping and just out of it. It was like I could tell I didn't have enough oxygen for what I was asking my body to do. And for some reason the Cipro still wasn't taking hold so I was just tired of it all. Just as we started to head down (literally one step), my friends from the other group came up to where we were standing. They've always been slower than me...but very nice. They convinced me to join them since I was already so far up (turns out about 75% of the way). So I did. And we finally made it. Late, cold and tired, but we made it. Of course, once you get to the top of the hill at Stella point, you have to walk another 45 minutes along the glacier rim (seriously?!?!) to get to the sign, but that part wasn't that bad all things considered. Then of course, you still have to get down the frickin' thing. There weren't too many people up there. Mostly the people I summited with and a few others. Some were totally spaced out, others were romping around like it was no big deal. After my few photos and a snickers, we headed down. Down was like (after the sketchy icy part) skiing through dirt and sand. Maybe like telemark skiing? It was fun at first, but after an hour solid of that my thighs were burning. We got back to camp at 12:30--much later than we thought. But I did it....despite my best attempts otherwise. Now we're at Millennium cap--about 1 1/2 hours down from last night's camp. My knees are screaming!! Tomorrow we do the last bit--through the rain forest again. At least this time there'll be a hot shower at the end of the road!

Day 7: The end. OMG. That's a lot of downhill!!! We started down towards Mweka camp at 7 am and it was rocky and steep. I bit it once on my already sore knee. After Mweka camp, it turned to serious mud. I was cruising for that first 1 1/2 hour after Mweka, passing people left and right. But after 3 hours of walking down the steep hill I just got tired. Knees and thighs hurt, and it just went on forever! It was super muddy and you just keep going down, down, down. We made it to Mweka road. Yeah right? no. Another hour of slogging through the muddy road and we finally made it to the gate. I signed out at the hut, tipped my porters, cook and guide and endured a terrifying drive back to Arusha. Finally a hot shower! NOPE! The power had just gone out so there was only luke warm water. Agh!!! But at least it was a shower, and with semi-clean clothes to wear!! So I walked in to town, got some money, the Herald Tribune (one day old) and some pizza. Except for the total body soreness, I feel like a new person!!!

All in all, it was a great experience. I met some great people and accomplished my goal (though I'll always remember I tried to throw in the towel and a smooth talkin' Floridian with a bad knee made me keep going!).

Now I get four days of safari, camping style, and watching from the comfort of my car!!

Photos will be posted later......

Jane