As I write this on day 10 (January 12), I’m taking a rest day. It’s my first rest day in Africa. I need it. The flight and then the long drive two days ago wasn’t restful in the slightest, and yesterday was another 5 hour, 4000 vertical foot hike to the Mackinder hut at 14,000’.
And to top it off, I’ve caught a cold. I don’t know where it came from, as we’ve been outside for all of Kilimanjaro, but here it is… so deal with it.
Again, a rest day is welcome. Since I’m at 14k, I’m not losing any acclimatization. This is OK.
My intent for this trip was to acclimatize on Kilimanjaro, and then blitz up Mt Kenya. The Mt Kenya outfitter had other plans, and I should have known that something was up when he ignored my repeated requests for an itinerary. Now that I’m on the mountain, I see that I’m getting the full tour of Mt Kenya, including going 270 degrees around the mountain, visiting multiple lakes, and going over a couple of different summits.
Having met the guy – John Githae – I must admit that he’s very passionate, and while of course there is a financial incentive on his part to extend this trip, he did come off as genuine: I truly believe that he loves this mountain, and wants to show it off.
Here’s an example: my scheduled itinerary ends at a “beautiful trailhead… so beautiful that you should spend the last night there”. What that meant was that the following morning I would do the 6 hour drive to Nairobi, spend 4 hours in a hotel cleaning up, and then catch the red-eye to Japan. Uhhh… no. We’ve now changed that to go to Nairobi on the last day, and then spend a full night in the hotel cleaning up. Sheeshhh.
But that is the only change that I’ve made. Slowing down and seeing the sights is not all that bad. I’ve never been to Africa before, and who knows if I’m ever coming back. And again, with this cold I’m not going to be blitzing anything, so maybe it’s going to all work out.
The Mountain:
Oh yeah, there’s a 17,000’ mountain directly above me. Naturally, it was raining when we arrived in camp yesterday, but at sunset it started to clear. I can see why this mountain is so famous with climbers. 2000’ walls rise directly above us. From memory I could pick out a few famous climbs from an old Chouinard ice climbing book that I used to drool over in high school. No doubt this is a pilgrimage of sorts for me.
(Alas, there is no ice visible today…. such is the new normal on a warming planet. )
This morning dawned clear and cold and it was fun looking at the mountain and reading the guidebook. It misted up around 10 am and I didn’t see the mountain again until sunset, but it never rained….my first day in Africa with zero precip.
Today was a scheduled day hike to a lake a thousand feet up. I’m sure that it’s pretty, but staying in camp was an easy decision. Tomorrow the plan is to go halfway around the mountain to the Shipton Hut. The next day we go up and over 16,355’ Peak Lenana to high camp. There’s a planned rest day at high camp, and then we go for the summit 4 days from now. The egress will then take another two days and finally a hotel in Nairobi on the 18th.
That’s the plan at least.
That’s the plan.
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