Mount Kilimanjaro

Welcome to the final chapter in the story about how Mount Kilimanjaro was conquered on New Year’s Eve by Team Cantrailia. I won’t say it will be the final blog post on Africa, as I will likely write a little post about the final departure as well as some final impressions on the trip, the destinations, and the people I shared the journey with. However, for this post, I owe you all the tale of Day 6 of the Rongai Route. A pretty average day for all intents and purposes, but still one which had quite and effect on my, and stirred up a few emotions here and there. Before I get into all those little details though, I will invite you once again to look at the map of the hike for the day, as well as the set of pictures that are on flickr. I really hope some of you actually look at those damn maps, because I do spend some time on them :-). Anyway, after that, come on back here and read the rest of the post.

Hello again friends. As promised, I’ve split summit day into the climb to the top and the climb back down in the interests of making each post manageable. There was still far too much to relate about my New Year’s eve after the summit, that you are now faced with needing to read a second post in one sitting (depending on your addiction to all things ActiveSteve :-). Of course, the map and pictures are the same as last time, so no need to review those unless you want to. This part of the story now takes you from the summit at Uhuru peak (way up there at 5,896m) down to Horombo Camp, situated faaaarrrr below at 3,700m. Yup, that’s right we’d be descending over 2.1km in one hike! Read on to learn more about that.

So, we finally find ourselves getting very close to our objective on this trip: the roof of Africa. Yesterday was a relatively short day for Cantrailia, and it took us up to 4,300m where we slept and acclimatized. The goal for today was going to be to make our way to our final ‘camp’ on the ascent of Kili. I use the term ‘camp’ lightly, as we were really only going to sleep a few hours there before beginning our slow trip up the mountain. But of course, I’m getting ahead of myself in this introduction. So, rather than spoil the fun, I’ll start like I always do. First, have a look at the satellite map showing where we hiked for this day. Also, check out the set of pictures on flickr. Overall, it was a good, if not a bit boring, day on the mountain. There’s not that much to tell, but I’m sure I’ll embellish it enough to turn into a decent little story for you all :-). When you’re done checking out the goodies, come on back and read on.

Well howdy all! Welcome back for Day 3 of the trip up Mount Kilimanjaro. Hard to believe that there are only a few more blog posts left to write about our amazing African trip. I hope you’ve stuck with me through all the long days, and that you’ve all been enjoying these posts. It’s sometimes quite a job to try and write up these stories, especially since life has moved on since then, but it’s nice to re-visit these the adventure and try and remember some of the little details. Day 3 was another straight trekking day for team Cantrailia. Compared to day 2, it was much shorter, but at these altitudes, that’s not such a bad thing. For starters, have a look at the map of the journey on day 3, as well as the set of pictures posted on flickr. Once you have a sense of the day, read on for the rest of the post.