Day 4: Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp

Day four was an interesting day in that it was actually easier than we thought it was going to be. So much of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, or any mountain for that matter, is mental. Day 4 was truly the mental psych-out of our trek simply due to the fact that the day begins with a highly intimidating ascent up Barranco Wall. The wall looms over you as you make your way to the base of it and all you can see looking up are jagged rocks and steep inclines. Fortunately for us, the wall wasn't as bad as it looked. In fact, we all found the endless line of hikers and porters, occasional scrambling in single file, and overall slow pace refreshing as they allowed us to carry on a conversation and stop to pose for several pictures.

A traffic jam on Barranco wall.

With that said, Barranco wall is not to be taken lightly--in fact, just a week prior to our trek up the wall, a porter was trying to hurry to camp to ensure his duties were fulfilled prior to his party arriving when he lost his footing on the wall. He fell over 100 feet and was killed. While this is a brutal reminder, it is also a reality on the mountain. One momentary lack of focus or one misstep by an inexperienced guide can be lethal. Thankfully, we invested in some of the most well-known and experienced guides on the mountain to lead our journey and did not have a single incident the entire time. I'll elaborate on just how crucial choosing the right guide is in my next post, as I had the opportunity to interview our head guide, Lyimo, for this blog.



But for now, back to day four. After Barranco wall the hike for the rest of the day was quite easy really. What's interesting is that I assumed the higher we went, the steeper the hikes would get. That simply wasn't the case. After cresting the wall in the morning, our journey was more a meander through rolling hills than a steep incline. Perhaps the reason for this was that we had reached the base of the summit climb and now had to walk laterally around the mountain to get to base camp. Whatever the reason, it was a beautiful hike and offered us some of the most spectacular views of the mountain yet. We took full advantage of these as we realized we probably wouldn't get too many more opportunities to capture the mountain from below on our trip, as the next time we saw her face would be from the summit!

Rich and I with Kili in the background on Day 4

As we came into camp that afternoon, we were met with a warm meal and some down time. Rich, Dad and I took advantage of the down time and decided to place a little wager on who was carrying the most weight up the mountain between the three of us. Now granted, my Dad is 63, so I'll give him a 10 lb advantage for age, but other than that, I figured we should all be hauling about the same weight. And, of course always being the competitive one, I really wanted to show Rich that I was carrying just as much weight as him. Anyway, I'll let you be the judge of who won the contest!

Me clocking in at 25lbs

Dad came in at 18 lbs (+10 for age!)

And Rich was the winner at 29 lbs....geesh.

Day 1: Machame Gate to Machame Camp

I know it's been a few months since we returned from Africa, but I've finally gotten around to putting together my daily video logs from our hike up Mount Kilimanjaro. Each night, I tried to review the day's route, the highs and lows, as well as any observations from the trail that I found interesting. You'll have to excuse the poor lighting the first couple of days, but I was little tired and cold those nights as I adjusted to the mountain life! Oh yes, and my hair just gets worse as the week goes along.

The local butcher

Anyway, the first day saw us trek from Machame gate at 5,400 feet to Machame camp at 9,400 feet. The day began at our hotel in Moshi with out team of porters and guides picking us and our gear up. The drive from the hotel to the gate took about one hour. On the way, we stopped at a local butcher and market to get our fresh meat and vegetables for the climb. After that, we proceeded to the gate.

Once at the gate, our porters had to weigh-in-- each porter is only allowed to carry 45 kgs up the mountain for safety reasons. Meanwhile, Dad, Rich and I had to check in with the park service with our passports. I was surprised at how organized the system was the whole way up the mountain-- they collected our name, age, occupation and hometown at each camp at night. Just in case.

Sign at the gate warning hikers

After check in process and a quick picture at the gate, it was finally time to begin the adventure I'd dreamed about since I was a little girl! The first day's trek was beautiful and quite mild, despite being 11 km long (about 7 miles...something I had incorrect in the video!). We climbed through the rainforest, with African violets and orchids growing naturally alongside us. As we got towards the end of the day, the foliage changed into a heath-type growth. The soil became much more dusty and the plants turned into shrubs and bushes rather than the large rainforest trees we'd grown accustomed to during our hike.

We finished day 1! With our guide Mosha

As we walked into camp, we posed for our "we finished day 1" picture and headed to the hut to sign in. Afterwards we went to check out what our camp looked like. Each day, our porters get to camp ahead of us and set up our two tents, one for Dad and one for Rich and I, as well as our mess tent. They also setup their own tents for sleeping and dining a bit aside from ours.

Once at camp, our porters brought us a basin of water to rinse our faces, hands and feet before dinner. This became extremely important and I found myself looking forward to the "daily wash" each night at camp as the days wore on. After washing, we sat down for dinner, which started with a warm soup each night. Dinner was one of the highlights of the day, as our cook was fantastic. It's amazing that he could make a full meal each night using one propane tank--especially as the altitude started to increase.

After dinner, we usually had a brief on the next day from our guides and then headed to bed. That first night I didn't get a terrific sleep. We drank about 3 liters of water per day on the mountain, and I had to get up multiple times during the night to use the bathroom. Thankfully, it wasn't too far from camp, so it was a quick, cold trip. My sleeping bag and mat worked out incredibly well, as did my blow-up pillow from REI. Overall, once I got passed the first night, I was able to sleep quite well in my bag. The only problem I found as we progressed was that although I'd sleep the whole night, I would wake up not feeling rested. This was definitely one of the side effects of the altitude, even with taking dyamox.

Looking forward to sharing about Day 2 and my video blog for the day with you all soon!

This Way or That Way?

One thing our group had to take into consideration was the length of our climb. Paul lives in the Rocky mountains and will have the advantage of training at altitude, but Rich and I still have about 30 years of youth on him, so we figure that evens the playing field (sorry Dad!). Also, Rich will have just returned from a 7-month deployment without much opportunity to train at increased elevations.


Due to these factors, we've decided to take a full 8 days to climb to the summit. While the route is longer, this should allow our bodies to adjust to the altitude so that each of us makes it to the top without incident. While hiking to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro is not the most technical of climbs, it is one of the most taxing and a large portion of people who set out to make it to the top fall short due to altitude sickness. We definitely want to avoid that at all costs! 


Right now, we are looking at two routes-- Machame and Shira. 

Machame route is the second most popular route, 26 km long, and it is considered the most beautiful route up Kilimanjaro. With a gradual ascend through the forest you emerge to see wide views of the moorland on Shira plateau, Kibo and Western Breach. The different kinds of vegetation found along the route make it the most sceneric route. We are approaching the summit with an acclimatisation day by walking in the same heights (Barafu Camp to Karranga Valley Camp), and another day by stopping at Karranga Valley camp (we are one of few tour operators offering this). There are no mountain huts on this route; the accommodation is in mountain tents. The route done in six days is physically challenging for most people. The last two days (the trek from Barranco to Barafu and then the overnight trek to the summit) require mental and physical toughness, due to the high altitude and short amount of time to rest before the overnight summit attempt.


Shira/Lemosho

The Shira route path approaches Kilimanjaro from the west, and it is nearly identical to the Lemosho route. While Lemosho starts at Londorossi Gate and treks through the rain forest to Shira 1 Camp, the Shira route bypasses this walk by using a vehicle to transport climbers to Shira Gate, located near the Shira Ridge. Our group will more than likely hike through the Lemosho rainforest to avoid acclimatization sickness.

On the first day on the mountain, climbers begin their hike from 11,800 feet (3,600 m) and spend their first night at the same elevation at Simba Camp. Then, the route merges with Lemosho and follows the southern circuit route.

Although Shira is a varied and beautiful route, Lemosho is recommended over Shira due to the high altitude of Shira's starting point. It is possible that climbers will experience altitude related symptoms on the first day due to failed acclimatization. Climbers using Shira should be confident of their ability to acclimatize.

As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider when deciding which route to take. We're hoping that our research will pay-off in the long run and we will be able to pick the right route for us.

The Beginning of a Life-Long Dream....

In 1994, my Dad took me to see "Kilimanjaro: To The Roof of Africa" at our local IMAX theater. IMAX movies were quite new, and I remember asking my Dad at the time if there was anything cooler showing, like a Disney movie or something. He assured me the movie would hold my attention and I might even learn something along the way. Not exactly what a 7-year-old wants to hear! Little did I know at the time, but that one hour would so totally enchant me that it would lead to me someday making the trek myself, together with my father and husband, to the Roof of Africa.

The IMAX story was narrated by a young girl, very much like myself, with a scientist father, captivated by the world around her. The story follows her journey up the mountain with five other travelers and all that they experienced along the way. I'll save the details about the hike for future blogs, but suffice it to say, I saw too much of myself in that girl, that mountain and that journey to let the opportunity to climb it pass me by.

Over the 15 years since , my Dad and I have talked about climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro together on and off, but never really had the opportunity when our schedules linked up long enough for us to do it. I went away to university, he retired after 30 years with the same oil company, and we both started new chapters in our lives. Now, all these years later, separated by two countries and spanning several birthdays and a marriage, the dream still lives in both of us. But now, we've committed to making that dream a reality and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in the next year and a half. The plan is for me to graduate from my MBA program in May and immediately head to Africa with my husband, Rich. We'll meet my Dad there and begin realizing the dream a Daddy and his daughter have shared for over 15 years.

We hope you enjoy following us as much as we'll enjoy chasing one another to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro!