Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro. Our first view of the mountain wasn't as grand as I had hoped but it was far more shocking and intimidating than I had ever thought. My first view was through the clouds, it was rainy out but the top of the mountain barely poked through. If you didn't look hard enough the top of the mountain blends in with the clouds. It was massive. We got in to tanzania later in the day which gave us time to get to the lodge, pack, eat, and sleep. The next day we all packed onto a bus and began our trip to the base of the mountain. The point where we started was in the rainforest at the base. We sat there for several hours because the machine that read the gap years credit card was not working. It was good we started late because it rained hard for about an hour and a half. Finally after a long wait we began our 7 day journey. Day 1 was easy for me, in fact all days up to summit night were pretty easy for me. The first day started with a pretty long walk on a road which then turned into a steeper slippery climb up through the rainforest. The rainforest was crazy, there was not one color but green the whole way up. It was pretty crazy to be in the rainforest for the first time. Since so many people walk that trail there aren't very many animals around except monkeys which we heard at night. We stayed with the group for a while but everyone has a different pace so Logan and I took off. At that point it was starting to get really dark and we were determined to make it to camp. We finally did after a lot more hiking than I expected. We arrived about two hours ahead of the first wave of our group. The last group came in about an hour after and it wasn't good news. One of our girls had some serious trouble breathing and even walking. When she came into camp she was being half carried by two of our porters. I thought for sure she was going to have to go down. Fortunately after a good dinner she was doing a lot better. We had a team of about 30 porters to carry our stuff, set up camp and cook, and about 7 guides. It was a massive group including the 11 of us. After the first day things only got a lot harder. On days and 2 and 4 we had to say goodbye to 4 members in total. They did so well and only when the guides told them to go down did they. Day 5 arrived. It was the day we had all been waiting for the whole time. In the morning we woke up and did a "short" hike to base camp. We arrived in time to eat lunch, sleep for a couple hours, eat dinner, and then sleep for 4 hours before we started our climb at 11 at night. I tried to sleep as much as I could but I was too excited to get much sleep. looking back on it there was nothing to be excited about, in fact if I had know what the climb was going to be like I probably would have ran right down the mountain. We woke up at 11 had some tea and cookies and began the climb to the top. The climb was steep and rocky and it kept going and going. By this time we had been hiking for the past 4 days for 6-8 hours every day. I don't care how fit I was at the beginning of the climb by this time I was tired and as the climb wore on we all began to suffer. A couple hours up several of the girls had thrown up and as we reached a break one of the guys began to feel really sick. By this point I was beginning to break down and as we sat down I lost it and began to sob and I don't mean little tears I was really crying. I was tired and the stupid mountain just kept going. By that point we had gone over at least 4 false summits and those hurt more than anything. It was starting to snow and there was a big storm on the other side of the mountain and you could see lighting and hear the loud boom of thunder. It was a truly spectacular scene almost right out of a movie. I was determined to make it up though so I got my crap together and after some fist bumps we all began the last leg of our journey. It didn't get any easier and the storm got worse. The wind began to really pick up and the snow did too. After a while another one of our girls couldn't go on anymore. She was the one that struggles so much the first day and we all thought would go down. Yet here she was about to pass out and fall off the mountain and it took our leader 3 times to tell her to go down before she did. It was amazing. Me and the other two guys and one guide broke off from the group and that point and began to climb up. Yet another obstacle arrived when I collapsed from a terrible headache but after some panic, water, and food we trudged on. Not long after that the snowstorm stopped and we could see the first summit. As the sun came up things started to warm up a bit although the wind was still pretty strong. The last part up to the summit was a steep slippery hill. It was backed up with people and after a couple minutes I decided to run up the hill. The first summit was done. By the time everyone had arrived to the top, a couple in tears, the sun had come out. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. All you could see was cloud. Everywhere you looked was white. The sky was an incredible blue like nothing I have ever seen before. It was incredible how high up we were. It was so amazing in fact that I started crying again, and so amazing it is almost impossible for me to describe in words. I soaked up the moment and with much complaining and resistance began our final trudge to the highest summit. The walk was nothing compared to what we had just came through but because all of us were so exhausted it took quite a while. We stumbled and crawled all the way to the summit. Finally we had reached it. After all the stress, tears, frustration, and physical and emotional exhaustion we had done it. I had done it. I was way to tired to jump or shout with joy so I just laid down in the snow and enjoyed the sun but as I look back on it I am so proud of myself and even more proud of everyone else who made it. Everyone fought hard to keep going and do there best to encourage others. I don't think I would have made it without the encouragement I was given. It was one of the hardest experiences in my life I think.  I'm so happy I got to do it though and even though I doubt I will attempt something like that again I can always think of it when I'm having a bad day. If there is one thing I really got when climbing that mountain is sometimes you can't do it alone. I think that I have spent a lot of my life flying solo relying on my own strength. If I had done that on kilimanjaro I wouldn't have made it. It took us two days to go down the mountain and I think I ran the whole way.