Molecular Explosions

Favorite Trip Quote

Dad: "You may not know this, but when you get to high altitudes, pressure increases which causes explosions of toiletry and other packaged items."

Katie: "Dad, I may not have climbed a mountain before, but I have been in a few airplanes. I get it."

Example:
Gary figured this out when he went to open a new can of powdered milk when we were pretty far up the mountain. He was quite surprised when the powder decorated his sweatshirt.

Super Porter #1

Earlier, I promised some additional porter photos from Kili so here goes....
This dude's got a metal box and a suitcase on his head. Only one hand, too! I'm sure that whatever's in that box is pretty important, since a soft sided bag wasn't chosen. Maybe it's so the bread didn't get smooshed. Now that I think of it, we did have some amazing grilled cheese sandwiches after summitting. They could have been ruined if the bread wasn't kept so safe.

Mountain Chow

Alright, I know it's been a long time since I've posted, but I've been doing a bunch of travelling on the North American continent and haven't found time to blog. I'll post about those adventures soon, but I wanted to get a few more Kili posts up.

Our food situation on the mountain was impressive. Not only did our porters have to deal with carrying everything we needed to our various camps, but they also had less than perfect kitchen facilities.



Note the cleaning and cutting of vegetables in between tents on the ground. Not quite sure what this guy is cooking, but I know all the food we ate was delightful.


For hot lunch, we got to stop at gorgeous places such as this cave, named "Second Cave". I'm not going to try and claim that the stools were comfortable or the table even. Sometimes, I came pretty close to falling over, but that's what you get for being clumsy.
Our dinner was cooked and served to us in this tent. Here's just part of our group having tea after our plates were cleared away and magically cleaned by the cleaning fairies.

We were even fortunate enough to have dessert along the way. This pudding and biscuit combo was a very welcome treat after a long day.

Daily Life Heading Towards the Roof of Africa

Some of you may be wondering how we passed our time on Kilimanjaro. We didn't have to set up or take down camp. We didn't cook, clean, or do dishes. So what did we do?



We hiked. Every day, we hiked for at least 3 hours. For the first couple of days, we trudged slowly (chanting "Pole Pole" as we went) uphill. Gradually the top of the mountain started getting closer. Most days were sunny with a slight breeze. Summit night was freezing. On the way down, we trekked through beautiful rainforest.

No showers along the way, but we did manage to use some water and travel soap to do a load of laundry at our second camp. Here's some clean undies, socks, and shirts laying out to dry on the rocks by dad's tent.

I also spent some time reading my trashy murder mystery novel. What else are you supposed to do when the laundry's drying? Laying on the rocks in the sun was fabulous.

I'm a fairly forgetful person, so it's good that I had time to write about my Kili experiences. My journal stops at summit day, but the first few days are well documented.

We also found some time to teach our new friends some Back Alley Bridge and share plenty of laughter and good times. :)

Mountain Injuries

We were so lucky to have no major injuries along the route to summitting Kilimanjaro. In fact, I got back down without a single injury, which is pretty surprising since I can injure myself doing absolutely nothing.

Katie wins the prize for most injuries on the mountain. Well, for our family, at least.

Her first issue came on day 2, when we stopped for our hot lunch. She cut her finger and Dad took out his trusty first aid kit to get it all cleaned up. Quite a pretty spot for a medical fix up.

Soon after, at our Day 2 &3 camp, the first (and only) blister of the trip was dealt with. Dr. Pops to the rescue again!

Bathroom Facilities

Kilimanjaro had some very well-maintained trails, and there were toilets all the way up to the last camp.


On the Rongai route, our bathrooms were wooden huts with a square cut out of the middle of the floor. Some smelled better than others.

Once we got to Kibo Hut, our highest camp, we got to use these toilets. The Tourist toilets were tiled and had coat hooks. Didn't get a chance to check out the locals' toilets, but I'm sure they were similar to our wooden hut facilities from the rest of the trail.

Although the tile and elevated footrests were a welcome treat, the whole was a bit too narrow so many people ended up missing which made for a pretty nasty bathroom experience.

Toilets got better as we moved down the mountain on the Marangu route. The last spot I went along the trail, there was even toilet paper! Words cannot express the excitement of making it all the way down the mountain and sitting on a clean toilet seat in a clean bathroom with toilet paper. Oh, the simple joys in life!

Things I Love About America...

I'm taking a quick break from the Kili posts to share my excitement about being back in the US. Here are some of the things that I didn't realize that I missed so much.

• Ice: they serve these frozen bits of water in drinks here. On my flights over, I was given full glasses of ice with my soda, rather than empty plastic cups. I particularly like when I can get the ice myself out of the soda machine.

• Family: Nothing's better than showing up at the Bert Mooney Airport to Aunty Jane, Gramps, and Uncle Kev. Well, except maybe waking up to this delightful breakfast at Grandpa's house.

• Pox: I love my car. He was washed and ready to go when Gramps and I picked him up this morning. I have been having fun cruising around Butte with the sunroof open, listening to CDs I made forever ago. I may retract the love for driving once I have my first 10 hour road trip tomorrow, but for now I'm loving it.

• Pork: it's on all the menus here - bacon, ham, etc. Luckily, Butte happens to be the home of the best pork place in America - Porkchop John's. Gramps and I had deep fried porkchop sandwiches for lunch. Yum!
• Efficiency: I ran all of my errands today in a single morning! Well, I've got some more to do this afternoon, but all the big stuff got out of the way in a mere couple of hours. Same errands would have probably taken me a week to do in Casa.

I am so stoked about the rest of this vacation. Can't wait to see everyone!

Luxury Camping on Kili

Accommodations on Kilimanjaro vary depending on which route and company you choose. On the Marangu Route (often called the "Coca Cola Route" because of its touristy nature and the availability of soda and beer along the way), you stay in huts along the way to the top. We took the Marangu route down and saw the luxurious accommodations and bathroom facilities that were available.


On our Rongai route, we tent camped the whole way. Even while hiking down the Marangu route, we still had our tents pitched right next to the huts.

Can't complain though - check out our extraordinary view over a sea of clouds. Also, it's not like we pitched the tents ourselves.
Each day, when we got into camp, we had porters grabbing our daypacks and showing us to our already set up tents, complete with luggage and bed rolls. The next morning, while we were having breakfast, the porters were working to get our camp all packed up and moving towards the next spot.

Yup - camping on Kili was a pretty sweet experience. It was quite luxurious seeing as our only jobs were to hike, eat, sleep, and enjoy ourselves and the beautiful scenery around us. We may not have had huts and showers, but it was probably the best service I've ever gotten on any vacation.

Exceptional Support : Kili Porters

Let me tell you about some absolutely remarkable dudes that helped us climb Kilimanjaro. Our group of 14 had 33 porters along for the ride, as well as 4 guides, a head cook, and an assistant cook. These people all made huge contributions to our success with summitting the mountain.



On the last day, various members of our group of 14 posed with our kickass porters - Katie and I jumped in for a photo op.



Here's the amazing thing about the porters that climb Mount Kilimanjaro. All of them are climbing the mountain, from camp to camp, with limited clothing and equipment themselves. On average, a porter will carry 20 kilograms (44 pounds) for others (meaning us crazy tourists) and up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds) for themselves. They walk up the mountain, help set up and take down camp and some of them perform other duties as well. (cooking support, waitstaff, etc.)

Another impressive thing about the Kili Porters - their balance. I couldn't even balance this box on my head for more than a second or two. These guys are doing it while slowly trekking up a mountain for a few hours at a time. I actually took quite a few pics of the various objects that were balanced on porters heads and will post more in the next couple of days.

Standing on the Roof of Africa

Well, folks..we did it! My dear father, sister and I climbed up to 5895 meters (19340 feet) and stood up on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. After 6 grueling hours of slowly walking in zigzags uphill, we came upon this gorgeous sight.

The sunrise wasn't the only beautiful sight from the top of the mountain - check out this glacier and the sea of clouds below it.
Katie summitted the mountain by running the last few meters at about 6:45 a.m. Dad and I came "pole pole" (slowly slowly) afterwards. I think I was about 5-10 minutes behind my dear sister and Dad was already up by then. Even though it was absolutely freezing cold, we still took a break to get some photos before heading back down.

Out of 14 people in our group, 14 of us summitted the mountain. Our fabulous guides and sheer willpower and determination were a huge part of our success. Here's a pic of all of us at the top of Uhuru Peak, the tallest point in Africa.

Summitting Kili was a huge accomplishment and a great time. I was so lucky to get to do this with my dad and sister, as well as the many new friends we met on our journey - wouldn't have been the same without you all!

Stay tuned for more Kili pics and stories!