Mt. Kenya!

I can honestly say that God works in some amazing ways. My trip to Mt. Kenya could not have been so amazing without his power.

We were supposed to leave on Thursday, we woke up and boarded the 5:30 a.m. bus to the Nairobi campus and got there before 6:30. We weren’t going to actually leave there until 10 o’clock so we had some breakfast and went to Chapel. Time kept ticking by and we found out that a signature was missing for the money we needed to buy food and that Y-G (Mr. Waiganjo, our leader for the trip) had to go back to Athi River to get it. By the time all was said and done the banks were closed and there was no way to actually get the money. We were told to head back to Athi River and board the 5:30 am bus again on Friday. We spent nearly 12 hours on that campus, doing nothing, having missed class in Athi River only to find it was pointless. I was upset, I called Jan, (a friend in Nairobi) and asked to stay with her. She said that would be fine so I stayed the night there and didn’t have to wake up so early the next day! She served me tacos, muffins, bacon and eggs. I was so thankful I didn’t have to ride that bus again!

Friday morning we were supposed to leave about 9 or 10, we didn’t leave until sometime after noon. This time our van was late. We went to Tuskys (Super Target) and bought all of our food for the trip. Then we drove to Mt. Kenya, we were all HUNGRY. We stopped at a Chicken Inn hours away and got some fries and sausage to fill our stomachs.

After it had become dark we arrived into the Mt. Kenya National Park gate and soon realized that our van was not going to be able to take us to our base camp. It had rained and there was one hill too steep and muddy for the van to get up. This is what happened; we stopped the van and quickly unloaded everything. It was dark, and beginning to rain. We strapped everything to our bags and were carrying some others and got prepared to walk 5 km this way. Thankfully a truck that was headed to our base camp came by just minutes later and took all of our things for us. This still meant hiking for us, but after our things had been unloaded it came back and picked us up. We rode standing holding onto freezing metal bars with our bare hands through the cold wind and rain. This was just the beginning of our amazing adventure.

At the base camp we were given a room with bunk beds and didn’t have to set up our tents, which we were very thankful for. We began to prepare our supper, ugali and beef stew, but soon the porters took over. I had to eat a lot for dinner, it was not very easy to do but I understand the importance of eating a lot when you will be doing a lot of hiking.

Here are the quick details of who went. I was asked to bring one friend, so I brought my roommate, Gladwell. Another of my roommates, Janet, decided she wanted to come with, so she did. Y-G, was asked to take us because he is very familiar with the mountain and he asked two boys, Rudy and Kefa, from the group he heads here to come with. We hired 3 porters to carry our food, utensils, gas, tents, and sleeping bags. They also pitched and took down our tents and cooked all of our food for us. We each carried a pack with our clothes and personal items. I also carried a couple sleeping mats, and we carried our food for lunch.

On Saturday we hiked about 12 km from the base camp to Solo. On Sunday we hiked about 19 km from Solo to Majors. On Monday we hiked roughly 20 km to Lenana, towards the peak, and back. On Tuesday we hiked a whopping 31 km from Majors to base camp.

There are so many things I could say about the trip, but mainly it was just amazing. The scenery was beautiful. At first I was like wow, the forest looks a lot like home…just a bunch of trees, but once you get far enough on the trail there are things you have never seen before. Plants that look like they come from a Dr. Seuss book and things that are not possible to see at home. The views were amazing.

The people I went with made the journey amazing as well. Janet kept making us laugh with her shoes falling apart, and her whining noises because her feet kept hurting. The guys were all funny in their own way and Gladwell just had this excited attitude and was laughing (according to Y-G because of Mt. sickness) the whole time. Even though sometimes they forgot to talk in English I had an amazing time with all of them and am happy to say that I have a much better relationship with my roommates now.

The weather was….COLD. At times we walked through freezing rain in the cold wind. Other times we walked through clouds which is nothing like I’d imagined as a child. I knew it wasn’t going to be that fluffy or marshmallow experience but it was truly far from it. It is basically like walking through a dense fog with a constant mist, not what you’d hope for. Sometimes the sun would shine and we were still cold because of the air. At night and in the mornings when we weren’t walking it was truly freezing. Sleeping made us forget the cold but it would rain through the night. When we would arrive at camp we would quickly get in the tents and put dry clothes on, then we would stay in there until supper. It was hard to stay awake and warm until then and no one wanted to get out of the tent to go get the food. I’ll leave the going to the bathroom in this weather up to your imagination.

Here is where God comes in. If we had left on Thursday, like we were supposed to, we would have had rain walking up towards the peak meaning – it wouldn’t have been so easy to see and we would have been much colder and wet, making it harder to climb. On Tuesday night, had it rained, we would have had to walk 11 km to meet the van because it would not have been able to drive through the mud. Tuesday night it did not rain at all. Everything really worked out and it could only be because of him.

We didn’t make it to the peak. We were at a resting point and Y-G was asking everyone how they felt. Janet’s feet were paining, Gladwell had a bad headache, I had a slight headache and stomachache, Rudy was ok, and Kefa had stayed back. He told me that he thought that point should be our peak. I was truly upset, I wanted so badly to make it to the top. My body however was relieved, I was getting so tired, and breathing was getting difficult. I had gotten a cold since I’d been there which wasn’t helping. We made it about 15,000 ft high and were on Lenana. I am hoping one day to come back and finish the rest of the distance. I am going to abstain from calling the trip a failure, because so much good came out of it. There is so much natural beauty to be seen, and even looking at the best of my pictures cannot prove to you how beautiful it was.

Mt. Kenya has been my favorite experience so far. It was definitely a challenge at times I felt like I would get frost bite and that another step would be my last. But I made it through and had the time of my life. I cannot wait to go back, but next time I will be prepared.