So let me take you back a few days.

Oct 15
This is the first day of my Mt. Kenya trip. We did a 4 hr drive to the campsite. The country side is amazing. You can see that many of the people do not have much but what they do have they work very hard for. Lots of different plantations along the way. People are walking everywhere. There are alot of bikes being used as well. At the campsite there are two groups there. A group of 9 tents (all Dutch) and one of 8 tents. My tent stands alone.

Oct. 16
We get up and have breakfast. While eating this lady from the Dutch group comes to me and say's " Are you alone? Yes. With these two men? Yes. You are a very lucky lady. I know, I say and I will be picking up two more this morning. My guide was laughing really hard. He says, she is jealous of you.

We head off to get the porters. On the way we pass the Equator. Of course this is a major tourist trap and we needed to stop. I get the photo and move on. The next stop it in town for more food and the porters. On again to the entrance gate for Mt. kenya.

As we arrive we can see that there is a huge group getting ready to climb as well. There are 28 Kenyians doing a fundraising trek. I have no idea how many porters/guides/cooks they have but there are a ton of people involved. I alter find out that it is a drug company that is sponsering this trek.

At around 11am we head out. This part of the trek is alone a road. The huge group have an ambulance and landrover with a huge trailer ahead of them. They also have camera's as they are documenting this trek. I manage to get into some of their filming. The ambulance gets stuck and needs to be rescued. I find out later that it too 8 guys to push it out.

This part of the trek is about 9km and took me 6 hrs to get there. I carried my own bag which I am guessing weights about 20k. Old Moses is at 3400 meters

The place that we arrive at is called Old Moses. I meet Mark (France) and Ana (Angora) who are on their way down. The are mountaineers and were saying that they conditions were not good enought to make it to their peak. There are 3 peaks in all. Then I meet Peter (Sweden) who is not really prepared for this trek as he decided to do it on a whim. Then there is Kevin (Kenya) who is a total sweety. Last was Krish (Mauritias) who askes me if he can interview me. They are all in there 30's accept for Mark who would be in his 40's. As they night goes on we get to know each other better. Later there is a group of 8 older men (50's) and a young man who are all over weight and loud.

At dinner time my guide puts down a table cloth. Everyone is jealous and ask how I rate. I say jokingly......I am a princess. From then on I was dubed the princess. Not only did I have a table cloth on my table but I had a room to myself. The food is great. The company is amazing and the night is over.

Oct 17
I did not get much sleep last night. The brits were loud till late and then they snored loudly. I could hear them 3 rooms down. We were all up early to head off to our next site. It had rained that night which was great as the weather was beautiful this morning. We can see the peak of Mt. Kenya today.

We are heading up to Chimpton which is about 14 km away and at 4200 m. This trek is nasty. It is up and up and up. There is no plateau for hrs. We get to a peak and think we are almost there. NOT! We walk along a vally that is still climbing but not as steap. I am still with my back pack. I have passed the Brit's and the Kenyians took up the rear as they left later.

Along the way some porters pass me. One is carrying a chair. I say....that is for the queen. Then there is anohter chair and I say that is for the King. Then more chairs, tables and dinner tents. This is all for the drug company trek. Yikes. This is scary. Kevin tells me later that even he is embarassed when he sees what they are carrying.

At about 4 hrs I tell my guide that I desperately need to eat. I am losing energy. He says it is a good time as there is a great spot along a stream for us. After we finish eating the Kenyians arrrive and stop for lunch as well and we continue on. At about 7 hrs we come to yet another nasty climb. I decide that it is time to give up some of my backpack. I take out two small bags and give them to the porters. They want to take it all but I will not give it up as yet.

I finally arrive at the top and there is Peter. He was first up and I find out that I am second up. About 20 mins later the Kenyians start to arrive. We cheer them in. They tell us that alot of there people are hurting and that the brits are even furthere behind. The Brits had to do the nasty part in the dark as they did not arrive till about 8. That was 4 hrs after us.

As the evening passes I find out that Peter, Krish and some of the Brit's and Kenyians have altitude sickness. I am mostly worried about Krish as he is to mountianeer to the peak with three others. He is so mad as he wants to go. He tells me that he will go no matter what. A mans ego! I tell him to go ahead and push himself but not to put anybody in danger. I wait to hear if he made it or not. Oh, by the way, that is a 14 hr climb.

This evening I have everybody around my table. Not just to chat as that they would have done anyway but cause I am the princess my guide has made a can of charcoal to put under my table to keep me warm. I feel so special.

Down side.....my guide keeps telling me I have to eat more. I will need the energy for the climb in the morning. I keep telling him I am full and cannot. I push a little bit more down. I am totally stuffed.

We head off to bed early as we need to be up at 2:30 am.


Oct 18

We get up at 2:30 and I am shocked to see Peter and 3 of the Brits up and getting ready to climb. I did not sleep well again as the Brits chatted loudly for an hr after we crashed and started snoring immediately when they did crash. As well, a few of them were pucking their guts out most of the night. Oh I forgot. This night we all shaed a room. My guide has breakfast out for me. I say........I cannot eat another bite. He is not happy so I try some bread with peanut butter. I will pay for this later

The Brits head out first then Peter and I leave together at 3:45am but he gets way ahead of me fast. I give up my pack to the porters as I know this will be a nasty climb. I have on 4 layers of clothing and do not feel the cold much. The stars are out and the sky is clear. It is amazing. About 45 mins into the climb I start to feel sick. I totally lose it. I puc my guts out for about 10 mins. At least that is how long it felt. Now on an empty stomache and feeling a zillion times better and I carry on. I walk slowly and surely. I know that I will make the top but it will be hard.

I finally get to a point where I see the Brits. They are heading back. They did not make it to the top. Then Peter is comming down. He made it to the top but is freezing as he does not have enough clothes on. He says that he missed sunraise by 3 mins. I am thinking.....to hell with the sunrise.....just get there. We part ways again and I continue on. I am taking alot of breaks to get my breath and part of me is thinking that I will not make it but I know that I have to as we are heading down on the back side of the mountain. Did I whine? Hell ya. I was about 20 mins to the top. I so wanted to quit. I was exhausted but I pushed on. A total of 4 hrs later I arrive at the top. This peak is Lanana Point and is at 4991m. I can see Mt. Kilimanjaro. The sky not clear but the moutanin raises about the clouds. I take my photo's with the reporter and start down as it is cold and windy up there.

To get to our next point we need to crawn along the ridge of the mountain. It is scary and I am thinking.........what was I thinking.......HAHAHA..........Actually I am loving this part. The sun is shining upon us. I am so glad the weather is good. There is no way in hell I would have made this trek if the wearther was bad. Anyway, an hour or so later we get to the Teliki huts and take a 10 min rest. Next we have a long way to go walking on loose gravel. We are slipping and sliding most of the way. This stuff is really hard on the knees. This whole way down takes me 3 hrs. We arrive at Mailind's hut (4300m) at 11am. There we have breakfast. Finally I get some food back into me. All I want to do is crash. NOT!!!!!!!!!!! I still have another 4 or 5 hrs ahead of me. I take an hour nap and carry on. Now I am digging deep. I am exhausted but know that I need to get to the next huts before I can call it a day.

This part of the journey takes me into bog. It is dryish but still very hard to walk in. We are in this for about 2 hrs. It is beautiful but I cannot enjoy it much as I need to concentrate on my feet. When we finally get out of that we hit the jungle. This means waking down rocks and roots. Not my favorate conditions. I trudge on. My knee is starting to hurt. I find out my guides toes are killing him. Again this area is seriously beautiful but still I cannot enjoy it as we need to keep on moving. On and on we go. 5 1/2 hrs later we finally arrive at The Road House. What a charming place. I have a room to myself again. I am desperately trying to keep awake for dinner. I am really to tried to eat but will try my best. I get some dinner down and then give up. It is now 9pm. This trek took me about 14 hrs. This is my longest trek ever. I know that I should be proud of myself but I am way to tired.

Oct 19
I had the best sleep ever since I arrived here. I was told by the porters that the buffalo were in the camp and asked if I saw them. Nope I said. I was out like a light and heard nothing. The blue monkeys were there to meet me this morning. That was nice of them.

I eat breakfast and get ready for my last trek. I am told it is 26 km and Megway (my guide) thinks it will take 4 hrs. I am so refreshed after a good nights sleep and food in my belly that I am back to myself. We head off . The guide and porters are shocked to see how strong I am again. Hey......I say..........see what a good nights sleep will get me. This part only takes us 1 3/4 hrs. Now that we are early we must wait for a few hrs for the driver to arrive.

As I sit and wait for him I am starting to feel very proud of myself. I DID IT!!!!!!!!!! One down and one more climb to go.

I am still working on attaching photo's. Last night I waited till midnight for them to process. I finally had to shut the computer down and go to bed. I hope to get some on tonight.