Since we decided to come to Kenya, climbing Mt. Kenya has been on our must-do list, alongside seeing the wildebeest migration, hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, gorilla trekking in Uganda and visiting Ethiopia. Actually, Mt Kenya is the only thing we have accomplished so far on our must-do list. It was so stunningly beautiful and completely exhilarating that not even daily rain, hail, and snow could dampen our enthusiasm. Such an adventure often loses a lot in the translation to words, but we will try our best to describe it.
We left Nairobi early in the morning and drove across the equator to a small town called Nanyuki near the turn-off to the national park. Here we were to pick up our rented sleeping bags, some emergency diamox (Nathan swears by it) and a few other essentials such as peanuts and rum (which Nathan apparently uses with the diamox). I guess I should back up. Nishat, Jodie, Patrick, and I were joined by two good friends from Kilifi: Nathan and Caroline. Nathan and Caroline had already had some bad experiences with altitude sickness and started dosing on diamox two days before the trek (performance enhancing drugs, as Nathan put it!). The sleeping bags arrived via personal courier right at our van and the guy wanted 1200 shillings per bag (about 20 bucks for the five day trek)! We thought that was outrageous for rented bags and started haggling. To get a bit of leverage, I started asking around to see if there were other options to rent sleeping bags. One helpful safari van driver told me that we could go to a nearby hotel, ask for Paul and get bags for 800 shillings for the trip. The first guy wouldn’t budge, so we jumped back in the car and headed into town to find the hotel. Patrick and Jodie went to the hotel, Nishat and I went to score some more diamox (just in case) and Nathan and Caroline went to pick up some trekking snacks. As Patrick and Jodie were on their way to the hotel, they saw the first sleeping-bag hawker dash past them, away from the hotel. It took a while for the ‘new’ bags to be produced and we instantly recognized them as the same bags. In the end, we saved a few hundred shillings per bag, but we rented the same sleeping bags that were first on offer! What a circus…
The 4x4 vehicle that we were promised turned out to be a barely functioning Land Rover which our guide entered through the window. Everywhere we stopped, the ‘driver’ (we think he might have jacked the car at some point) had to hand out cigarettes to random guys (who we think kept following us) to give us a push start! We left Nanyuki with our frustration meters very high. We spun our way along the muddy road, staring at the darkening clouds when it started to rain. The packs had been strapped to the top of the truck, so we stopped, and Patrick climbed onto the roof and passed them into the cabin until it was piled to the ceiling with packs and people. We arrived at the park gate (~2600m or 8500ft) and spent almost an hour waterproofing our packs by putting all of our belongings into plastic trash bags and then back into the packs. It kept raining. We put on our rain gear, left our packs for the porters and set out for the first hut. It kept raining. Our hearts were pounding with even minimal exertion because of the altitude. We gradually learned that the rain pants we had borrowed from friends in Kilifi were not in fact waterproof, while Nathan & Caroline learned that the rented rain pants were no better. It kept raining. Water ran off the tip of my nose and the brim of my hood, the sleeves of my jacket. Although only 12 kilometers of decent road separated us and the hut, we were absolutely soaked to the bone when we got there. Jodie was the only exception, all decked out in her new REI rain pants and super-fancy raincoat.
On the way to the hut, we trekked through a series of bio-zones. We passed through the lower forest where elephant dung was piled amidst huge old trees, then the bamboo forest where baboon dung was everywhere and we could hear them in the thickets, and eventually up through the higher forest where there were scrub trees and hyena dung littering the path. Each one of these forest bands was unique and amazing, representing eons of history, barely noticing us as we trudged by in the steady rain…
Old Moses Hut was a decent mountain hut. The mice had cute racing stripes, the foam mattresses did not have fleas, the running water was glacier cold, and there were flush toilets! Our porters served hot tea and popcorn as soon as we stepped into the hut, a feast almost as welcome as finding our dry socks and warm clothes. The food was very good and was even followed by a dessert of fruit and, of course, more hot tea. During the night, Nishat got up to use the facilities and passed out from the head-rush. We heard her hit the floor hard. We started popping her full of diamox the next day.
We set off at 8am, into clear blue skies, staring up at the mountain peaks in the distance. Fifteen minutes into the hike, Patrick turned back towards the hut. I was a bit ahead and didn’t hear the exchange, but turned back to wait with Nicholas, Jo and Nishat. They told me that he had left his hat behind and wanted to go find it. 15 minutes later, he came back empty handed. I asked him which hat he was looking for and he said he couldn’t find his black stocking cap. “You mean, the one on your head??” We should have realized then that he wasn’t feeling well.
The terrain changed constantly and above the first hut the vegetation was low to the ground with lush green moss covering the bogs and rivulets of water flowing across the path. We no longer had a dirt road to follow and instead hiked carefully along what seemed to be a streambed made from the feet of many hikers. We tried to copy our guide and step on the stalky grass heads, keeping our shoes as dry as we could for the 4 days ahead of us. We walked through hill after valley after hill of bogs, including a rocky dance across a river. We slowly climbed up and up, stopping for a brief lunch of mystery meat on white bread, watching the impending afternoon clouds roll in. Our guide, Nicholas, smoked a cigarette every time we paused and his hiking loafers seemed impervious to the mud and wet.
After lunch we spread out a bit into separate hiking groups, with Nathan &Caroline forging ahead on their diamox high, Patrick &Wendy following a bit behind, and Jo &Nishat chatting up Nicholas at the rear. We were all worried about getting caught in the rain and dreaded being soaked to the bone again in our pseudo rain gear. Inevitably, we were, but Nathan & Caroline stayed the driest, arriving at Shipton’s Hut just as the rains started. Fortunately, none of us were as wet as the Israeli tourist couple that did not make it to the hut until almost 8PM…
(Patrick) It was a rough night (again) for me and I couldn’t be sure if it was the altitude (4400m = 14300ft) or some sort of stomach bug that I got just before we left. I kept eating because I wanted to be strong enough to summit Point Lenana with the group, but the next morning the altitude sickness got the better of me and out came last night’s dinner! I rallied and joined Wendy, Nathan & Caroline for an acclimatization hike, while Jodie & Nishat followed later with a different guide. We wanted to save our energy for the summit the following morning, and we did not want to get wet again, so we were on an abbreviated route. As we slowly hiked up to a nearby ridge, we watched beautifully colored sunbirds drinking water from the hairy fringe of tall cactus-like plants that drooped under the weight of the dew. There were also plenty of rock hyrax running around. They looked like a cross between a groundhog and a beaver, fat as can be, sunning themselves on the rocks and not too worried about us. Nathan shared that he wanted to be reincarnated as a hyrax. I expressed disapproval at so humble an ambition for his next life, but he pointed out that despite their homely appearance, they get to hang out in the sun all day in some of the most beautiful places in the world. It was hard not to agree.The acclimatization hike was tough and we all now realized how slowly we would be going to the summit the next morning, as we labored for each and every breath. Cresting the ridge (~4700m = 15275ft) we were rewarded with an incredible view of two glacial lakes on one side and a view of the valley where we had started the previous day. It was quite amazing.
Once on the ridge, Nicholas stopped and pulled out his cigarettes and Nathan pulled out his cell phone, the two of them feeding their addictions. Nicholas made a call to check into our exit plan and discovered that our road out (Chogoria Route) was closed due to rains, so we would either have to retrace our steps or add another muddy 32km onto our trek. Based on my illness and our inadequate gear for the climate, we decided to return the way we came.
The next day, we woke up at 2:30am, and after some tea, started climbing by 3am. Nathan and Caroline had only brought one torch between the two of them (what kind of gearheads were they, anyway!?) which as Nathan put it – “doesn’t work as well for us as Jack Bauer on 24!” So they split up amongst us and we tried to keep them bathed in the edges of our lamps. We hiked straight up ridges, and gullies, sometimes with 70deg steep precipices on either side, but because it was outside of our narrow torch beams, we were blissfully ignorant. We paced ourselves carefully, but still found it difficult to balance between being out of breath and moving fast enough to stay warm. There was also a layer of fresh snow on the ground that was trickier for those of us in sneakers. Wendy and I had been talking about how we could do this hike ourselves and save money, but at this point realized that we would not want to be summiting by ourselves at 3am, on a trail we could barely follow.After three hours of steady hiking, we reached the summit. Three other people and their guide were already there. We stamped our feet and paced to keep warm as we waited for the sun to rise. We could barely move our fingers enough to work zippers and take pictures. The skies were perfectly clear and the mountains glowed with the rays of the rising sun. We could see the reflections of the surrounding peaks in the lakes below us. At the summit (4985m = 16200ft), we felt a bit light-headed and Caroline started to feel nauseous. Jodie refused to take off her balaclava for photos. When Caroline started to turn green, we turned and made a quick retreat. The way down was warm and sunny, and we peeled off layers as we descended. It was slippery and steep, but we were totally exhilarated. The whole valley was visible below us and each few meters descent gave us a different view.
We had to make it back to Old Moses hut, where we stayed the first night, so a long hike was ahead of us. Already that morning we had been hiking for 5 hours and we had another 5 or 6 to go, with plenty of elevation gain and loss. We waited for Jodie and Nishat at the hut. Their sneakers made for a much slipperier descent and they arrived an hour behind us. After a quick breakfast, we set out again. Nathan and Caroline kept a steady pace but Patrick and I waited now and then to hike a bit with Jo and Nishat. We all had a feeling that we were trying to out-run the rain, but probably wouldn’t make it. It started to sleet/hail shortly after breakfast. The bogs were spotted with low growing succulent-type plants that had spiky leaves growing in a perfect spiral around the center. They were green but the undersides of the leaves were purple and the frozen rain accumulated in the spiral of leaves.
We caught up with Nathan and Caroline under a giant rock overhang where the porters had cooked up some Ramen noodles for lunch. The four of us set off together just as the thunder and lightening began. We reached a steep descent through a very marshy section leading down to the river. We were completely in the open and worried about the lightening. We quickly picked our way through the mud, sacrificing wet feet for speed as we tried to get off the ridge. Every few seconds you would hear one of us swear out loud when a foot sunk up to the knee in mud. A porter sprinted past us and Patrick hurried to keep up with him to see where he would cross the river. The recent rains had swelled the river and the rocks where we had crossed a few days before were completely submerged. We walked up and down the river bank trying to decide where to cross, because the porters route seemed too risky. The water was deep and very fast, likely VERY cold, which made us a bit nervous. We had no rope. Finally a couple of other porters caught up with us and helped us scope out the crossing. They took our packs and then helped us over the river. We climbed the steep slope on the other side and watched from the distance to make sure Jodie and Nishat made it across the river. The other side of the last ridge was kilometer after kilometer of muddy bog until the hut. The succulents and moss gave way to bush as we descended. It rained on and off, but there was no more lightening. In a few places, we couldn’t tell where the main path went because there was so much water…
We finally reached the hut and had time to change out of our wet clothes and enjoy a few minutes of sunshine and a spectacular sunset. Jodie and Nishat arrived about an hour and a half later, tired, but very cheerful. We all enjoyed the game of cards and a bit of hot rum with oranges. We toasted to Jodie who was the only one to make it to the top drug-free and to Nishat who was the only one to summit in street-running shoes. We toasted to Patrick for being such a trooper, hiking with the runs, and to Nathan for having the foresight to bring the booze…
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