Mt. Kenya

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to climb Mt. Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa (Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest). 

In my former life, my Washingtonian life, I spent a great deal of my downtime in the mountains.  Rarely a weekend passed in which I didn’t take advantage of the awesome hiking, climbing and endless wandering to be had in the Pacific Northwest’s wilderness. 

These days, though I am still lucky enough to call the mountains my home, mountaineering is a hard to sustain hobby – i.e. the last mountain I climbed in Sudan led to some serious accusations of stealing rain and an unfortunate evacuation...

but anyways, as I was saying, I love the mountains.   

So, when the door opened and plans quickly fell into place for an off-season jaunt up Mt. Kenya, I was, as our family friend Pearl likes to say, “tickled pink!”

 Here, in no particular order, are some pictures from my Mt. Kenya climb.

Naro Maro Trail - Day 2

Mt. Kenya in the background - strange high altitude Kenyan plant in the foreground.

Approaching Mackinder's Camp - Naro Maro Trail Day 2

I climbed Mt. Kenya with my friend, Joe, a fellow missionary serving in Mbita, Kenya.
We spent the 2nd night here at Mackinder's Camp - 14, 200 ft.  It was very, VERY cold! 
I slept with 4 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, 2 fleeces, 1 fleece vest, 2 pairs of socks, my coat and a hat on, wrapped up in the table cloth, inside of my sleeping bag.

As far as I know, it is illegal to climb Mt. Kenya without a guide/porters.
Our porters were awesome, so awesome in fact, that I considered asking them to move with me to Sudan!
Here, they are cooking us mandazis (African donuts).

The food was spectacular.  Much better than anything I eat in Sudan. 

Day 2 - Napping in the sunshine at the base of Mt. Kenya.

Long drops with a view.

Though most people thought we were crazy, we decided to go ahead and climb the mountain in the middle of rainy season. However, God really blessed us, the weather was amazing. It only rained once, on the last day. 

Fighting altitude sickness - climbing high, sleeping low. The idea of climbing up high, then descending to sleep, must have really worked as the only symptoms of altitude we had were minor headaches, weazy stomachs and a little shortness of breath.

Glorious!!!

Oh, what a beautiful morning!!!

Mountains make me giddy!

Kenyan flag at the summit.

Chai at the summit.
Kenyans sure do enjoy their tea. In fact, I drank so much that I could rarely go more than 30 minutes without having to trek to the long-drop or the bushes or a big rock...

At the summit!
Point Lenana, Mt. Kenya - 16, 355 ft.

 Sunrise!

SNOW!!!

Joe and our guide, Stanley.

It was snowing - in Kenya - just south of the equator! I loved it!

Our trusty guide, Stanley.

Oh, how I have missed the mountains....

They feed my soul...

Though it was the middle of rainy season, it only rained on us the last three hours of our whole trip. Pretty amazing!!! When this picture was taken, I was pretty tired and very cold - waking at 2am, hiking up and then down a mountain (18 miles in one afternoon) can really do that to a gal.

Talk about dedication.
 Our guides and porters insisted upon cooking us a hot lunch on the last hiking day even though it was pouring; the meal was eaten, standing up, under an umbrella.

 On our way out of the park on the last day.
It took us 3 1/2 hours to travel the 32 km (23 miles) by "road" out of the park. Enough said.

Brake fluid.  Important???

I have always found rest in God’s wildest places.   
Climbing the snowy slopes of Mt. Kenya my weary soul found rest.   
I am certainly blessed!