Day 3

We are up at dawn for washing and breakfast. We head out of the camp by 8:00 am. We are all feeling strong and refreshed. Surprisingly, none of us are sore from the previous day’s hike. It doesn’t take long for Ada, Joan and Laura to pull ahead of the pack. Lisa and I lag behind, taking pictures and basking in the sunny morning. We walk for about an hour and a half until the jungle begins to thin into tall grasses and heather.

Heather blows in the wind near the trail from Horombo Camp to Mandara Camp on Mt. Kilimanjaro at Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania, Africa Wednesday, February 28, 2007. (photo by Tammy McKinley)

Four hours into the hike, I begin to show signs of exhaustion. The afternoon rains start up and then the hail. It’s on and off, but it takes its toll on my energy level. I start focusing on my feet. The idea is just to put one foot in front of the other. The landscape starts changing from prairie to moorland and the temperature drops.

The moorlands near Horombo Camp in the Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania Tuesday, February 27, 2007. (photo by Tammy McKinley)

The trail begins get rocky with long climbs uphill punctuated by short drops with more rocks and gravel to maneuver around. Some of the steps are too much for my short legs and low energy level. I ask Teacher to give me push up from behind. “Push Teacher”, I say. I will never live that down. A porter with a wooden wheelbarrow-like contraption passes us going up the mountain. Teacher explains that it is the stretcher they use to help people down from the mountain that are sick or injured. Lisa jokingly offers to pay the porter to carry her up to the next camp. I think he considers it for a moment before continuing on his way.
I have to stop seven minutes from the lunch site for a break. I am feeling very nauseous and winded. The altitude is starting to get to me. Lisa is starting to feel tired, too. Every hour or so she says, “We camp here, Teacher?”

Tammy McKInley takes a short break from the seven hour hike from Horombo Camp to Mandara Camp on Mt. Kilimanjaro at Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania, Africa Wednesday, February 28, 2007. (photo by Lisa Hepinstall)

Mt. Mawenzie is shrouded in the clouds slopes near Horombo Camp in the Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania Tuesday, February 27, 2007. (photo by Tammy McKinley)
Monday, February 26, 2007

By the time I arrive at the lunch site, Lisa has already eaten. The rain begins in earnest. Then the hailstorm moves in. I pack up my lunch and Lisa and I hunker down in the stinky latrine for protection from the storm. Teacher and the assistant guide, Abdi put rain gear over their heads and packs to wait out the storm between a couple of rocks. The storm lasts for a half an hour. As stinky and miserable as it is, it feels good to take a break from walking.
Once the weather lets up, we are off again to finish the hike. Abdi heads off to camp. Lisa takes the lead, I am in the middle, and Teacher brings up the rear. I am feeling cold and wet and exhausted. The trek is wearing on me. Every time we ask Teacher how much further, he responds “two hours, maybe two and a half”. He says this every two hours. We have dubbed it “Teacher Time”. It takes us a while, but we figure out the metric to standard conversion. Actual time is double “Teacher Time”.

A storm moves in as Lisa Hepinstall walks the trail from Horombo Camp to Mandara Camp on Mt. Kilimanjaro at Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania, Africa Wednesday, February 28, 2007. (photo by Tammy McKinley)

By the time I arrive at Horombo camp, I am broken. I am the very last to arrive. Not just the last in my group, but the last of all the groups that left today. As I sign in the register book, my hands are shaking, my focus is gone, and my senses are dulled. I think I may even be a bit delirious. I have spent the last nine hours hiking through rain, hail, heat, up and down and back around again. Joan and Ada greet me at the registration hut. They congratulate me on getting to the camp. I break down in tears. I’m not really sure why. They help me into the hut where my sleeping bag is already laid out. I sit on the bottom bunk across from Lisa and we both start crying. First, she cries and then I cry and then she cries and on and on it goes for an hour. The porters bring in fresh water for washing, but it’s all I can do to sit up.
Laura is a huge help to both Lisa and me. She mothers both us of the best she can.
By 6:00pm I am crashed out asleep. The waiters try to wake me up to eat some soup, but I can’t eat. I choke down two swallows of soup and a few slices of orange. Teacher comes in to record my vitals to make sure I don’t have altitude sickness. Although, my oxygen level is a little low, I am still within the normal range. Teacher says I am just experiencing exhaustion. I sleep until dawn the next day.
I have never known that kind of fatigue in my life. I have heard Mt. Kilimanjaro is a blessed and magical place, but that it will break a person before it reveals a personal truth to them. I am expecting a BIG TRUTH.