Kilimanjaro Climb 2017

It's hard to believe that we've been home for over a week ... even harder to believe that it was a MONTH ago that we were here:

I've been typing up my journal and sifting through our 2000+ photos for the blog, but it's pretty slow going.

I have, however finished writing up each day of the climb. So sit back, grab "kikombe cha chai" (a cup of tea) and climb with us:

August 23: First we had to get to Africa. And to do that, we had to spend a night in Canada. (Eh?)

August 24-25: Then we spent the better part of TWO DAYS getting to Tanzania. Along the way we flew across the Atlantic, felt trapped in a featureless departures lounge, and ate a lot of airplane food.

August 26: Then we explored the town of Moshi and met the local wildlife. 

August 27: On Sunday we had our pre-climb meeting, packed for the climb, and went into Moshi to poke around the abandoned railway station. 

Then it was finally time for us to start the climb itself.

August 28: On the first day we drove to the north side of the mountain and hiked up to Simba Camp, near First Cave. 

August 29: We hiked the steep route via Second Cave to Kikelelwa Camp.

August 30: We had an easy day hiking up to Mawenzi Tarn.

August 31: We took a rest day at Mawenzi Tarn to prepare for our summit attempt. 

September 1: Summit day!

September 2: We descended to Horombo Huts.

September 3: We celebrated with our support crew, descended to Marangu Gate, and returned to Moshi.

If this had been all we did in Africa, I still think it would have been worth it. We challenged ourselves -- summit day was the hardest single-day thing I've ever done. We met a great group of people and cheered each other on. We saw beautiful places. and we reached the roof of Africa. Sometimes I still can't believe it. 

Next up: safari in Kenya!