I awoke early in the morning, just before dawn, so got up to wander a bit and watch the sun come up. When we arrived at the camp the night before, the first thing we noticed was that this camp was a junction for the other hike routes up to the summit. This meant there were dozens more hikers than we had seen at the camps previously, and the term “tent city” came to mind.
We got to Tanzania! After a three day trip with stops in Detroit, Amsterdam and Nairobi, including almost a full day layover in Amsterdam that we spent touring the city and sleeping in the airport terminal, we got to the hotel in Arusha, Tanzania. After awaking from the night before our hike, we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel, and a long shower, knowing it would be my last for almost a week. We got into a LandCruiser driven by Goodsell, Goody for short, and off we went.
Lengthening our distance from the first hike of five miles last week, Sam and I talked about hiking Ben Lomond, but decided we weren’t quite ready for 15 miles. We decided to make the hike to Lewis Peak instead, which from the North Ogden Divide and back is somewhere between 10 and 11 miles. I’m a bit unsure, as I didn’t take a GPS unit, and the trail marker signs seem to differ in opinion slightly.
I’ve camped and hiked most of my life, and 21 years in the Army as a reservist always reminds me of the best methods for not being miserable while hiking (and the Army being the Army, how to be miserable while doing it as well) and the need for being in shape if you’re going to be walking up and down roads and hills. I’ve also tried to bring up my kids to be as active as possible, and my three sons are pretty fit and used to the deal as well. This time, however, we’re striking out on new territory.
My son Sam came to me during the summer last year and announced that he would like to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro right after he graduated from high school. Having travelled fairly widely myself, and believing in the good that exposure to other cultures brings to anyone, I thought this was a good idea. Add to it my being somewhat of a plan-in-advance type, I knew I had two years to get ready,
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