Our Itinerary

We have said a lot of farewells this weekend, and I really appreciate all the good thoughts that you all are sending our way.

We'll be counting on your good thoughts and wishes as we trudge up Kilimanjaro (and down again...). In fact, we could use all the positive energy we can get during our push to the summit. If you get a chance, please send a good thought or two out, particularly on February 16 and 17- those will be our toughest days.

Our itinerary is listed below:

Feb 6 Nairobi, Kenya
Feb 7 Nairobi, Kenya
Feb 8 Nairobi, Kenya
Feb 9 Arusha, Tanzania
Feb 11 Montane Forest 7,000 to 9,000 ft
Feb 12 Shira Plateau 11,500 ft
Feb 13 Fischer Camp 12,500 ft
Feb 14 Lava Tower 14,500 ft
Feb 15 Arrow Glacier 15,300 ft
Feb 16 Crater Camp 18,500 ft
Feb 17 SUMMIT DAY! 19,340 ft, then descend to 10,500 ft
Feb 18 Arusha, Tanzania – Switch to Safari mode
Feb 19 Ngorongoro Crater
Feb 20 Ngorongoro Crater
Feb 21 Serengeti
Feb 22 Serengeti
Feb 23 Serengeti
Feb 24 Arusha, Tanzania
Feb 25 Nairobi, Kenya

Climbing Equipment

When we signed up for this trip we thought we had just about all of the equipment we would need. We had good hiking boots, nice day packs, good down jackets and rain parkas, a couple of good hats and mittens. The porters will bring the camping and cooking equipment, all of the food, plus they will carry up to 22 lbs of our personal gear.

What else could we need? Here's a sampling of some of the things we'll need to bring:

• Base layer - moisture-wicking material such as polypro or capiline, at least one light weight and one heavy weight.
• Softshell jacket - a breathable, insulating and wind/water resistant layer, such as wind-pro, windstopper, etc.
• Hardshell jacket - a windproof, waterproof rain layer.
• Insulating layer - down or synthetic filled jacket.
• Pants - wind pants rated to 10 degrees, fleece pants, hard shell pants, gaiters.
• Gloves - light weight liners, and heavy weight with wind shell.
• Hats - warm hat, rain hat, balaclava, sun hat.
• Socks - I could go on and on about the socks.
• Pack (at least 40 liters volume) - needed to get a new one.
• Water bottles - at least 4 liters, plus iodine or chloride water treatment pills.
• Sunscreen (high spf, plus total sunblock), chapstick, sunglasses with side shields.
• Trekking poles, knee braces.

For at least one or two days we'll be wearing just about all of this stuff at once. Hard to believe that we'll be able to walk.

Mt. Si one more time

Last weekend we climbed - what? something new? - Mt. Si again. The trail was as dry as in the summer, all of the snow was gone, except a little bit near the top. I may not want to ever climb this mountain again, although it has been a good trainer.

Are we flashpackers?

Today I was laying out all of the electronic gear we plan to bring to Tanzania. Sometimes I wonder if we are going over the top with our gadgets and gear. The photo above shows most of the technology that will be coming along.

It really is a reduced list- a couple of digital cameras, a 35 mm camera, a small video camera, a couple of head lamps. Extra batteries and memory cards. A couple of ipods. A blackberry. A solar charger to recharge a few things on the mountainside.

OK, OK, it sounds like we are over the top. But there's a big list of stuff NOT coming along: no laptops, no GPS, no digital DVD player, no iPhone, only one cell phone, and maybe only one ipod.

OMG am I a flashpacker?? A good description of flashpacking is found here:
http://www.purpleslinky.com/Humor/Travel/Are-You-a-Flashpacker.191311
I think we just want to record the cool stuff we'll see and do on this trip. I'll leave it at that.

Swahili

There are a lot of languages spoken where we are going, and we could never learn much about them in the short time left before we go. But Kiswahili is commonly spoken (in many variations) as a second language by most people in Tanzania and Kenya. English is also very commonly spoken, but we know most of that language already.

It's always good to have a few key words handy. Here's a sampling:

Hello, how are you? Habari
Please Tafadhali
Thank you Asante
Excuse me Samahani
I have been vomiting Ninatapika
How far? Mbali?
Is there danger of wild animals? Kuna wanyama wabaya hapa?
I am tired Nimechoka
Where is the bathroom? Choo kiko wapi?
Giraffe Twiga

Blackberry blogging

This is an entry from my blackberry. If this entry appears in my blogspot, then I have tested the link successfully, and will be able to send updates from Kilimanjaro.

Did you now that Kilimanjaro was once one of the highest mountain in the world with cell phone reception? Now you can make a call from Everest.

Vaccinations

The vaccinations and medications we need to get for this trip are amazing. It is truly astounding that you can get a tiny bit of liquid slapped into your arm and you are protected against getting one horrible disease or another.

First we had to review our vaccination histories. We are both at the age where it is likely but not certain that we received boosters for polio and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella). I knew I had the polio booster, but not the MMR. So they ran a blood test, which came back positive, meaning I had immunization against MMR. Check.

Next, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (they all come in one shot). If you hadn't noticed, my nickname on this blog is Crash. I have kept up to date on tetanus.

Hepatitis A and B. I got up to date on Hep A recently for a trip to Central America. Had to get the Hep B. That is a series of 3 shots. One in December, one in January, and the 3rd in 6 months.
Next in line was Yellow Fever. We need a stamped Yellow Fever Card to show at the border to get into both Tanzania and Kenya. Most clinics don't keep this one on hand, and it is necessary to find an authorized US Yellow Fever Vaccine Center to get the needed stamp.

The Yellow Fever vaccination is an attenuated live virus. It has a possibility of side effects such as nausea, low grade fever, muscle aches that could occur up to a week after vaccination. Yep- they did. My reaction occurred while we were climbing Mt. Si on the weekend after we got the vaccine. More details on that on my January 17 post. Doreen got a more severe reaction a few days later where she was down for the count at least two days with a fever, nausea and body aches.

Next up- we take our typhoid vaccines starting this weekend. The typhoid vaccine is another live virus, taken in four oral doses (they've been sitting in our fridge for a month waiting for us). We take one every other day at least a week before we are in an area of exposure.

Finally- malaria. There is not a vaccine for malaria, just anti-malarial medication. We start that a couple of days before potential exposure. We will still need to do our best to avoid exposure to malaria, so we will have to keep covered up or use insect repellent when in buggy areas. One good thing about climbing a mountain is we will not be in the mosquito zone for a good part of the climb.

There are several other diseases and bad things out there that there are no vaccines or medications for- dengue fever, cholera, HIV/AIDS. This list goes on. Prevention is the key for avoiding most illnesses that we have the potential to be exposed to. We will have to be diligent about avoiding local untreated water (and foods that may have been washed in untreated water) and not getting bit by insects.

Mt. Si the Hard Way

Today we climbed Mt. Si again - me, Doreen, and Lucy. We had a lot of rain and a warming trend, so a lot of the snow was gone.

As soon as we started hiking, I felt like I was dragging a big log behind me. Every step was really hard, and I was aching like my muscles were in an anaerobic state. We kept going and going, but I could not believe how hard it was. Last week when we climbed the same mountain in the snow it was a breeze. We figured it all out later (when Doreen came down with similar conditions a few days after) that I was experiencing some side effects from the yellow fever vaccination I got a few days earlier.

We got to the top anyway. We had a little lunch and hung out in the warm sun. We were treated to a really cool view of the Puget Sound area. There was a temperature inversion going on, which left cold temperatures down at sea level and much warmer temperatures up at higher elevations. There was a thick layer of fog down across the entire Puget Sound area, and all higher elevations were clear, sunny and warm.

If you click on the photo, you'll see the little tiny city of Seattle popping up out of the fog, and the Olympic Mts. in all their glory behind a fog-filled Puget Sound.

Mt. Si for Real

Today we climbed Mt. Si, all the way up, in the snow. It was really fun for me, Doreen, and of course Lucy. We didn't have any other distractions to keep us from climbing the whole mountain.

It was snowy from the very beginning of the trail, and got deeper and deeper as we went up in elevation. But so many people hike this trail that it gets packed down really hard, and is relatively easy to hike (with good crampons and poles).

My stupid crampons were the old instep crampons with a strap over the instep. They kept coming loose, filling up with snow, falling off, and one of them eventually broke. Overall, I would say I wasn't pleased with them. Will need to look for replacements.

When we were up near the top of the mountain, we saw several Japanese hikers that appeared to be in a big group (they all had matching towels). Almost all of this group laughed out loud when we passed them by, pointing at Lucy. They called her a lot of things I didn't understand, but I heard one of them call her a bear.

Mt. Si (partial)

It's new years weekend. Up we go to the mountain again. The conditions in the backcountry are still unstable. But we decide to try a bigger mountain- Mt. Si. It is located about 40 minutes east of Seattle. Not quite in the Cascades, but higher and harder than Tiger Mt.

It was Doreen and me again, no Lucy because we had a tamale making party to go to after hiking. In fact, we really didn't have time for this hike. Once we got a bit more than three miles in, we had to turn around and go down so that we could get to Doreen's colleagues house for tamale making. You just can't walk away from a good tamale.