Climbing Kilimanjaro 2019

What an amazing adventure!!!!  I still can't believe that I actually climbed Kilimanjaro.  It was much harder than I expected.  Why didn't I think it would be that hard?????  I'm so glad that I did it and am looking into other mountains to climb (maybe even a few of my kids will join next time).  I took several videos along the way to try to capture a little bit of it.

We had a "DINING ROOM".  It was nice to be able to eat at a table all together.  They gave us soup every night and porridge every morning.  I also ate a lot of white rice/ pasta/peanut butter bread and hard boiled eggs.  I can't forget the vegetable sauce.  I'm NOT eating that for a long time!!!

Thankfully we didn't see much wildlife.  This bird seemed to be giving us a warning of the Barranco Wall ahead.

We had 14 hikers and 54 crew staff!  They were amazing...

Starting to get cooler and windy.

Camping above the clouds.

The night sky!!!!

Our group of 14 was amazing.  We only knew a few people at the beginning, but quickly got to know each other very well...  I will never forget these amazing people!

Day 2

 Day 3

 Day 4

 My roomie and I.  Kelly is the best!!!!

Sunrise at the top of the mountain.

After we climbed to Stella Point.  We had the option to continue on the rim of the crater to Uhuru Point.  It was at least an hour hike at 19,000 feet elevation just to get to the sign.  Of course, I continued on.  Along the way, one side of the path looked down into the crater and the other side had glaciers.  It was gorgeous.

Getting down the mountain was NOT easy either.  It took us 1.5 days to descend.  I started struggling right when I started coming off the summit.  I got the worst headache, exhausted and very nauseous.  After an hour hiking like that, my friend and I decided to go ahead of the group and run to base camp (15,000 feet elevation).  My head was throbbing with every step.  When I got to base camp, I could hardly function.  After crying in my tent, not eating anything, and throwing up, we decided to have me continue my descent to 10,000 feet elevation.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to walk.  A few great ladies and 2 guides help me a ton.  After I got down to 12,000 feet elevation, I felt tremendously better...  Altitude sickness in NO joke.  Thank goodness that it didn't last too long.

Coming in to base camp from the summit...  They clapped/cheered and gave us water and even had chairs waiting for us.

 I was NOT feeling well

This is about 12,000 feet elevation when I started feeling better!!!

The day after we got down from the mountain we went to Chemka Hot Springs.  It felt great to soak.  I couldn't pass up a chance to try some tricks.  I hadn't done this in about 25 years.  Since I just climbed a MOUNTAIN, why not try tricks?!?!  Never too old:)

What an incredible challenge and accomplishment.  We all got certificates!

Euchre on the mountain too