That's the last time I talk smack about Mother Nature!

Day One 8/8/11: Arrive at Mount Kenya around 11 AM, followed by a 3 hour hike up. Let me start by saying that before this trip I believed that hiking was just walking, maybe up hill. I never really thought of how a backpack full of crap changes it, or altitude. Back to my story - on the way up we saw some elephant and hyena poo, but no animals. We also saw some intestines of a small animal but not what ate it. We arrived in time for a late lunch but I felt great and had a nice nap before dinner. Dinner was butternut squash soup and fried fish, I can't believe they could cook that in the woods. 11,000 ft

Day Two 8/9/11: 6 AM wake up (BOO). This walk was much steeper and SUPER wet. It was up and down the whole time, and down is just as hard as up! We walked a total of 7 hours with a short break for lunch in the rain. Around hour 4 I started working with some mantras to keep me from going crazy. Om mani padme hum x 1000 I felt great after the 7 hours but my shoes were SO WET. I should have known I was in for trouble when I saw everyone with great hiking boots and equipment while I had some fancy Northface shoes that I got as a give and have wholes in the sole so water can get in and out. Not a good idea for icy mountain hikes. It was COLD that night, we played cards and wore every item of clothing we had. 13,000 ft

Day Three 8/10/11: Woke up at 2:30 AM to start hiking, it had started snowing. I didn't feel great as we started, thought it was nerves or the 2:30 AM part. Snow was falling pretty fast and about an hour in my headlamp broke. Perfect. Around 5 AM I started to feel dizzy, and I noticed that my mantra started to mutate in my head (really weird to realize you have been saying the wrong words for hours.) It was about that time that my brain melted. I kept falling over and though "I'll just stay here for a while" as I sat down in the snow and couldn't move. I didn't want to go up or down but the guide made me look him in the eyes and apparently my pupils were freaking out. So that was the end of my hike. He made me go back down at 14,500 feet. SO CLOSE to the top that it hurt. As soon as I got back down to 13,000 I felt better, and I was able to finish the 5 1/2 hour hike back down to the lower camp that day. We got there around dinner and got to share the camp with 25 drunk Russians.

Day Four 8/11/11: Late wake up and 3 hour walk downhill... so painful. We saw some baboon and hyrex and lots of elephant poop!

So my advice to you is don't underestimate Mother Nature, she fights dirty. Thankfully Kenya is not a once in a life time thing for me, so I will get it next time!