Day 10: Climb to Mweka Gate
Our climbers are waking up to their last day on the mountain. They’ll have their last breakfast in the mess tent and then start their trek. They’ll descend through the rainforest past towering trees and lush ferns to a hot lunch at Mweka Gate – where they’ll end their adventure on Mount Kilimanjaro.
MOUNTAIN ROUTE STATS
Starting elevation 13,000 feet
Ending elevation 6,000 feet
Elevation gain 7,000 feet
Distance hiked 7 miles
Average hiking time 5 hours
After a well deserved 12 hours of sleep following yesterday’s nearly 13 miles of trekking, we were woken up at 6:30 for coffee and tea for the last time. Today was it. Today our 7-day adventure closes and we say goodbye to Kilimanjaro and the amazing porters, both seen and unseen, who we were lucky enough to call our friends that we were able to share in this experience.
After we pack our bags for the final time, we enjoy our final breakfast together in our mess tent before promptly departing Mweka Camp for Mweka Gate. Only 10 kilometers and 4,000 vertical feet separated us from completing our journey and taking a very necessary shower.
As we descend from Mweka Camp, still with stiff joints and muscles from yesterday, we are still mesmerized by the mountain’s rainforest where in between the tall trees, we can still see the snowcap top of Uhuru peak and are reminded of the scale of the what we have accomplished in the days before. The dirt trails slowly became muddy as we slowed our pace approached the gate. At around noon, we were met with a sign that said “Congratulations!” at Mweka Gate and we knew that our time on the mountain had come to an end.
Following the climb, we drove to a local village close to the mountain for lunch. While enjoying hamburgers for the first time, we also layed out gear to donate to the porters that have helped us over the last seven days. Following lunch, all of our porters arrived and sang to us for the final time. Then, John Simon announced the total amount of tip money that was earned for the entire crew and how that was to be distributed and how that was split based on each position to promote pay transparency. Following the announcement of tips, we watched as our gear was raffled off to the porters and we could see their appreciativeness with each item being taken no matter how big or small. We ended lunch in a big circle as we shared our gratitude to all of our porters and prayed one last time. We spent our final moments saying goodbye to the porters who have made our experience one to never forget as they go back to their families and we go back to Arusha to rest and recover.
After a much needed shower and nap, we enjoyed a group dinner at the hotel wearing custom Hawaiian shirts of the Stu “Backpack” Essey. We all laughed and shared stories of our time on the mountain and were maybe a bit disappointed that we had no soup for dinner this time around.
As this chapter closes, we all reflect on how Kilimanjaro not only challenged us, but changed us. Physically, we all pushed ourselves to accomplish something only a handful of people ever wish to achieve, yet alone actually complete it. More importantly, I think we have all learned something about ourselves and how we can learn and support each other. We learned how to trust in one another, conquer our fears, redefine resilience, and how to build and grow community with one another. As we leave Kilimanjaro, I know that we will never forget those that have made the climb what it was and am certain that we all will have a new understanding of ourselves that we can share with the rest of the world.
~ Michael Flegel
Here are some more pictures from their time on the mountain!