Day 4: Climb to Machame Gate
MOUNTAIN ROUTE OVERVIEW
Our group will start climbing after registering in the National Park’s Climber Log and eating lunch. They’ll start hiking on a forest road through the rain forest – which is why it’s wet and humid climate where they start climbing. To the right and left of the road are Mount Kilimanjaro’s giant red germs and impatiens. The path will get narrower and steeper as it winds through the rainforest. After another hour of hiking, the landscape will start changing as they enter the moorland zone and approach their first camp. Upon arriving at camp, porters will welcome them with a tent that’s already pitched and hot tea with biscuits. After resting, they’ll debrief about the following day’s climb and eat dinner. If the weather is good, they’ll see a beautiful sunset and catch a glimpse of the first snow-capped peak of Kibo!!
MOUNTAIN ROUTE STATS
Starting elevation 6,000 feet
Ending elevation 9,900 feet
Elevation gain 3,900 feet
Distance hiked 6 miles
Average hiking time 6 to 7 hours
The first day of hiking Kilimanjaro!!! We drove to the base of the mountain where we met our 60 person porter crew had lunch and took pictures of the monkeys trying to steal our food.
After all the anticipation it was great to finally get onto the mountain.
Our group split in half about an hour into the hike. Part of our group is made up of a documentary film crew telling the story of Matt Pinelli a cancer survivor who is currently battling multiple sclerosis.
He’s attempting to climb Kilimanjaro and it proved to be a challenge from the get go. For this reason we split up and hiked at 2 different speeds. Day 1 was a total of 7 miles and a 5,000ft elevation change. The first group came in about 7 pm after 6 hours of hiking. We were concerned if Matt and team were to going to make it. Porters even went back down the mountain to help them up. At 9:25 having hiked the last 2 1/2 hours with headlamps, Matt and team walked into camp, Matt threw down his hiking poles and began yelling how happy he was to have made it through the first day. After an amazing meal we all crashed in our tents reenergized and ready for Day 2.
~ Steve Allen & Charlie Thomason