Day 12: 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

JOURNAL ENTRY BY NATE SNYDER

Mount Kilimanjaro is finally behind us and we are back at the hotel. On our final day hiking down, everyone was teeming with joy as some of us quite literally sprinted down the mountain. The car ride was quiet (except for the very back, but that's to be expected), as everyone reminisced about the memories and relationships that developed so quickly, despite the brevity of the trip. Seven days is not a lot of time and as we looked around the table on Day One, it was as if we weren't looking at a bunch of strangers. We knew the people we didn't know would inevitably become closer than we could imagine. That is because of Young Life and our esteemed, confidant, experienced leader, Drew. Drew helped the 12 of us learn the true essence of Mount Kilimanjaro and Young Life missions work here in Arusha. Not a single picture truly captures the life that came to be at the moment. However, that still wasn’t going to stop Drew from taking literally 100,000 photos and storing them all on his iPhone. Every personality on this trip enriched our small community in amazing ways. No one would trade this experience for another, nor trade out any person. Now we are all reunited at the hotel again indulging in much anticipated drinks and foods after not showing for a week. It's almost as if nothing happened in the past week that was life-changing. However, that is only true to those around us, but each person in our little community will never ever look at another situation, person, or place the same. We are humbled and so very thankful.