Woah – it’s been a while since I updated this! 15 days in Africa (9 on on mountain, 2 on safari, and the rest en route) took ALOT out of us.

I’ve thought a lot about how I wanted to document the experience and have decided to do it by topic, not by chronology. That only mattered throughout the hike. Looking back feels more apropos to have some thematic topics that can encompass multiple days.

I’m going to start with: WE DID IT! So many friends, family, & colleagues were incredibly supportive. Most said “of course you’re going to make it.” Honestly that support made quite a difference, because as I figured Kilimanjaro (we’re no longer on a nickname basis) would be tough; IT WAS SOOOOO MUCH HARDER THAN I EVER IMAGINED.

Everything about it was hard.

• The hiking; HARD.
• Camping; HARD.
• Hot days(80), ice cold nights (10); HARD.
• No campfires; HARD
• Living at altitude; HARD
• No showers for 9 days; HARD
• Being forced to eat too much food; HARD
• Not being able to sleep for three nights; HARD
• The monotony of packing/unpacking camp each day: HARD

I’ll talk much more about these challenges and how we overcame them later, for now I want to celebrate. Getting to the summit was completely euphoric. Achieving that 20 year goal, despite all the challenges was AMAZING. (having to come down was another story…)

For now, some view from the top: