DAY 3 (9/14) - ON TO MINTOS AND BEYOND

Good night’s sleep last night, although I am still waiting for a better invention than the mummy sleeping bags – keeps you warm but if you’re a side sleeper, it doesn’t give much flipping room.


Plains Moonscape



Sunrise on Outhouse

Awoke to the sounds of a song bird battle at about 6 -- just in time for an incredible light show by God.  Sun rising to the east over a valley of clouds, moon setting along the mountain ridge to the west.  Then as the sun topped the horizon, the mountains just lit up in reds and oranges – a small glimpse of what the Glory of God must look like.

Today was the first day to be drinking stream water.  I had treated it last night and it had two very interesting layers on it this morning: a layer of ice on the top and an interesting copper colored sediment layer on the bottom.  I know I would have had a hard time convincing Melissa it was safe to drink, but by drinking real slow, the sediment stayed asleep on the bottom.  Slight headache this morning -- fairly typical at this altitude -- a lot better than the poor Belgian guy that blowing chow for the whole evening.
The hike to Mintos was breathtaking through the Gorges Valley – you can tell that a glacier used to be there because it’s completely carved out.  Vivienne Falls, about midway through the valley, was absolutely beautiful.  The valley stretching before it and steep cliffs to both sides – and Mt. Kenya in all its majesty looking down upon it.


Zach and I at Gorges Valley

Our original plan was to camp at Mintos at 13,776 feet and then summit from there the next day (3 am start).  After we got to Mintos, Zach asked me if I wanted to keep going to Upper Simba Tarn and gain another 900 feet and shorten our ascent on Summit Day by 1.5 hours.  It was only 2 and I was still feeling pretty strong so I said sure – little did I know what I was saying.
So off we went and the first 45 minutes were pretty easy and just a steady climb – and then before me was a 200 feet wall of rock that looked to go straight up.  We started up it and it was as if every ounce of oxygen had been sucked out of me.  We moved up the wall through a series of 10 or 12 foot switchbacks that just kept getting steeper and steeper – and I was completely gassing out.  For the next 90 minutes, it was a battle between knowing I had no other option to climb (where else could I go?) and wondering if I really could physically do it or not.  It became a battle of measuring off 40 half steps at a time – 38, 39 and 40 and then resting for 2-3 minutes before starting again.  I think only two things got me to the top: 1) knowing the cause I was climbing for and heading back down wasn’t an option, and 2) the prayers of many back home.  It truly was the most physically exhausting and mentally challenging thing I had ever done in my life.

At 5:00, we finally crested the top and trudged into camp.  All I could do was grunt hi to Josephat and Naftaly, drop my pack to the ground and pass out on my sleeping bag for an hour.  They served me dinner that night, but between my exhaustion and the thoughts of eating 3-day old meat (no cooler) and spaghetti, I really didn’t eat much at all.  It was freezing cold and there was a sleety drizzle, so I ate dinner in my tent alone.  I packed my stuff for the next day and knew my 4 am wake-up call wouldn’t be long for the ascent to the summit.