Adventure Afternoon: The Warsaw Caves

If you ever find yourself in the Peterborough area of Ontario, I highly recommend checking out the Warsaw Caves Conservation Area.

(website with much more information can be found here)

 

After visiting with some friends (and an unfortunately unsuccessful hunting trip in the morning for the boys), we headed to the caves to check them out.

There are 7 in total (on the map, the boys found and explored more unmapped ones) and many of them connect so you can go down into Cave 1 and come out of Cave 3.

 

The park is beautiful, the ground covered with these giants stones out of which grow massive trees.

 

 

 

Some of the openings are so tight you wonder how a person could possibly squeeze through.

But after sending in our guinea pig (John) we followed him into the dark and squeezed our way through the cold rocks into every single cave.

 

At times we could walk, but more often than not we found ourselves crawling on our hands and knees or flat on our stomachs to wiggle through very narrow openings.

 

For someone who isn't crazy about the dark, nor small spaces where an exit isn't always readily visible, the experience was amazing.

 

I had so much fun, I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

Plus I didn't see a single bat or animal and only saw 2 somewhat large spiders (who minded their own business and didn't try to attack me as I feared they would).

 

After exploring the dark caves we walked down to the water and took in the scenery. The boys attempted to find new caves (I was content to stick to the ones that were on the map) and climbed up onto some of the larger rocks.

 

Highly recommended.

The park is open for camping, canoeing, hiking, picnics, fishing and swimming as well so I may be back next summer to check out the other activities.

 

Kilimanjaro: Day 6 - Mweka to the Finish

Sunday Feb. 10, 2013

Springlands Hotel, Moshi

 

Sleeping in until 7 am was a luxury. I slept literally until David knocked on our tent and brought us hot water. Breakfast was the standard except the ouji was a bit grainer and paler - but I still devoured it. We packed up our stuff and then the porters came together and sang 2 Kili songs for us. We got to shake hands with them but most of us went in for big hugs with lots of asante sanas.

 

 

Then we walked for about 3 hours to the end of the path where the buses were waiting. Along the way we saw black & white collubus monkeys (though hard to see very well because most of them were hiding in the trees) and blue monkeys. It made the trip feel complete.

 

We were very fortunate to have had good weather (a Swiss guy at dinner one night back at the hotel had told us he summited in a blizzard), to have all summited, and to have had such good people with us.

 

Back at the hotel we had time to shower (the most glorious shower I may have ever had), do a bit of laundry in the sink, and then to have lunch and some celebratory drinks. Haji, Nuru and Norbert came back to present us with out certificates and then a few of us cabbed into downtown Moshi to use the ATM. After tipping our guides and porters they left, and we continued to drink and reminisce until about 10 pm.

Now I'm in a king sized bed, very excited to fall asleep.

 

Things I would pass on to other Kili climbers:

 

1. Wear lots of layers. The temperature can change from wet snow to hot sun in about 30 mins.

2. Hiking poles saved our lives on slippery rocks many times - have them.

3. Get a perscription for diamox (acetazolamide). 3 of our 8 didn't take it and only one of those 3 didn't have horrible altitiude sickness. Everyone felt pretty awful at the top but I'm convinced the diamox is what kept me from feeling fine.

4. A lot of it is mind over matter. Yes, you will feel exhausted. Yes, sometimes you feel like you've reached your limit. But you haven't. When you stop and look around you and see the incredible views you're priveledged to, you realize the entire thing is worth it.

5. Be friendly. Your group are the people who get you to the top. Cheer them on and they will push for you to succeed too.

6. Respect and appreciate the porters. They will blow you away. They go twice your pace with no poles, often not really appropriate gear or clothing, and they carry 15-20 kg while they do it. They work hard for very little money. Say hello, learn their names.

7. Bring lots of meds. I almost single handedly supplied our group with ibuprofen. It is a must. You will likely get at least one headache. Bring imodium (I had the opposite problem but if you've got diarrhea you won't want to scramble up the Barranco wall), gravol, tylenol, tums (especially if you like to put hot sauce on everything like I do), etc.

8. Drink lots of water. The Swahili word for water is 'maji' and it is like magic.

9. Bring energy bars and snacks like trail mix. Our trail mix went over well with our guides. We also had candy and chocolate and people were always happy to see both of those things.

10. Bring good sunscreen and PROTECT YOUR LIPS. Half of us have very chapped lips from the sun or wind or both. It's painful. I've been rubbing everything on them to try and heal them faster.

 

And lastly - Enjoy every single moment. At times it felt like we'd never get to our destination (many, many times actually) but summiting is a blur and before you know it you're getting on a bus to come back to the hotel. Enjoy the views, the stars, the uncomfortable sleeps, the weird malaria pill dreams (I only had one), the amount of oxygen you realize you can take in at the lower altitudes, everything.

 

P.S. Bring things you can trade at the finish gate. I traded a flashlight for the two bracelets. But the winner was one of our group members who traded her bracelet for a beer!

 

 

 

Kilimanjaro: Day 5: Barafu to Uhuru Peak to Mweka

Sat Feb 9th, 2013

Barafu Camp (4600 m)

 

So.

We were woken up at 12 am and got ourselves ready before heading to the mess tent for ouji and cookies and tea/coffee/milo. We got out water and then we were off! 5-ish hours walking uphill at a slow pace in the cold. It was incredible when we first started because we could see the line of headlights leading up the mountain. The stars were absolutely awe inspiring. Once we got high enough we could see the entire city of oshi lit up. Such a crazy view. We took our breaks, we passed other groups (I got rudely spoken to by another climber for passing him even though my guide was physically pushing me), and we sang songs and made small talk. I tried to keep myself from thinking about how much further we had to walk by writing this entry in my head and thinking about what I would do when I got home (answer: take a hot bath and stay in it until the water goes cold, buy and eat an entire footlong sub). We saw two people being brought back down the mountain and we saw several people sitting to the side puking their little hearts out. One from our group threw up his breakfast. For the most part no one else really complained about the altitude - escept one or two (including John) who felt light headed, and one who felt tight chested. I popped an advil before we left and I didn't even have a glimmer of a headache/

 

 

After walking for 5 hours, the sun began to rise. Never have I seen a more beautiful sunrise in my entire life. From up that high it seemed almost magical.

 

We finally made it to Stella Point and that sign was a welcome sight after such a grueling walk. I thought to myself that this was what exhaustion felt like.

 

We finished watching the sun come up, switched off our headlmaps, and took a few pictures. Then we walked for about 45 mins around the edge of the crater to the summit. Beside us was the most beautiful and impressive glacier I've ever seen. Also the only glacier I've ever seen but I doubt many could top it. Walking to Uhuru Peak I started out with a burst of excited energy but before long I was walking 'pole pole' for no other reason than I was exhausted.

 

 

 

 Finally reaching the summit was an incredible feeling. Even more incredible was that all 8 of our group made it to the sumit. We got some nice group photos.

 

 

I was starving so I sat down and ate a granola bar. No one ese had any appetite. I obviously have reverse mountain sickness. Once we got our pictures and hugged our guides, we made our way back down - which took about 3 hours from summit to the camp.

 

At the top I had on 3 pairs of pants, 2 gloves and hand warmers, and 7 layers of shirts and jackets. By the time we got back to Barafu I was ready to strip down to my underwear. We essentially slid down a sandy, rocky hill for about an hour, then carefully picked our way down through rocks. Finally getting back to camp was an amazing feeling. We lay down for a nap then packed up. We have lunch then we will walk again for awhile to our last camp for dinner. Where I will sleep like a baby.

Such a tiring day but so rewarding. Haji told me at the summit, "so piece of cake, right? (I said no) I know, but if I told you how hard it was none of you would have gotten out of your tents."

8:00 pm

Mweka Camp (3100 m)

So we walked another 18 km to our final camp. That's crazy. We walked 40 km today. Haji said that to the summit and back was about 22 km. Insane! As we left barafu it started to snow and it snowed for about the first hour of our 5 hour walk.

 

Then it turned to rain, then it let up and we had some sunshine. The walk was all downhill but it was hard on our knees and feet and toes, especially after coming back down from 5895 m to around 4600 m. We talked a lot about our experience getting to the summit - a lot of people had hallucinations, would never do it again, etc. Personally, I don't think I'd ever do it again but I'm SO glad I did it. It was incredibly tough and easily the hardest, most challenging thing I've done. But it was also the most amazing. I'm so proud of myself for reaching the summit. I'm proud of our group for all getting there. And I'm proud of John for getting to the top.

The world's highest free standing mountain!

Then we hiked another 18 km down rocky trails on only a few hours nap (about 30 mins for me). I bathed my feet when I got here. Then we had crepes and potato/vegetable soup, rice with chicken and sauce and mango and bananas. It felt so nice to sit and eat and drink hot tea. Right now I'm in my sleeping bag, ready for a looooong sleep tonight. Shane negotiated with Haji and got us an extra hour of sleep in the morning. Wake up call at 7 am!

We're back down at a low altitude so everyone's in good spirits. Tomorrow after breakfast we walk for about 3 hours to the bus that will bring us back to the hotel. I'm sad that this adventure is coming to an end but I can't wait to take a shower and sleep on a mattress again. Plus - next up is the safari!

 

 

Kilimanjaro: Day 4 - Barranco to Barafu

Feb. 8th, 2013         5:15 pm

Barafu Camp (4600 m)

We're at base camp after a solid day of hiking 16 km uphill, downhill, and back up again. We woke up at 6, had our standard breakfast, then hit the road around 8. Climbing the Barranco Wall was...crazy.

I started out absolutely freezing and in no time I had warmed up. Parts of the wall required us to put away our poles and scramble up and across rocks. It was fun so long as you didn't look down.

(that's me with the yellow backpack)

Once we got up we went back down into a small valley, then back up out of it, and then back down into an even bigger valley and then up out of it! At the top we could see the tents at Karanga camp where we were having lunch.

(Looking ahead at the path we'd be following - this was only the small valley)

This lunch...we all cheered when it came in and we finally asked to meet the chef (Hans) to thank him. We had chicken, french fries, and coleslaw after potato ginger soup and bread. After lunch we walked another 3 hours to Barafu. The clouds came in overtop of us so in the span of about 30 minutes we went from hot and sunny weather to misty rain, to sleet and ice pellets. When we got to our tents we were cold and wet but now it's beautiful and sunny again. From Karanga to Barafu the landscape changed from alpine desert to... there's no name for it but it was all shale. It looked like someone had built stone houses then smashed them to bits.

(John capturing a photo opportunity and me capturing a photo of that photo)

I had a bit of a headache but I popped an ibuprofen and it's starting to go down. We're eating dinner now (leek soup with french toast, and spaghetti with vegetable sauce), then we sleep til 12, get woken up and push for the summit at 1 am!

Kilimanjaro: Day 3 - Shira to Barranco

 

Feb. 7, 2013.       7:40 pm

Barranco Camp (3940 m)

 

So this might be officially the earliest I've ever been in bed without having worked a night shift prior. We woke up this morning at 6 (standard), had tea in the tent, got our hot water bowls to wash up with, then met in the mess tent for breakfast. Ooji (the porridge), toast, omelettes, hotdogs, and mango. Then we got our bagged lunches and were ready to go.

 

We hiked 18 km today. Left around 8:15 and got to camp around 3:15. We ascended up to 4500 m from our camp at 3850 m to the lava tower (*Lava Tower may actually be somewhere closer to 4800 m - I've seen varying elevations) which is this amazingly huge rock that John said looks like an oversized Pride Rock (from the Lion King).

 

 

We started out the day warm and sunny (John was in a t-shirt) but then the clouds rolled in over us and it became incredibly misty. We descended from the Lava tower down a really foggy, treacherously rocky slope. But the rain started just as we were about 5 mins away from the camp so we avoided getting really damp.

 



Our group is awesome and really supportive of one another. The two feeling the altitude were in bad form today - tons of headaches and both threw up again. But they managed to rally and started feeling better. We were singing a lot of movie theme songs today and some Bon Jovi. At dinner I think we were all feeling a bit tired/feeling the altitude because we got the giggles really bad. It's nice to get along with everyone so well.

The terrain quickly changed as we left Shira camp (which has been my favourite so far). We woke up the clouds had drifted away and we got the most amazing view of the summit. Also of Mt. Meru in the distance.

 

 

 

It's too cloudy tonight to see any stars or even really to see the Barranco wall that we'll be tackling tomorrow. We caught a glimpse of it coming in and it looks terrifyingly large.

Once we got under way on our hike the heather-moorland quickly disapeared and we were in the alpine desert zone. The plants look exactly like what you'd expect to see in the desert. At a few points it felt like we were on Mars - red soil and only rocks.

Once we got back down to our camp we saw a ton of these strange trees that I've been calling Giant Pineapple Trees. Because they look like giant pineapples growing on trees.

 

 

 

 

So far John and I have been doing well. No headaches or sickness. John did have a bit of trouble finishing his dinner which is a common altitude issue. I apparently can't NOT eat and finished my plate plus the rest of John's. We had carrot soup and crepes, then pasta with a beef sauce which was delicious. We're being fed very well. Our lead guide seems pretty sure we'll all make it to the summit.

Speaking of that - tomorrow we hike 4 ish hours up Barranco wall then stop for a hot lunch. Then another 2 ish hour hike to our base camp. Oncethere we'll eat dinner then go directly to sleep. We'll be woken around 11 so we're ready to go at midnight and then we push for the summit doing about 1 km an hour. (*note: our guide lied to me and told me it was only 6 km from our camp to the summit. It was 11 km). 6 hrs to Stella Point then 1 hr to Uhuru Peak. I'm excited but so nervous.

So far this has been the most exciting and exhilirating thing I've ever done. Fingers crossed I make it to the summit!

Now... I guess to sleep! We've got a 16 km hike and a super big wall to climb tomorrow. Our guide keeps saying it'll be a "piece of cake" but we suspect he's lying to keep our spirits up.

Kilimanjaro: Day 2 - Machame to Shira

Continuing on with day 2 of the climb!

Feb 6th, 2013       2:15 pm

Shira Camp (3850 m)

Day 2 - successful! We left camp around 7:30 this morning and hiked uphill (almost zero plateaus) for about 5 hours (10km) and ascended from 3000 m to 3850 m. 

We left in the morning to avoid the rain and we were lucky. As soon as we got into the lunch tent it started to rain. Even some ice pellets fell (I called it hail but one of the girls works as a flight service specialist aka air traffic controller and she knows her weather).

The hike today was technically more challenging: all uphill, sometimes at a very steep incline and very rocky. We passed through a few dodgy spots where we were walking across thin outcrops of rocks over looking some steep drops. But so long as you looked down instead of up you were okay.

It was crazy at times to look back and see how high we had come. We walked straight through the clouds and our camp is right in the cloud path too. At times when they roll in it's like the whole camp has disappeared. Once we get above 4100 m it's all snow, or so we've been told.

Two of our group members are really feeling the altitude. They've had bad headaches and both threw up today. They're troopers though, that's for sure. I'm glad I'm taking diamox (acetazolamide). All I've dealt with is the occasional tingle in my fingers. Definitely liveable.

We've just finished lunch (carrot soup with french toast minus the sweetness, and pasta with a beef & vegetable sauce. Breakfast was this very thin porridge made with corn flour which was surprisingly pretty good, toast, eggs, hotdogs, and some fruit. Then we got little bags of snacks to take with us. David is our waiter who brings the food to us and he is adorable.

We're resting now for about 2 hrs and so long as the rain holds off (it's stopped now) we'll be going on an hour and a half hike another 100 - 150 m up to acclimatize to the altitude. Tomorrow apparently is a 7 - 8 hr day but not too hilly....we'll see. Nap time.

----nap ---

The landscape has changed completely from rain forest to transition (kind of where Machame camp was) to moorland-heather zone. There are no more trees, just shrubs and the kind that you would expect to see in the desert. The ground is very rocky, no grass, no soil really. There were muddly patches and some streams and even a beautiful small waterfall that some of the porters were catching water from underneath. Speaking of water, I've managed to put away almost 3 L today. They recommend 4 -5L but that's crazy. Yesterday I foolishly thought I had finished my 2L camel pack but I had only gotten through about half of it and 1 L, while under normal circumstances seems like a lot, was not going to get me to the summit. I added Mio to my water and the flavour helped me down it much faster. Plus once I drank about half of my water bottle I added in mango juice and then killed that. The downside is that I have to pee all the time. But I'm in good company: one of the other girls pees as much as I do!

 

The nap was fine, just waiting to find out now if we'll be going hiking. It just finished raining quite hard for about 5 -10 mins. Haji will let us know.

8:45 pm.

So we walked. A gradual incline up 180 m for about an hour then we turned around and came back down. The raingear is on now though. Tomorrow we follow the same route upwards. Dinner tonight was amazing. Potato and ginger soup with crepes, fried chicken, rice with vegetable sauce and a cabbage slaw with pickles. Plus the standard tea/coffee/hot chocolate. It's coooooold tonight but the view is amazing. For a bit while the sun was setting we could see orange lightning off in the distance. The stars tonight... I don't think I've ever seen more of them at once.

Wake up at 6 am with more tea for 7 - 8 hrs of hiking around the lava tower!

Our camp (above)

Our camp from our afternoon hike (below)

Addendum: I think Shira camp was my favourite spot. It was relatively flat and open and the stars were insanely clear in the sky.