3rd Tallest Mountain in Africa!
Day one: 6 hours, 6,036 ft. elevation gain, 4.6 miles.
Mt. Cameroon, there are definite mixed feelings when I hear the name. “Do you climb mountains?” this was the question I got the night before we were supposed to climb Cameroon. I can’t say that I have climbed any impressively tall mountains, but I do enjoy hiking… if that even counts. The rest of that evening’s talk centered on different climbs or hikes people had done and I started getting more and more concerned about climbing the next day. Moriah and I set our alarms for 5 o’clock so that we would be sure to have everything ready and be loaded up at 5:45. We should have known that even though we were told 5:45 we wouldn’t be leaving the house till at least 6:15. After much waiting we finally made it up to the Old Bicec (bank) where we met up with our guides and porters.
The porters were awesome. At our planning meeting with Walters, we had been told to bring our big backpacking backpacks with us (if we had them) because it would make it easier on the porters. Once I saw their packs, I understood why Walters had said that. They had plastic grain sacks for the pack and twine for straps.
Our trek started and by the time I made it to the Upper Farms, I was already out of breath. I was thinking to myself that, if I was already tired what was I going to be doing later when it got tougher?! After about 2 hours of hiking we made it to Hut 1, where the cook gave us fresh avocado, hard boiled eggs, and bread.(Mmm, Mmm Good!) Once we rested for a bit we headed on up the trail, well I should say, I crawled up the trail. After we got out of the jungle the trail basically went straight up (at least that’s what it felt like) and it was mostly lava rock. (Bring on the StairMaster.) Basically throughout the whole trip Moriah and I were bringing up the rear just to make sure there were no stragglers (had nothing to do with fact that I was out of breath and dying!). Once reaching Hut 2 at about 2:30 we all sprawled out and took naps. Not long after I lay down I was awoken because fire was coming our way. There has been a lot of clearing of the mountain in preparation for the Race of Hope at the end of February, so we were just in the path of some of that. (If you’ve never heard of the race you should check it out on Youtube, it’s pretty intense!) The rest of that day was spent just relaxing and socializing. We had a wonderful dinner of rice and stew and since a lot of us were pretty tired we headed to bed fairly early. There were a couple of people that slept in tents, but the majority of us in the shelters. The shelter had raised wooden platforms that we spread our mats and sleeping bags out on. (not the comfiest, but still pretty decent!)
Day 2: 9 ½ hours, 3,939 ft elevation gain, 5,726 ft elevation loss, 10.4 miles.
Woke up at 6:30, packed up our stuff and had a breakfast of tea, bread, and hard boiled eggs. We were able to head out of camp by 7:45. It was hard starting again, kind of like on the first day, but as I got farther up the trail it became a little easier starting again after the breaks. I’d have to say though that, during my many breaks I did enjoy the scenery! It was really gorgeous up there!
Each hill we climbed I would hope that we were almost there, but I was told that it was just a little farther. When we did finally see the summit, that’s when it seemed to take longer. The altitude was getting to me and I was having to take more breaks just to catch my breath. I felt super bad for our guide, Walters, because he was having to wait for us. He was extremely patient with Moriah and I as we slowly made our way up the mountain. I also felt bad that the rest of the group was having to wait for me. (They all were at the top probably an hour or so ahead of us, and it was pretty chilly up there too!) As we got closer the group at the top started giving encouragements and cheering us on, telling us, “Only a little bit farther!”, “You can do it!”. It was so nice having that encouragement and knowing that they weren’t completely frustrated with how slow we were!
At reaching the top I looked for the closest place to collapse. I then pulled out one of my granola bars, put another jacket on, and then crawled over to the summit sign to get a group picture. It was so exciting knowing that I actually made it to the summit. (And the whole way down the other side of the mountain I, kept remembering it and getting SO excitedJ) About 15 minutes after Moriah and I got to the top we all started down the back of the mountain, headed to Man Springs where we were going to be camping that night. Going down was a whole lot easier then going up (at least in the beginning). There were three main areas that we went through: gravel area, lava rock, grassland and jungle. Many times throughout the trip I had to stop to dump out all the sand, dust, and gravel from my shoes.
It was probably the last hour of the hike that day, that I started just going into robot mode; putting one foot in front of the other trying to keep my legs from buckling under me! I was very glad to reach camp that evening. To rest and clean my feet off. (It was crazy I had dirt all the way up to my thigh!) After getting some rest Hilary, our cook, made a wonderful meal for us and then I headed to bed.
Day 3: 5 hours, 4,370 ft elevation loss, 8.7 miles
We got up at about 5:30 ish and had another breakfast of bread, hard boiled eggs, and tea. Then we packed up our gear and headed out for the last 5 hour stretch. Once again the view was amazing, more lava, grassland and jungle. I would have to say that this was probably one of the hardest days. I was kind of ready to be out, and it seemed like the trail just went on and on, straight down. I’m sure that I fell (at least) 5 or 6 times because my legs giving out randomly. My walking stick, which I named Jed, kept splitting and getting shorter and shorter.
But despite all the achy muscles, seemingly endless downhill hiking, and biting ants there were many times through out the trip that just cracked me up. If I could have been one of the porters and been able to see myself limping along while they literally ran down the trail. Or being able to see myself jumping over the ant trails so that I wouldn’t get bitten. And the other one was when Moriah and I started singing “Higher Ground” and changed the words, instead of, “Lord plant my feet on higher ground” it was, “Lord, plant my feet on lower ground” J.
We got out of the jungle at about 12 which wasn’t too bad of a time… yet apparently we didn’t look that great because all the villagers kept saying, “Ashia!” (I’m sorry) as we passed them. I was very ready to be done at that point and even more so ready for a shower. So, after waiting for the rest of our crew to show up and for our ride to get to Bakwango (the village we ended in) I was able to have a nice cold bucket bath, since our water had stopped working! The rest of that day I just sat in my room and enjoyed not having to do anything!
I am VERY glad that I did the climb! It was extremely challenging, the scenery was spectacular, our group was tons of fun, and the weather behaved! I’d say over all it was a great trip.
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