Nairobi - Enjoying the Mountains and Coreolis effect

Hello All! It seems like an eternity since my last post. Even though it has only been a little more than a week! I love blogging!

Well, I just got off of Mt. Kenya yesterday, and the trip was anything but boring! Everyday was full of Adventure! And of course, Mt. Kenya was full of firsts for me. In fact, one of the most impressive things was the pure elevation that I encountered. (And of course this van that we encountered on the drive there) Here is a day by day account of what we did.

Day 1 - The park gate. This is where we were able to drive to. We spent our first night by the car. This night was spent at 10,000 ft! At this campsite you could immediatly tell that we were in a national park. There were monkeys all over the place, one of which stole Lucas' apples! We had to chase it around to get it to drop one. After it had taken a bite of course! Other than that, this day wasn't too exciting, for it consisted mostly of driving and packing.

Day 2 - The gruelling hike to the MCK hut. MCK stands for Mountain Club of Kenya. Luckilly, since Lucas is an MCK member, we were able to take advantage of their hut. This Hut is where we stayed for the next 5 nights. The Hike went up this beautiful valley and ended at over 13,000 feet! Actually 13,779 feet! More or less, it was at the base of the technical climbing of Mt. Kenya, and it was higher than I had ever been before. (My previous record was 12,799 ft. . .The top of Granite Peak. The highest peak in Montana.) So after carrying 60 lbs. packs for five hours, we were exhausted! (60 lbs from climbing gear, camping gear, clothes, food for a week, and no porters.)

Day 3 - Rest, kind of. On this day we thought we'd just explore the immediate area around the MCK hut. We ended up hiking to a Tarn (a lake formed by a glacier) and then to the Glacier above the Tarn. What we ended up doing was hiking all the way up to Arthurs Seat at 15,308 ft! At this point I was very worried if I'd get any type of Altitude Sickness, but thankfully for the entire week I felt nothing if not just a little more tired than usual. But no coughing or dizziness occured!

Day 4 - My new Personal Record! On this day we hiked the Peak Circuit which is about a 12 km loop around the technical peaks. The circuit also goes on top of the third highest peak in the area called Pt. Lenana. We woke up at 3 in the morning so that we could see the sun rise from Pt. Lenana. Before the sun rose was probably the best hiking I have ever done! The moon was at 3rd quarter, so at 3 in the morning it was directly over head. The night was clear and we could walk completly by moonlight. Considering Mt. Kenya is so close to the Equator, I was able to see the southern cross at the same time as the big dipper! (The north star would've been visible, however the mountain was blocking it.) And three and a half hours later, we were just below Pt. Lenana watching the sun rise over the African Plains. We could see for miles and miles. Apparently from this spot you can sometimes even see Mt. Kilimanjaro, however it was just a little too hazy for us to see that far. Then an hour later I was standing at 16,354 feet! It was beautiful, albeit cold and windy! There are only two other peaks higher than this in the Mt. Kenya area. Both require 7 hours of technical climbing with a night spent at a tin shack on the top of the mountain at 17,000 feet. By this time, my partner had decided that he didn't want to attempt that climb for it was a little demanding for him. (I have no doubt in my mind that I could make it some other day!) After watching the Sun rise, we continued our hike for the next 8 hours around the main peaks. It was very gruelling, but the views were worth it!

Day 5 - Another Rest day of sorts. We were exhausted from the peak circuit from the day before, so we slept in a bit. Afterwards we decided to try and climb some rocks just in the back of the Hut area. So we pulled out our gear, and headed up. Well the rock quality was very crummy, so we just decided to top rope a fun little tower. Well, when I was on Rappel, I set my hand on a boulder about the size of my chest. It teetered and tottered, and finally toppled. Sure enough Lucas was standing just below me. . ."ROCK!" I yell. . ."ROCK! ROCK!" Lucas looks up in the nick of time and lunges out of the way of this massive boulder falling at him from 50 feet up. The rock thankfully missed him, however on impact, it shattered and a shard flew out and nicked him in the arm. Well, I guess these are the inherent risks of Rock Climbing, and it definatley gives you a reality check when something like that happens. Needless to say, we called it a day, and decided to stop climbing the crummy rock.

Day 6 - Another Epic Day. Today was planned for the climb of Pt. John. Pt. John is that spire you see off to the right of the main peaks. (Shown in Picture on Left) It is probably the most impressive feature on the mountain. Well, we woke up at 6 in the morning so we could be to the base of it by 9. Hopefully to the top by noon and down by 2 when the clouds always came in and covered the peaks. Well we came to the base of it, about 100 yards from where we were to rope up. I sat down to crack my back and take a quick breather, as did Lucas. After a minute or two, I said "Well. . ." (As anyone that hikes with me knows, when I say "well" it means I'm ready to go. . .) So, I stand up, turn my back to Lucas to put on my pack, and when I turn back towards Lucas, I see him laying face down on the ground. "Hmm. . ." I'm thinking. "What's he doing?" So I call out his name a few times. . .No answer. I walk over to him and touch him on the shoulder calling his name. . .No answer. For about 45 seconds he is just out! And finally he comes to. But he is completely disoriented, slurring his speech, and shivering. So my resemblences of First aid come to my aid, and I try to think of what to do. I end up determining that he pure and simple fainted, didn't hit anything when he fell, so I got him to some sunlight and started instucting him to put on Layers. He had on everything he had, and was still shivering. So, we got him some food and water, and finally, he started to come to. By this time, we decided that Pt. John was definately out of the question, and the best thing to do was to go back to the hut and rest. So, I took all his gear, and we started the long and arduous task of descending to the hut. And for the first half, he was stumbling every step of the way. I even had to catch him as he fell twice. It was a very interesting experience, and frankly, I hope I never have to be put in that position again. However it also makes me realize that the mountains are no joke, and things like that can and will happen. So as the boyscouts say. . .Be prepared! I feel I was ready to perform any other type of Rescue that could've ensued, such as CPR, so as far as that goes, I guess I'm kind of happy with how I performed in such a situation.

Day 7 - We decided to head out one day early due to the Massive headache Lucas had and the event of the previous day. So, for that reason, the very top of Mt. Kenya will have to wait for another day! So, we hiked out with about 45 lbs. packs in just over 3 hours. We then drove out and considering we were so close to the equator, we drove to it. And there was a guy there demonstrating this wonderful bit of Physics known as the Coreolis Effect! And it was phenomenol! Here's the set up. He had a juice jug filled with water. On top of that, he set an empty bowl. The bowl had a hole in the bottom about the size of a pea. When he filled the bowl, the water would drain out the hole into the juice jug. Then he floated a peice of straw ontop of the water in the bowl. Sure enough, we walked 20 meters north of the equator, and the straw rotated clockwise (like the water in a toilet bowl goes down clockwise in the northern hemisphere) We then walked 20 meters south of the equator and the straw rotated counter clockwise. We then walked directly onto the equator, and sure enough, the peice of straw didn't rotate at all! Looks like this guy Coreolis wasn't lying after all!

So here I am, back at Lucas' house typing away and waiting for my Safari to begin a couple days from now. Can't wait to tell you all about the wonderful animals I am going to see! Till next time!

Oh, and by the way, you'll notice that the hat I am wearing is a different one than I have been wearing for the past few months. This is because I was walking down a street in Nairobi, and a vendor LOVED my hat. So we bartered my hat for one of his wood carvings. But after all was said and done, I missed my hat quite a bit. Luckilly Lucas had a stack of extra hats and he gave me the new one! So there you have it. Now Big Sky Aikido will be forever advertised in Nairobi!

Also, I'd like to post more pictures of this trip too, however my Internet is on a Modem, so the pictures upload rather slowly. Maybe I can get some more up later!