As planned yesterday, we left at 8:30 am this final morning. Yes, barring the summit day, this was the standard leaving time each day.

​

The plan was to get to Mweka Hut and continue down to Mweka Gate, which was the park exit.



The first leg, a two hour walk covering 3.14 Km and dropped the altitude by 700m was to be through a path that looked more like a dried up gully with rounded large pebbles and chipped away rocks. And thanks to the rapidly decreasing altitude, better breathing, more oxygen and easy 'ish' path, we reached Mweka hut in merely 50 minutes. I felt strong and it was all good. We were down to 3100m already. The knees were being abused, but it was not really hurting. And all this with an extra 2 litres in my back pack. With the surroundings to coming back to life the green just kept creeping higher and higher. And there was finally shade!

We crossed Mweka camp and i decided another 4 hours would be too long to the exit. The way down from this point on was not a pebbled slope but log based mud steps, and they were never ending. I was coasting along the steps almost with a vengeance, but about a half hour after Mweka camp everything that could possibly go wrong, did – a sudden unbearable pain in both knees and the distinct possibility and sensation of blistering right at the bottom of my heels.
 

The manageable, fun, green and fast trail quickly turned into a nightmare for me personally. The way down from there also had a good deal of unmanaged track, and once in the thick of the forest, the steps got tricky. With branches of massive trees coming out on the track, moisture seeped into the earth and the muddy log steps cause it to be slushy and slippery. I slowed down to such an extent thanks largely to my knees and heels that I undid all the great time I had made up.

​

All in all, it took almost all of the 4 hours to get to the gate and the learning out of it was that no matter what you decide, in the end one should never overestimate yourself and never underestimate the mountain. That, and it really isn't over till it actually is!
 

But the great thing about the mountain is that once you respect it and give it it’s due, one thing is for sure, it doesn’t go anywhere. Only you do. So each step you take towards or from it, you are exactly that much closer or further away from it.



Happy Trails.