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Show Saturday, December 2, 20C0 The Park Record C-7 f inyciii juuiiiy uui Earnshaw team wades through a sticky end, gratefully reenter civilization furf of a serifs: Thursday, Aug. 7, 2(H)0, two luk City residents resi-dents were part of a thn.hing group that stimulated Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in AfHca. Craig Earnshaw lias Ined in Park City for right years and owns a software company with offices in Prospector Square. Allison, Ins daughter, is a sophomore sopho-more at Bnglutm Young University. She graduated from Park City High Si fool in IW where she was a sumd-out athlete on the soccer and basketball teams. Earnshaw has done several other mountain ikmbs including Aconcagua, the highest point in South America and ft. Elbrus, the highest peakt in Europe. This was Allison's fir ft mountain, i by Craig Earnshaw RECORD GUEST WRITER The schedule called for us to rest for a couple of hours, then move down 4 the camp at 10.000 feet for the tlighl. No one wanted want-ed to go. buf no one really wanted want-ed to spend another night in the cold at 15,500 feet either. So about 4 p.m. we put our boots on once again and headed down. It was easy walking and the sun was bright and warm. We passed several sev-eral groups headed up for their summit attempt (he next day and we passed on whatever encouragement encour-agement we could offer. Along the trail we got some of the best pictures of the whole trip. One shows Allison and me with the snow-capped Kilimanjaro lit by the late afternoon sun in the background. The peak looks a long way away and we had been there only eight hours before. It took another four hours to get to Mweka Hut. The suit set with an hour to go and suddenly we found ourselves on a dark tree-covered trail We were very tired at the end of a verv loni day. Again I was disappointed in our leader. First, he should have gotten us aw ay from camp in time to make Mweka before daik. Second, we all should have had lights with us. I had my headlamp head-lamp and Simon had a flashlight, but those were the only two lights for live of us. "I he path was black and muddy with the occasional rock tn ttfp tis: It was a slow, tedious Iin.il hour It was unnecessary, dangeious. and not very smart. We tiriiilly made camp and had our last dinner on the mountain We got into the tent, pulled the sleeping bags up to our chins and settled back in contentment. The camp was very crowded and noisy, but we slept Iikt babies Next morning we got away early We weie all ready to get down to showers. eod fod and QoidSpacs y aa - y- '"ill M'fti "r.-i1ll)lfr: -1. 1 mm j ,ri-jvj f 1 i j ' I'm i-r: OS Ihe Industry LcjJer ke rKUdcst consJli&xi in yea heme (601)972-5757 M (800)750-9052 , mi,- rinriffimn-'itiii-mmn nr n .iiii.i, i ,iii.,irm,r..,M.rM-a - - wnn. ....,..,. l,..f,J Wasatch Family Dentistry ddd- XSSS &54-4500 ' ' ' Heber City, Utah regular beds. But the mountain had one more nasty surprise for us. There are eight or ten trails heading up Kilimanjaro, but the park service has limited the egress to two trails. We set out with the porters and expected to finish in four hours. But soon we entered the mud and it got worse and worse as we descended. In the U.S. you wouldn't even be allowed on the trail. There was standing water on much of it, ever) place else was sticky wiih slippery mud. Almost everyone fell at least once. We wore gaiters and soon our boots and legs up to our knees were covered cov-ered with mud. In several places the trail bed was over six feet below the surrounding jungle, worn away by running water and thousands of footsteps. The trail widened to over a hundred feet in some places as people kept pushing back the jungle to find a dry place to step. There were absolutely no signs of any attempts at trail maintenance or restoration. Alter a few hours Allison did her only complaining of the whole trip. It was slow going and not much fun. The worst moment came when Allison put her foot into a mud hole and when she pulled her foot out her boot stayed stuck in the mud. 1 was just in front of her so I grabbed her arm and she hopped to the side w here she could stand. Her gaiter came off too so I just pulled on the gaiter and up came the boot too. She was able to get it back on without much mess and we continued on. One of the girls in our group had a knee that was hurting her and she started to fall back. Stephen kept her in front for a time, but then took the main' group and went on without her. Allison and I passed her too. Suddenly we heard her cry out as she fell. We hurried back and helped her up and decided to keep her with us. Il was another serious lapse by Stephen to leave her alone in obvious pain. She carried gamely game-ly on because there wasnl any way to help her. After more than five hours in the mud the trail finally dried up. We took some classic pictures of our sorry little group covered tn mud up to onr knees Then we set off on the last leg. Stephen left Pa.ie behind again so i worked out a way for her to lean on my arm and take the weight off her bad knee. It was slow and awkward but she said that it helped. After six hours we finally made it to Mweka Gate, the end of the trail. We had lunch and bought lome Cokes. I went around and said eoH)bve to the 6 fir ff It : PHOTO COURTESV OF CRAK3 EAPNSMA.V Trudging through the muck and mud, Craig and Allison Earnshaw complete the final stretch of their journey. guys I met on the mountain. We lined up and signed the park registers reg-isters and tilled out summit certificates cer-tificates for ourselves. Then it was into the van and off to the hotel, a two-hour ride away The hotel didn't have any svstem for cleaning up the mud so we ended up just making a mess of our rooms. The porters all gathered at the hotel to say goodbye. I collected the tip money from everyone and we presented it to Stephen. He said no. you have to give it to each one individually. So we had to go get change from the hotel and divide it all up, $15 for each porter. $30 for each assistant and $f5 for Stephen. I thought we'd never get it all right, but it came out and everyone seemed happy. The guides are paid about $5 a day so $3 a day for a tip jsnt bad. We took pictures, and the porters sang "Kilimanjaio, Kilimanjaro." One of the hotel guests who had returned the day before told me that it was traditional to buy the porters a round of beers, so we did that too. I gave Stephen and Simon T-shirts that I had brought from home. We had a nice dinner and wenf to bed early Unfortunately. I had forgotten to take my malaria pill until just before bed. Then I did exactly what voure not supposed to do. I took it without any finxl. It gave me the worst heartburn I have ever had for about two hours. I finally got to sleep only to be awakened at midnight by the girls in our group who were carrying on in the room next door. When I couldn't tike it anymore i stormed out and pounded on their door. They were smart enough uot to open it. but they did get quiet. The next morning we were picked up by our shuttle and taken on another six-hour ride through the vast African countryside. country-side. That evening back in Nairobi we enjoyed a verv cm- s Doiiokd t n " ..... i iv l tfnt'rd 1 ant Oy W( rosx to vxs Irat U t sbm fC OQT dt! 4TT3V of li&n mi OfSca. hi i-sjti a Ocsri, C5ct urajt at Lskfakaes! Crete perfect b yoe. Ei rsiks 's &a koiaVti i as siik of & si ktorx Tki "V. ' v , - -1 - licd dinner at the English hotel just up from ours. The next morning morn-ing was Sunday and we called all over try ing to find a church meeting meet-ing with no luck. Our plane left at 3:30 p.m. for Johannesburg. In the Johannesburg airport I heard some great African music in one of the stores and bought the CD to use as-the soundtrack for my trip video. I also got diarrhea as bad as I've ever had it. It lasted for a full 4S hours, but it could have been a lot worse. I didn t get sick until the very end of the trip and most of the time I was sick i was just silting on a plane with nothing else to do. It was four hours to Johannesburg, then 17 hours to New York with a stop at Sao in the Cape Verde Islands at 2 a m. for refueling. We had a seven-hour seven-hour layover in New York so Allison and I went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We walked down Wall Street, ate bagels (easy on my stomach) and enjoyed some spectacular weather. weath-er. Then at 3 p m. we got our last flight to Salt Lake and finally got home at ft p.m., 40 hours alter leaving Nairobi. Looking back, the safari was fantastic. It was one of the finest travel experiences I have ever had. It turned out that Kilimanjaro was a big. dirty, crowded mountain. But we set out on a mission and we reached our goal. On the way, we had some wonderful father-daughter bonding experiences And in th? end. that will be the lasting, memory mem-ory of this adventure. Help someone you love become more healthy. Give them a membership to BodyTcch. Any ooe year membership cotnes with a oae hour free pcrso&a! trtiaef session. (IS) to 185 lst) d daJ itub kcc. Oil BtvtvTnk H KitnKiU aiinft fo man aiwaiiiot 647-9111 mJiiMB MLB il:, 'Cljr r?f2S - Y, s- V'V'TW C.VT n ftiWn.k wra tc ( all today to sihedule an PuiLLirs Chiropractic - o j Whr- r.)t ,ir ,jc-o- appointment tth Or C hristinr. Bc'lU'iiiart. Building 1912 $idtMinder Drive, Suite 209 (43 S) 655-2708 je m . |
