Mt. Cameroon

This is the longest blog I have ever posted! It took my quite awhile and I appologize if there are just TOO MANY pictures! I had to at least try to give you a very, very small taste of my lastest adventure which was about 17 hours of hiking Mount Cameroon, about 14,000ft elevation, at roughly a 45 degree angle, over 2 days. We set out at 5:45am, not quite midnight for those of you in central time back home and hiked "all night" for you until we reached "hut 2" around noon here, a total of 5 hours and 45 minutes the first day. At one point where we were feeling pretty tired out, slow, and pathetic, we asked our guide what the fastest "white man time" is from the countless people he has taken up the mountain and to our great shock he said, "This is the fastest time" we questioned in disbelief and sure enough, getting to hut 2 usually takes his groups 8 hours and we did it in under 6! :) Guess Mt. Cameroon has just never seen a group of ND kids!

We had some nice time to relax at hut 2, rested in the sun, played some Dutch Blitz, and ate some yummy food!! Warmed up and crawled in bed around 8 because it had already been a long day and our next one was suppose to start before 5! After breakfast the next morning we started out before the sun and reached the summit 2 hours and 44 minutes later!! 2 hours after that we were back at hut two (and I had collected a sprained ankle) but we fed our tummies once more and then started the 6.5 hours down to complete the trip! Most trips up Mt. Cameroon are 3 days and you go down the back side which is less steap but we opted for the 2 day trip that comes back down the steep part... was nice to be back last night, but treck down the steep part was excruciating work and we're all walking like VERY old people today!

The start is litterally like a jungle/rain forest, then you climb through the equivilant of landscape from many different states back home... all the way eventually to "ND" at the summit!

My pictures are all in radom order because they came from 4 different cameras, and with the size of this blog there is almost no way I can sort them for you, plus there is some from the way up and then back down... so just try to follow my captions :) hope you're not too confused! The sights of God's amazing creation were too numerous to absorb as we climbed, though physically exausting, it was mentally and spiritually refreshing!

Job 26:14
And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?



Not sure what, but I guess there was something cool we were looking at :)
Despite what you might think, going down is not easy, every single step requires much thought and care, loose rocks, dew, moist ground, and a rolled ankle make every step a real treat. Oh, and you can see some of Buea far below in this picture.






They made us a nice little fire for warmth when evening came, these are our native faces.



You know you're tired when: You fall fast asleep in a standing position!




The facility ;)

At the summit, it feels pretty amazing to be at the highest point in Cameroon with your camera.

A beautiful sight, hut 2 where we spent the night 5 hours and 45 minutes from the start.

This cave was only about 5 minutes from hut 2 so we took a little trip over there before our meal... it was really neat, went pretty deep but since we're not totally in the dry season yet it was too wet in there to go down very far.

Hut 3, 45 minutes from the summit.

My ankle... It got bigger and some color now, Mary is so proud of this picture, says it looks like it should be in an African disease book... I look like I have African feet with super long toes! An albino African that it!




A little rest :) this is at hut 2, done for the day, just waiting for food.


It looked like dill, smelled like dill, ...and tasted like dill. African pickles?!?



The summit!

It's a bit hot up here for North Dakotan blood! ;) (really it felt a lot like home hehe)






Hut 1, good thing there was another set of "stairs" around back!



Another cave :)


This is taken as straight as I could possibly get it, no exaggeration, this is how steap it really was!



Caught the Skittles in the air! Oh imported candy!

"Magic Tree"

Dinner time!

Our whole crew at the end of our adventure!