Mountains of the Moon - Trekking the Rwenzori's

 We had set up ourselves for the trek to Mountains of the Moon. This “legendary” set of mountains were so named (as the story goes) by the Ancient Greek mathematician Ptolemy. That’s probably because they are clouded in cold and heat and weather through much of  every day, and more often only visible at night with moonlight, that reflected off of the top glaciers. At 5,000M+/15,000ft they are both high and inaccessible. They are Africa’s 3rd highest peaks (after Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya) but unlike these others, there are no crowds, in fact hundreds a year come here vs thousands a night on Kili. That was what drew us, the promise of unspoiled Africa, the remoteness and the chance to re-connect to an area we both really enjoyed.

Also unlike previous treks, we had arranged this Uganda adventure ourselves, John and I. John had found a very local guiding operation and they were our primary source of contact and information. We weren’t sure until the week or two prior if we’d be on our own or in a bigger group.

We got to Uganda’s capital Kampala, though never went in, electing instead to stay at Entebbe where the airport was on the northern shore of Lake Victoria. Partly as it was an hour plus each way and also as we were flying out again the next day to Kasese, as our trek starting point in western Uganda on a local Cessna operator called Aerolink and partly too as we had heard and researched little of note about Kampala. (big African congested city)

Our 3rd day of travel (still getting to the trek’s starting line, post long haul planes and thankfully a night in a nice bed) saw us fly from Entebbe to the area of Uganda bordering the DRC, where the runway was grass (read: a field) and the airport was a single room house. This was the western Uganda town of Kasese, where we would stay the night and meet fellow trekkers. We actually flew with Sebastiano, an Italian Coast Guard official from Genoa, who was easily identifiable on the flight from his mountain boots, which were too big to pack. Lovely gentleman.

Our briefing that night happened around 7pm with Moses Kasini, our Head Guide and Brian from Rwenzori Trekking. They outlined what to expect and who else would be going (a group of 10 Americans who were driving in from Kampala). Easy all around, we were set to depart at 7am the following morning to begin.

On day one we met the whole group, a party of 13 in total with us, including 10 Americans organized by “CrewTreks”, an airline flight crew adventure travel company, whose founder Marek was joining as well. Interestingly, this was Marek’s 2nd time up the mountains, so he was both knowledgeable and helpful. John and I and Sebastiano from Genoa, rounded out the 13. The plan as laid out early was for 5 of the crew-treks folks to go for the summit as well as we three. I was initially a little concerned as there were only 2 of the US group in their early 30’s while everyone else was 40-70+. I didn’t want John to feel isolated. It was a mirror image of the Everest trek we had done a couple years earlier in that sense.

We got our gear together and went from the hotel, piled into multiple vehicles and went to the trekking company base camp where we had another briefing that was largely the same as the previous nights', though we met all 4 guides and Peter Hunwick the Aussie owner of the company. Extra mountaineering gear was stored at top camp (good, we didn't have to carry it up) and we borrowed rubber boots for day 2 as it was supposed to be very boggy. *** (this should have been a bit more or a red -alert in hindsight). They also provided umbrellas which was an omen for day 1 it turned out in a weather and trail sense.

 We got a ride again to the trail head and set off as 43 all together. 13 trekkers, 4 guides and 26 porters. big group. After a fairly easy 2km set of ups and downs, we came to the Park gates and Ranger station where we registered (and paid entrance fees if not already done). The big feature that rather defined the day was the rain that began 1 km into the hike. Hard, big rain. We made some outerwear changes on the fly. We began in the rainforest at 1750M.

Two things became apparent at this point - our plan to bring big canoe-style water backpacks that are 100% waterproof was a smart idea, and secondly that the best waterproof clothing gear doesn’t breathe in 100% humidity and rain. Not when ascending steeply (30-45 degrees in spots) I for one was soaked to the skin from the hours of hard rain, and extreme steepness and poor footing. A muddy rocky trail after 4+ hours of hard rain becomes a river as we have learned in Algonquin hikes in days gone by. We were thoroughly wet, inside and out. Luckily it was warm.

The climb (about 800M) was challenging and slow, on par with a really hard workout. Some steps were super high and everyone lost footing at least once. But the walk took us up above the rainforest, and into the bamboo zone and then above it into the “heather zone”. Plants changed, it’s became less dense, cooler and the flowers were pretty spectacular. It’s also notable for the other people we saw - which was none.  The first day saw us move through four of five zones we ascended through, each a different bio-sphere and fascinatingly beautiful.

To say we were hot, dirty and mud covered is an understatement arriving at Sina Camp. It was a welcome breath of civilization with huts with solar lights and a set of tables and benches. Situated between waterfalls it was gorgeous. We were at 2575 M up in the Rwenzori/ Congo rainforest and it was bug free (mostly) and lovely. The porters of course beat us here so tea and hot chocolate and biscuits were out as we set about attempting to dry our gear and changing into warm layers. It was a busy happy couple hours til dinner made the more so as the rain had ended by 2pm. John even boldly made his way into a glacial waterfall to refresh.

The first night’s dinner was good - beef stew - and we got a briefing highlighting the next day we would climb 1000M and it would be muddy. We would be wearing rubber boots. In fact the rest of the trek was to be in their provided rubber boots. Sleep didn’t happen for either John or I - maybe jet lag, maybe being in a hut with 8 men where’s someone got up to take a pee every 45 mins. Morning was bleary and John and I felt nauseated. It was a hard climb again - about 7 hours but we exited the density of the rainforest, and the bamboo zones and the trail “opened up” and it was lovely. A mostly cloudy day where views were obscured, but we ate lunch at a little waterfall grotto that was stunning. Beyond words. But the trail was taking its toll a little. Steep, slippery and very muddy. Again today, we saw no one else.

2nd camp was at 3500M ( keep in mind the peaks are at 5000M) and the same pattern played out - teas for early arrivals, dinner about 6pm - rice and chicken (every meal was a big carb-load) in huge portions and a briefing. This day was to have featured an optional adjacent hike to 4000M but we were all too slow I guess. Day 2 featured no rain- so super pleasant. But the trail was 12-18” deep of mud in most places. John was fine, but my feet were really beat up. The rubber boots were painful in every direction by mid morning and my feet and legs were bleeding in numerous "rub" spots.

That night we will elected to do something about a lack of sleep.  Suspecting a cause in the Malaria medications - we stopped taking it. On the basis that the air temperature was too cold for mosquito’s anyway, it wasn’t much of a risk, and would potentially sort out our issue. (It didn’t). Sleep still proved elusive.

Day 3 saw us hike to Bugatta camp up to 4000M and started with an optional hike up the 500M cliff face nearby. That day, I felt like total crap. I hadn’t slept virtually at all, and my stomach was churning and nauseous. John did the cliff with 8 others while two of the slower ladies and 73 year old Mike and I went super slow. Over the course of the day, the mud continued as we traversed wet bogs and the occasional hill. The trekking company had built the odd boardwalk for the very deep mud, and these were oh-so welcome.  Plant life was 24 inches tall clumps of long grass, and even trees were getting sparse as we were well into the alpine zone. The few large trees there were maybe 10 feet high, and had expanding cabbage type pointed leaves usually in 3’s. Oddly pretty.

After 7 hours John and the “fast” crew caught us and I sped up and walked the remaining 90 mins with them. John shared the cliff ascent had near verticals that he had to climb down backwards. (I think I made the right call on that one). But going slow and moving had settled me and I had an enjoyable day chatting with Mike who was a retired US Military and AA captain. He was pragmatic and fascinating with tons of great stories.

And the mud wasn’t 100% constant as in some spots there were little boardwalks, the longest of which was 400M. They provided a welcome break and increased our 1km/hr pace significantly.

The rubber boots are worth mentioning. They don’t fit great and have ripped my feet to shreds - the soles are thin and the primary feature of the trail is the constant mud. So in that sense they’re necessary but they make ascending and descending rock painful. I’d taped my feet up completely by now, including my shins and calves which were bleeding from the top lip of the boots.

By the end of day 3, John and I talked about how we were each feeling and the idea of going for the top or not. I shared based on how I felt, as it was 3 sleepless nights and the challenges of the trail itself, I wasn’t going to try to summit. John thought he might still and I said I’d want to go to high camp if he did. He was concerned about me from the comments about the nature of the trail and my openness about how I was feeling physically.  I was starting diamox ( altitude meds) and continuing with the other stuff. Ironically I sleep like a baby that night. John however had a bad migraine when he woke and was feeling nausea. After some assistance from Marek with Aspirin and a blood / oxygen test, John did breakfast and started to feel better luckily. (In hindsight, we were both on heavy duty probiotics to combat bugs and inconsistencies in the food, and that was the cause of the nausea as my tummy was in overdrive processing and digesting - but we never got “sick”).  It's also worth pointing out out here that our group's shared super-efforts had bonded us quite fast.  Everyone helped one another.

Our first extra* people arrived this night at camp, an Austrian couple and their guide and porters that stayed on the same course for the next 3 days. It seems each of us had an “Austrians” story by the time we’d parted. They were...'special'.

Our 4th day featured moving through a high pass and a big descent followed by a couple hundred meter ascent. The pass was fogged; the descents muddy and treacherous and after 8 hours were all wiped - at 4000M still - and we arrived at Hunwicks camp. This one was different in a few ways. It had a sit down toilet ( still a hole in the ground, but with a seat) vs squatters, and a phone recharge station. It was “ advertised” as having warm showers ( it didn’t). In camp, there were the group who weren’t summiting (5) and John and I and the other 2 ladies elected to go to High Camp the next day, while one lady remained at Hunwicks knowing the whole group was to return the day after the summit and 500M descent /5km’s back from High Camp. Mike and his daughter had remained behind at the previous camp due to the hard going, so we were down to 11 in total.

It was a “ late night” by our standards as we weren’t done briefing and dinner til 9pm. But it was a casual morning as the next day to high camp - Margarita didn’t depart until 9am. The American group leader Marek, lent me his satellite phone to call my wife and I left her a message with some high level details and shared a few thoughts. There is no phone signal or wifi up there, so we were cut off in that sense.  It was welcome to be able to offer the news we were fine. Once more I slept well and John seemed to as well. A welcome change. Camps by this point were cold at night - down below freezing, and we slept in huts still, but there were unheated. Hunwicks featured a little wood stove in the common hut and that proved a welcome gathering point. It’s funny how the most basic stuff seems luxurious after only a couple days. Heat, a toilet etc.  Food remained good and plentiful - every evening began with mushroom soup and inevitably someone in the group shared a treat they had brought up. Which brought me to the most important element of what we did - we shared the pain, effort and work of getting there together, and the group dynamic was strong and supportive. This was a wonderful assembly of people and despite how I felt physically, my memory of the days looking back is hugely positive due to all of them. We chatted, shared stories and laughed all the while slogging thru mud, slipping and falling. John and I bonded in new ways and despite an outcome in one sense that was less than hoped, it all added up to a fantastic experience.

Day 5 saw us move initially through the mud the

up down a little around 2 lakes and the ascent up 400 meters on a different rocky path to high camp where the summit attempt is made from . The path was nice save for some big sharp boulders ( slippery) and subzero temps. Moving up steep paths at 4100-4500M was also really taxing physically. We got to camp early and in good spirits. They had a fireplace in the dining hall that smoked hugely but was warming enough. (One day you as may have to select between CO2 poisoning and hypothermia). We broke the sleeping arrangements into 2 cabins - John , myself and the two ladies not summiting and the 6 climbers who were. They got some gear and fixed rope lessons in the afternoon which seemed at a glance from me to be cursory and unclear. I was happy once more not to be climbing to the top , though admittedly was having to swallow my pride having said initially that I wanted to do it, and so was fighting a small sense of failure that tasted bad in my mouth. While the others in our cabin heard the summiteers readying at 2:30am for the or 3 am summit push climb, I didn’t. We woke leisurely at 7am to a beautiful clear day that was cold but sun-warmed. All of us set downwards back to Hunwicks where one of the party had stayed, but John and I soon sped up with “Eris” the porter carrying my bag. We chatted together and with Eris about some honest concerns, took a nice leisurely lunch break and still made the trip in under 3.5 hours.

The other two (summiting) ladies arrived an hour + later, and we passed the afternoon chatting and cleaning up a little as best we could. The peak group arrived wiped out around 7:15pm. Lots of high fives and cheering for their accomplishment and pics and details. Upon hearing their details (10 hours up and down, back to high camp, then the same walk John and I had done down the steep 6kms), I was pleased again I hadn’t done it. Things like waiting around for absent guides and no radios up there to find one another confirmed my own thinking that our group was strong and lucky not to have had a mishap - which isn’t how I want to climb.

Evening dinner was late with a long descent day ahead. It would be 10+ hours plus a high pass.

Day 6 was the big descent day, but we had to first climb from the high valley we were in at Hunwick's. The camp sat at 4,000M and the pass we were coated though was at either 4,400 or 4,500M. The latter choice was harder and offered a small side trip to Weitzman’s peak at 4,628. We elected to do that and so at out early (7am) as it was to be an 11-12 hour day of climbing, descending and lots of mud.

The climb was cold, cloudy and mostly rocky, and hard but rewarding. We took a short cut to the peak which meant going straight up. While tired, we were in good spirits knowing we were ultimately going down. After some food at the top, a couple pics and more, we descended and descended. Some steepness, and mud featured prominently once more. The day wore on, we were hailed on repeatedly as we walked quietly at times, everyone (especially those that had gone for the summit) were wiped. We made it into the last camp of the trek after dark. It felt like a marathon that day, and km after km of flat-ish mud flats would descend into valley after valley. The sight of smoke rising from the last camp (still at 3,500M) was welcome. We were all filthy again, though perked you with a great dinner (had seconds!). There was a concern that two of the party that had fallen behind with one guide, and they hadn’t appeared by 9pm, but they arrived safely after we were in bed. As a sign of how well we were cared for, another guide and a couple porters went out to find them at 8:30pm in the pitch dark. They turned out to be ok, but really, really exhausted.

The last day started early for me, as I was up at 5 (grumbling tummy) and had a chance to dry gloves and re-tape my feet as we had another 16kms and a 1700M descent ahead of us. While it’s more work, I actually prefer climbing to descending - there always seems to a greater likelihood of falling forward going down, and hour after hour of downward travel smashes one's toes. The grade was between 10-45 degrees varying, and even a couple 200M climbs.

Before we left for camp, we gave the guides and porters some tips (group collection) and talked about our appreciation. Money changes everything a little and there were lots of side discussions and cajoling from the folks that carried a specific bag or something.

The day began slow as we had Mike again near the lead, but a small group for six of us soon broke free and accelerated downhill. By lunch we were picnicking by the river at just 2300M and feeling great. Our six - Marek, Justine, Sebastiano and Brad as well as John and I had a nice morning and did well. The “news” we could change back into hiking boots at this point was welcome, though ironically we all slipped and skidded in the afternoon as we had grown used to the sole-traction in the rubber boots. When we arrived at the bottom we had energy, warmth again and even found an interesting little chameleon. Our ride wasn’t there, so we walked the final 2kms back through the centre of the village of Kilembe (and Sunday celebrations) to the trekker base camp. It felt like a victory lap after our week. The group had split up and the next batch were an hour behind us. Mike and his daughter got in at 11pm, well past dark but safe.

The Rwenzori Trek isn’t for everyone, and I don’t think I was prepared physically or mentally to take it on in hindsight. That’s on me for a lack of focus and research. But the location, the vista’s, the remoteness and the incredible scenery all make it a worthwhile effort and an incredible place to have been.

Mountainous Africa with its equatorial frigidity, super odd plants, adapted animals such as Hyrax’s that scream at night, and little deer and the elusive Rwenzori leopard, are all extremely specialized for that environment. The worrying parts are that this won’t be there for long, as there’s already Chinese mining interest in taking down a hill that seems filled with copper at the edge of the park. And while we saw the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the forest, the guerilla’s that used to make their way across the border to poach and pillage seem a thing of the past.

But all that makes this trip the more special as we got to be there while it’s still fairly pristine, and enjoyed the warmth and good humor of the Ugandan people. The effort and experience here were invaluable to us.  I'd do it again in a  heartbeat - once I recuperate a little.