Summit Experience

Well the Mount Cameroon trip was a success! I got to the agency's office at 7:30 on Friday morning, where I met Doris, a 40-something German woman who's touring Africa on her motorcycle and decided to spend a month here in Cameroon. Cool lady. She came on the hike with us, along with Dave (the Irishman), as well as David (my German workout buddy), Carsten and Benedikt (German volunteers for Camwater) and Jonas, who was visiting from Germany. All the Germans were fluent in English, but I definitely heard a whole lot of German on the trip! While the porters packed the backpacks we supplied, we went to a place nearby to get breakfast of spaghetti omelette sandwiches. They sound weird but they're high in carbs and protein, which was just the ticket! After we got back to the office, the porters were packed, and each of us was rationed a bunch of bananas, an avocado, and a bottle of water to carry in our backpacks. I also brought some snacks from home: Chocolate, dried fruit, and applesauce. We met Hans, our mountain guide. He's 60 years old and this was his 227th trip on the mountain. A Toyota Hilux (first time riding in one, definitely a highlight) took us, our gear, and the porters to the trailhead, where we took a minute to learn everyone's names. Then we headed up.

Most of the crew that climbed

At first, we stopped frequently for Hans to point out different plants. As we gained altitude, we went from farmland, to secondary forest (crops among the natural forest), to primary forest. Hans showed us plants used to treat conjunctivitis, prostate cancer, and smallpox. The guy was a walking plant dictionary basically. He also turned out to be really good at identifying birds, which reminded me of my biology teacher in academy. We took a quick detour to check out the catchment system that the Camwater guys were working on. After 3 hours of easy hiking through the forest, we reached Hut 1 and had lunch. Everyone got 1 baguette, and we worked on our bananas and avocados.
For the next leg of the hike, we exited the forest and spent 4 1/2hours climbing an agonizing 35% grade. No switchbacks, just straight up the side of the mountain. No shade, no places to sit, just burnt savanna grass and loose rocks. It wasn't much consolation to see the porters panting by carrying 20+kg of stuff while I could barely manage the 7-8 kilos in my backpack. We reached the intermediate hut at some point and rested for 20 minutes. For the first 20 minutes after our rest I didn't paced myself too well, and it came back to bite me. I fell behind everyone but Doris and Hans. It got to the point where I had to rest every 10-15 steps. My legs felt like flaming jello. Numerous false ridges destroyed my hopes that we'd ever reach camp. I plodded around a corner, beyond exhausted, to find "Hut 2" 10 meters in front of me. It was a sorry excuse for a hut, basically just a metal roof and a concrete slab. I immediately sat and took my shoes off. Later, David and I set up the tent we were sharing, and the porters made dinner of spaghetti and tomato sauce. The chilly, dry wind was way different than I'm used to in Cameroon, and was actually pretty nice. We gained 1900 meters that day, hiking 10 km in 7 hours. We were ready for bed by 8:30 pm. The wind was blowing the tent flaps around and I didn't sleep well. At 11 I woke up to go to the bathroom and watch the stars for a while, which was an awesome sight. I could also see the lights of Buea way below us.

Several runners training for the Mt. Cameroon Race of Hope (sponsored by none other than Guinnes)

Great view from Upper Farms

Doris and David enjoying the waterfall

The porters take a break at Hut 1

Out of the forest and into the burnt savanna. Headed straight up!

Germans checking how far we've come

The porters cooking dinner at Hut 2

The next morning we were woken up WAY before the buttcrack of dawn for a long day ahead. Breakfast was 1 hardboiled egg, a baguette with "condiments" (Nutella, cream cheese, or jam), and tea. Not particularly hearty, but it was good. The meal plan had a definite pattern, see if you can figure it out. We were in a hurry to get started, but on his way to breakfast in the dark, Carsten twisted his ankle. As the closest thing to a medical professional, I was the designated provider of first aid. I first made sure he could move his foot to know that it wasn't broken. He said he had heard it pop, so my next theory was a sprain. I had him elevate it as soon as he could, and gave him some kind of NSAID to prevent swelling. After wrapping it, I had him lie there for a while. The porters were drawing straws at this point to decide who would accompany him down the same way we came. He was frustrated to have to turn back, and I'm sure it was a tough hike down. We left an hour late so we were in a hurry to make up time. We spent 5 hours climbing more steep grades and false ridges to the summit. The altitude didn't bother me too much, I wasn't out of breath, just everything from my knees to my hips hurt like crazy. My head was swimming and drowsy, but that was soon replaced by abdominal discomfort. Not sure if I had eaten too much chocolate along the way, had a bad egg, or just overexerted myself, but it slowed me down quite a bit. We reached the summit later than we hoped (12:15 or so), and all I really was thinking about was where and when we'd get lunch. The view from the top wasn't spectacular and we were running behind schedule, so we basically took photos and left for the lunch spot which ended up taking another hour to reach. During the first 4 hours of our descent I had diarrhea 4 times. That worried me because it was as far to turn back as to forge ahead. Fortunately it went away, but I think the loss of fluids and nutrients really depleted my already low energy. After a lunch of baguettes with condiments and pineapple, we spent several hours crossing a tough (but relatively level at least) lava flow and then 2 hours later hiked past some cinder cones that were, in my opinion, way more interesting than the top. Each day we probably went through 4 or 5 ecologically distinct areas which was super cool. We walked and walked, and finally made it to camp 2, where we were to spend our second night. When we got there I lay down immediately and didn't move for a solid 20 minutes. I was stiff as a board, and my knees felt like steamrolled marshmallows from the descent. That day we ascended 1200 meters, descended another 1700 meters, and walked a total of 11 km. We were on the trail for 10 hours. Dinner was rice and spicy vegetable "sauce" which was good, but I tried to take it easy on the sauce, not knowing if it would cause me any more gastric trouble. I slept much better that night. We were in the trees so the wind wasn't as strong.

Hans looking ahead, what a pose!

The view from the summit

This hike was NOT for the faint of heart! This picture represents a lot of pain, suffering, and determination (as evidenced by the poor excuse for a smile on my face). I didn't know what I was getting into, but I'm proud that I made it!

Barren wasteland in the rain shadow. We started pretty much at the highest point you can see in the photo and came down the moraine just to the left of the leftmost tan hill

Awesome views of the craters. There were 11 individual cones caused by this eruption

Craters of 1999. We got to go up and look down into most of the craters. David even found and picked up about half a dozen sulfur crystals

At times it felt like we were on a different planet.

The common dining area for our accomodations on night 2. Would you believe 5 stars?

Still not sure how David is still on his feet at this point

We "slept in" until 6am and got up to a breakfast of, you guessed it: baguettes, 1 egg, tea, and condiments. We hiked through the jungle for 1 hour which was thick and vines seemed to trip us or hit us in the face. We spent another hour and a half in unshaded, rocky, savanna grasses eventually reaching the jungle again. We kept descending down loose rocks, overgrown vines and steep terrain. This whole time I was wearing shorts which I really regret. I was beat to hell, and the others looked about as good. Nobody complained much but I think we were all ready to be home. Lunch was (predictably) baguettes, condiments, and pineapple. We eventually started seeing crops, a sign that we were getting close, and the trail turned into a well traveled path, which turned into a road. Soon enough we were in Buea again, after covering 7 km and 800 vertical meters in 8 hours. I got home at 5 pm, took a much needed shower, ate a huge dinner, and sacked out.

David and Benedict appreciating the savanna that wasn't burnt

Mt. Etinde in the shadow. At the time of the picture we were actually 500 m above the summit. If I saw this picture and didn't know any better, I'd guess that it was taken about 45 minutes away from my house in California

Lava flow from 1982

All told I'm glad I did it, but I was also glad when it was finally finished! The top was obligatory but not particularly interesting. I found all the ecological diversity to be more exciting, as well as the craters from the 1999 eruption. I think I can say that it was the hardest hike I've ever done, the only possible exception being my hike from Yosemite Valley to the top of El Capitan with only 2 liters of water. This was my first multi-day hike though, so after a hard day of hiking, I piled more hurt on the next day. That was a new experience for me. Fortunately I recovered within about 2 days excepting for the blister.
On Wednesday this week I got a temporary roommate. He's a Rwandan (Hutu) doctor who escaped the Rwandan genocide when he was 7. He's from the Union, and he's staying til Tuesday. Nice enough guy, pretty talkative even though he's a Francophone. We've been practicing our weaker language on each other, so I talk to him in broken French and he replies in broken English. It's pretty pitiful, but we have fun. I'm stoked because the hospital got my bunk bed fixed for him to sleep there, so once he leaves I may move to the bottom bunk.
TL;DR I hiked my dogs off over the weekend. It was hard, rewarding, and I'm glad it's over. Pictures below. Recap: 28 km, 26 hours of hiking, 3100 meters up, 3300 meters down, and lots and lots of baguettes with "condiments". I have a Rwandan flatmate 'til Tuesday.