In Jewish culture, when you are 13, you are declared a man. In many African tribes, the rite of passage is to be circumcised. I don’t remember my 13th birthday, but I wanted it to be something JT would always remember, and when he learned the African tradition, he was grateful he would not remember THAT for his 13th.Mount Kenya is the second highest mountain in Africa. The peak we were aiming for was 16,500 feet. We left school on Friday and would be back on Monday. We left hoping to arrive by four o’clock, because we had a two-hour hike to our base camp, Old Moses.

There were 17 of us going. We hired a guide who would provide transportation, food, and porters. This being Kenya, we went about an hour when we had a blowout. It took almost two hours to repair it, so we arrived too late to get to the base camp, and stayed in a little house near the gate.

I should pause here and say my idea of a good vacation is a good book and a good beach. I’m not an adventurous type, and at 46, not in my best shape. I knew this would be a stretch.

We began the hike at 7am. Mount Kenya is untouched; there are no clear trails in many areas, and without experienced guides it would be easy to get lost. It was cool in the morning, so we had sweatshirts on, but by 9 we were down to our tee shirts. We walked for several hours, and it became increasingly clear that this was going to be tough. There were two other seventh grade boys, and they were far ahead of the adults on the trip.

Around noon we stopped at a glacier fed stream, where I drank the most delicious water I have ever drunk. By about this time, reality was beginning to sink in. We had at least five more hours of hiking to do, and it would get very cold once the sun went down. But it was extremely challenging hiking, and extremely exhausting. When we arrived at the bunkhouse, I was as tired as I ever had been. We were at about 14000 feet.

We ate some soup and some stew, and then went to bed. There was no electricity or fireplace in the bunkhouse, and since it was about 20 degrees, going to bed was the only way to be warm. We went to bed early because we were going to head for the summit early. The mattress was similar to the foam padding found on computer packaging.

We woke up at 3:00am. The plan was to get to the summit to see the sun rise. As a father of seven-month-old twins, I think that sunrises are VASTLY overrated, but we had a full day ahead of us, so we needed to get going. We left about 3:15am with the hope that we would reach the summit in about three and a half hours.

It was cold, and very dark, so we were climbing with flashlights. There were periods of time when the only way you could continue up was being on your hands and knees and crawling. The high altitude made you gasp for each breath. It was so much harder than the day before.

And people started dropping out. It was so hard, and so cold, and it was so hard to breathe, that eight people dropped off before the last hour. Experienced mountain climbers know the deception of mountains; just when you think you have reached the top, there is more to climb.

But both JT and I made it. When we got to the top, we embraced, and I cried from the incredible emotion of it all. JT started crying because he hurt so bad; he had an altitude headache, he was exhausted, he was hungry, and we had to climb down.

I’ve run several marathons before, but this was the first time I had thought through the fact that I was going to have to retrace my steps down this mountain. When you run a race, once you are done, you get in your car and drive home. It took another three hours to get down to camp, and at this point I was so tired that if a wild animal came to eat me, I would have shouted `Take me. I’m yours.’

The difference between a 13 year old boy and his 46 year old father was once we returned to camp JT ate breakfast and looked refreshed and was eager to go. I got back to camp and realized that I had five more hours of hard hiking, and I didn’t know if I could do it.

We left the camp around 10:30, and returned to the base camp around 5. That meant almost 13 hours of hiking in one day. Around two o’clock, my feet stopped moving. I gave them a command, and they responded by saying something unkind about my mother. It was the most unusual I have ever felt; if my behind had caught on fire, I would not had been able to run to a bucket of water. And when a Kenyan carrying a huge bag ran past me with a cigarette in his mouth, it made me want to cry.

We finally got back to camp, and after a good nights rest, I felt pretty fine the next day. The two-hour walk to the gate felt good. This being Kenya, our van, which was supposed to arrive at 11:00am, showed up at 4pm. This meant the real adventure was to begin: driving in Kenya at night.

Driving in Kenya at night is dangerous because the bandits come out, but it is more dangerous because many Kenyans believe that headlights cause their batteries to drain, so many many cars do not use headlights. After several close calls, we finally made it home.

Final thoughts:

1. Why didn’t I take more pictures? The only explanation I can think of is that I’ve been on business trips when I couldn’t wait to get home to be with Nancy, and as soon as I got home, I would fall asleep. I was just too tired to do it.
2. Embracing my son on the summit, looking at his face with his realization that he made it and had pushed past his limitations was something I will never forget.
3. No one can take this experience away from me.
4. But I would gladly give it to anyone who asked.

Steve Peifer

Sunrise from Point Lenana