Yesterday: I woke up ridiculously early and caught the sunrise while enjoying coffee. Then I hit the trail early and did a 6 mile hike with 1600+ ft. of elevation gain/loss. I felt pretty good and managed the elevation well, despite my total lack of time to acclimate. The hike was beautiful… I was done…
Author: kajenkins
Ending my first post with, “What will I forget to pack?” totally jinxed it!!!
I spent three days packing and re-packing for what felt like four different trips. First, the twelve days in New Mexico and Colorado to camp and do some training hikes while acclimating to altitude (increasing my chances of summiting Kili without the dreaded altitude sickness). Then, it’s off to Tanzania! Trip #2 is hiking Kilimanjaro,…
So…you think you want to climb Kili, eh?
At this point I’m not even sure I do. Wracked with self doubt, I don’t know if I can. But I intend to try. I spent two weeks back in January trying to muster up the courage to register for this trip. I’ve been dreaming about climbing Kilimanjaro “someday” and that someday became NOW. Once…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears and Mild Hypothermia, part 4(final)
Day 6 and 7: Oh, thank GOD! I woke up and heard…nothing. It wasn’t raining and it meant that I had at least a slim chance of getting through the day without being completely soaked. Even better, the strategy of putting the damp hiking pants in the cover of my sleeping mat paid off. They…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears and Mild Hypothermia, part 3
Part 1: Days 1-3, Part 2: Day 4 Day 5: And I thought day 3 was rainy… Except for the exceptions (the moment of hypothermia followed by mild emotional breakdown), day 4 was pretty great. It was a long day, but the weather had been good and we only had soft rain on occasion during…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears and Mild Hypothermia, part 2
*See part 1 for days 1-3 of this kayak adventure… Day 4: I woke up for what felt like the 50th time with my arms hurting and realized it was time to get up. Well, my bladder told me I was getting up in the next 5 minutes or it was going to pee on…
Glaciers, Whales, Otters, Bears, and Mild Hypothermia: part 1
Oh god…what day is it? When was my last post? I actually had to check! Last time I was in Haines waiting to get on the ferry to Juneau. That was two weeks ago, a decade ago in Alaska time. **Pictures are at the end this time. I am dying to tell you all about…
A Lifetime of Moments in a Few Days
This entire trip, it seems like each day feels like a week and each week feels like months. I mean this in the best way possible. Not that time is dragging by, but that so much is being experienced that it can’t all possibly be in just a day. This isn’t simply a matter of…
Santa!! Then Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage.
Let me start with a couple of videos to show you how I spend the majority of my days… My last post was from Tok, Alaska and from there I headed to Fairbanks to pick Bastien up at the airport. On the way I stopped at North Pole, Alaska to visit Santa and his reindeer….
On Top of the World! (Top of the World Highway)
Yesterday I did the drive I had been nervous about ever since I planned this trip. At Whitehorse you have to decide whether to stay on the official Alcan or head north on the Klondike highway through Dawson City. Seeing Dawson City was a priority, but it also meant either driving 6 hours back to…