Day – 9 Descent
This was the calmest day of all. Waking in the tents for the last time, we stuffed out gear in our duffels (no need to be organized) and headed to the mess tent for our last mountain breakfast before setting out on the trail.
A look back at the summit on the last day of the descent.
We were by now out of the hard trail and onto a relatively smooth path, gently stepped in places. A three hour hike down through the forest and along a ridge brought us to a well maintained dirt road and eventually to the Mweka Gate where we signed out of the park at the ranger station and enjoyed a beer and a celebratory dance by our guides and porters.
After a bus ride, we were back at the Springlands hotel to close this chapter in our adventure. Most of us had spent the day talking about our first shower in 10 days. Fortunately the rooms had individual water heaters, as it was there was a stampede to get to the rooms. Our first cold drink after getting cleaned up was immensely satisfying.