Fueled by the urge to maintain resilience and explore as we hike, stopping at the average has never been my portion. While hiking has detailed plans of where a particular hike would start and end, there has never been a limitation on what the eyes can see or where my feet could go. But how would these ideas fulfil a dream to Ithangune Hill?
Having experience from past hikes and taking time to study terrains and physical features, I have always had a calling that welcomes me to more peaks, as my eyes can see when standing on certain peaks. And that’s how Ithangune Hill came to my mind earlier when I was standing at Mugi Hill. Atop Mugi Hill, I could only look at the stunning views of Ithangune Hill and the Giant Billiard Table Mountain and whisper to myself, “Maybe someday,” that’s how Ithangune Hill Day hike from Chogoria Gate came to be.
The dawn of August was the day of reaching the once-seen Ithangune hill. The hike started with energy as the mind had the thought of hitting the Ithangune hill summit and seeing Lake Alice from the top of Ithangune. The last event we could count on about Ithangune Hill was the pre-colonial times when Princess Alice, a Duchess of Gloucester, and who Lake Alice is named, visited it in 1938 to unwind. She did not make it to the summit of the hill, citing bad weather conditions. Since then, there has been no known attempt at Ithangune Hill from the south. There have been attempts before from Rutundu where people get to Lake Alice and quit there, and others through the southeast face a similar bushwhacking experience.
Last month, we went past Mugi Hill, and before heading to Ithangune Hill, we visited the Giant Billiard Table Mountain as a detour before going for the prize. Since there was no trail to this Table Mountain, my team almost swallowed me, facing a bush they had not planned of. But after getting to the top and finding views on a real Table Mountain, the team was satisfied and postponed the thorough beating that almost befell me. This detour was all we needed to prepare for the last stretch from the road to Ithangune Hill.
After returning to the road, it was a kilometer before we diverted to the last 4 km to Ithangune Hill. It was a light bushwhack on animal trails and then a deeper bushwhack into an area with semi-dried vegetation to the pinnacle of Ithangune Hill, which is a rock. The stretch to a gentle area to climb the hill is through the east and southeast faces, but since we faced it from the south, we had to find a gentler area along the rock to climb.
It was all zig zags until we got to a clearing where there were the “whitish” sands seen from a distance. This area had well-arranged stones, and someone even mentioned the possibility of some traditional gods’ activities going on or that it was the last human activity there. This place showed no likelihood of human activity. By this time, everyone was silent, and I could tell what was going on. Everyone was drained, and there were all ideas of how we could reach the peak faster if we faced it straight.
Knowing well that the only way up was to find a gentler area, I was open to any suggestion to rest and then pick up the journey. We finally reached a place where we climbed the rock, and I heard someone say, “I hope there is no more climbing.” There was surely no more climbing, but we sat for 5 minutes at the peak of Ithangune Hill (3888m) before I had to explain where Lake Alice is. Another possible beating was loading, but a few meters towards the cliff was Lake Alice, the largest in Mount Kenya, facing us. The speed at which the faces turned was amazing, and everyone was delighted at the sight as we took photos. Moments later, we braced ourselves for the 16km back to the starting point.
As we went down, the memories of the trail and challenge up started flashing as we bushwhacked our way down. We couldn’t wait for the home moment when we’d be reviewing the scenic photos and reflecting on the moments we had. But with low energy, the chronicles of Moses and the Israelites followed us down the mountain. There were all ideas to seek a shortcut to the road down, where every shortcut turned to have thorns. We got off the path we had used, and before we retraced it, we did a real bushwhacking to the point where the team got concerned. Within no moments, the road was just in front of us.
We were tired, and we couldn’t make it to the starting point on time. I had to alert our driver to climb higher. Moments sooner, the driver was there, and my team could never be happier than hearing the roar of an engine. And that’s how our hike ended. It was an experience to re-experience.
Narrated by Gibson.
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