Preparing for Kilimanjaro - Part 1

Well...leave it up to my wacky friend Laila to come up with our next big adventure -- climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.  After spending several summers hiking in the Swiss Alps I'm not worried one bit about the hiking part...but it's the 19,000 feet of altitude that is daunting!!!  So before diving off too deep we thought it best to get in shape and get at least two 13,000-14,000 ft hikes under our belt before making the commitment to MK.

We kicked off our training regime starting with a gentle hike around DC.  The Glover-Archbold Park trail is a hidden gem.  It's entirely on trail yet snakes its way through some of the nicest neighborhoods in the city.  What a great walk -- we definitely recommend this trail.

Laila and I have often joke about signing up for the "Amazing Race" but based on our most recent outing it's questionable how well we'd do!  The toughest part was finding the trail head.  Thanks to a friendly lady on bicycle who could tell we had no idea where were were going, we were set on the right path.  The entrance is through a boarded up tunnel located near Fletcher's Boathouse.  It's a little bit like climbing through the rabbit hole in Alice and Wonderland.

 The highlight of the hike was arriving in Georgetown where we stopped for a tasty sushi lunch.

Our plan over the coming months is to head west to Colorado or beyond to tackle those 14ks!  Stay tuned.