The Hike Like A Woman Podcast
Hi, I'm Rebecca 👋 I'm a guide, ski instructor, Army Veteran, cancer survivor, and a big fan of adventure travel. I started HLAW in 2014 because I wanted to smash barriers to entry into the outdoors and help women explore. I'd love to have you join me on an adventure. Please reach out if you have any questions 📧 rebecca@hikelikeawoman.com
The Hike Like A Woman Podcast
Climbing Kilimanjaro: Embracing Uncertainty
What does it mean to embrace uncertainty and truly savor each step of the journey? Today on the pod, we discuss uncertainty on Mount Kilimanjaro.
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When we arrived in Moshi to get ready to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, I could sense a little bit of excitement in the air, but there was also this feeling of uncertainty, and we didn't know what the mountain would hold. We didn't know how our bodies would respond to altitude, what the mountain would hold, we didn't know how our bodies would respond to altitude. We didn't know if the physical training that we had done back home was going to be enough. We didn't know what the food was going to be like. We didn't know our guides and we didn't know if they were going to take really good care of us on the mountain. And this feeling of uncertainty is one that we really came to embrace on the mountain. Hey, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1:My name is Rebecca. I am the founder of Hike Like a Woman. I started Hike Like a Woman about a decade ago. We started as a mommy blog. We've evolved since then. We've been through many changes, but right now I'm really focused on adventure travel. More specifically, I'm really focused on trying to just create all of these amazing memories, trying to help women push beyond their limits and push beyond their comfort zone and do things that they might not think that they can do Today.
Speaker 1:I want to just rewind. We've been talking about Kilimanjaro here a lot on the pod. We've been talking about Kilimanjaro a ton on our YouTube channel. So if you like the audio version thank you for being here If you want to check out some videos to accompany the audio, sometimes seeing the visuals, seeing the people, it just helps kind of put the story into perspective. So I would encourage you to head on over to our website, hikelikeawomancom, visit our YouTube channel for a little bit more.
Speaker 1:So I mentioned in our intro that when we all arrived in Moshi, there wasn't like this feeling of fear or anxiety in the air, but there was just this feeling of uncertainty. We just didn't know what the future would bring, what our seven days of trekking up to the roof of Africa would do. Uncertainty is a word that has been with me since cancer treatment, when the future just felt so uncertain, I guess. And it's a word that I've really explored and a word that I'm trying to be comfortable with in my own life. I love the Zen proverb. It says only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong. And that is one thought that I took with me on Mount Kilimanjaro. So the group is gathered in Moshi. There's this feeling of uncertainty in the air. We don't know what to expect.
Speaker 1:The day before we started our climb, I met with John, our lead guide, and this meeting with him was really important. We spent I don't know 45 minutes an hour together, just me and him, sitting at a table outside, talking about expectations and what he needed from our group and what I needed from him as a guide and from his guiding team, and we talked about the mindset needed to climb the mountain. We talked about what every day would look like. We talked about what to wear, what to bring, and I got to know John and I got to know his philosophy as a guide and he'd been climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He's been guiding on Kili for 20 years. He's probably been up the mountain a thousand times, I don't even know. He said he lost track after his 500th summit and I told John that I felt this uncertainty personally and with the group, and John just said it'll be okay. And I don't remember exactly how the conversation went, but it went along the lines of just trust the process and trust us and we're professionals and we're going to take care of you. And he said everyone's going to make it to the summit. We're going to make sure that everyone who wants to make it to the summit is going to make it.
Speaker 1:There was really a lot of uncertainty about summit day. Summit day is really, really hyped up on Kilimanjaro. That's the day you reach the peak, that's the graduation, that's the really big deal. But he said, if we focus just on summit day, we miss all of the beautiful five days of trekking before we get to the summit. So his advice for us was just to take it one day at a time, one step at a time, and enjoy the experience as it was occurring, rather than live in uncertainty about what summit night was going to look like, if it was going to be cold on summit night, if it was going to be hard on summit night, if it was going to be steep on summit night. His advice to us was just one, one step at a time.
Speaker 1:As we climbed the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. Taking it one step at a time is such great advice and we literally hear it all the time. But how often do we really just tackle things in our life one step at a time? And the other thing with taking it one step at a time, one day at a time, is this concept of pole pole. On Kilimanjaro, you hike pole pole or slowly, slowly. There's no rush to get anywhere. The guides want you to hike pole pole because that helps you to acclimatize better and faster, especially if you're doing a route like we did the seven day Machame route, where you climb high during the day and then come back down to sleep low at night. You climb high during the day and then come back down to sleep low at night, climbing high during the day. You want to be at those high altitudes longer, so you want to just hike pole pole, slowly, slowly.
Speaker 1:So it was this mindset we went into as we started our climb with just take it one step at a time, just take it one day at a time. Don't worry about the future, because the future is not here. Don't worry about the past, because the past is gone. It's this whole concept of being present, being in the moment, taking it one step at a time, one slow step at a time. And as we've been, we've been home now for just a little over a month. I'm recording this episode on July 12. We've been home for just over a month. And when I look at the biggest lessons that I learned on Kilimanjaro, it's not necessarily the lesson that my body could make it at 19,341 feet, it's not necessarily the lessons that I learned about group dynamics, it's not necessarily the lessons that I learned about my gear and packing and my training leading up to Kilimanjaro, but what I've really brought home with me is this mindset that wasn't born on Kilimanjaro, this mindset of pole pole and this mindset of be present one step at a time, one day at a time. I knew those concepts on Kilimanjaro. The seed had been planted for those concepts before I went to Kilimanjaro, but on Kilimanjaro they really blossomed.
Speaker 1:Let me give you an example in real life to put this in perspective. We have been undertaking a major remodel of our house. We live in a historic home. It's over 100 years old. That's pretty significant here in Wyoming and this remodel has been incredibly stressful for our family. We have had our house torn up for almost a year and a half now. We've had delays with almost a year and a half now. We've had delays with product, delays with contractors. We've had some fights with the city over our building permit. It's just been this thing that's been just stressing me out because I just want my house to be done. I want everything to be fixed, I want it to look nice, I want it to feel good, I want it to feel comfortable. But really we have two levels of our home that are just ripped up and it's uncomfortable, it's stressful. I just want it to be done. But when I came home from Kilimanjaro, instead of feeling stressed out and overwhelmed and just annoyed at the remodel process that's going on in my life, I looked around at my home and I thought I am so thankful to live in a home where everyone is comfortable and everyone is safe. I am so thankful that we were able to save enough money while going through cancer treatment to cash flow, a pretty significant remodel and pole pole. It's okay if the remodel moves slowly.
Speaker 1:I just need to have patience and just take it one day at a time, because I can't necessarily influence the contractors and the supplies and all of those external factors. Just like I couldn't influence the wind as we were climbing up to Lava Tower on Kilimanjaro, I couldn't influence the cold temperatures on the summit of Kilimanjaro, I couldn't influence the snow, the glacier that we hiked across to get from Stella Point to Yuru Peak. I couldn't influence the food that we ate. All of that was out of my control. I just had to surrender to the mountain. I just had to surrender to our guides and put my trust in them. It's the same with this remodel. I just need to surrender and put the trust in the people who are trying to help to get our remodel done and pole, pole, slowly, slowly, it will happen. When it happens, it's uncertain, but there's no sense in being stressed and anxious and pissed off because it's just doesn't do any good. So I'm really thankful for the lesson of pole pole. I'm so thankful for the lesson of being in the present and not being stressed out about what's going to happen five days down the road. So those are my thoughts today on mindset climbing Kilimanjaro.
Speaker 1:And you know, I think a lot of people go to Kilimanjaro because they want to cross one of the seven summits off their list. They want to have one of the seven summits off their list, they want to have an epic adventure, they want to climb a really, really big mountain, they want to travel to Africa, they want bragging rights. They want to say, hey, look at me, I climbed Kilimanjaro. But really there's so much more than just this big physical accomplishment. That happens when you climb Mount Kilimanjaro, but you have to look for it, you have to be open and willing and if you would like to have a life changing and maybe we could even take it a step further right, kilimanjaro for me, wasn't just life changing, it was life giving. It showed me that there's life after cancer, there's life after illness, there's life after trauma.
Speaker 1:And if you're feeling this tug right, this tug right now, that you're feeling a little tug, you want to do something, you want to do something hard, you want to challenge yourself, or maybe you just want to grow and learn some really cool lessons along the way, I would love to have you join me to climb Mount Kilimanjaro next August August of 2025,. We are headed back. We're going to be doing the seven day Machame route, the exact same route that I did this year, and you can, you can learn all about it. I'm happy to answer any questions about this route. If you want to hike it with a group of women who are going to support and encourage and cheer you along the way, if that type of group dynamic is something that you enjoy, I would love to have you join me. You can learn everything about this trip by visiting our website, hikelikeawomancom.
Speaker 1:And maybe Kilimanjaro is not your thing. Maybe it's a little intimidating. You're not quite ready for 19,341 feet. I totally get it. That's why we offer other trips all over the world. We're headed to Alaska this August I'm really excited about that. Yellowstone in September. Peru in October. We do have spaces available for our trip to Peru. Booking for that trip does close in 10 days, on July 22nd. I don't know if this podcast is going to be out before then, but it closes soon. And then we're headed to Iceland in February. Iceland is kind of a van tour. We're going to be seeing a lot of really neat spots in Iceland. Iceland is booked, but we have openings for our trip to Costa Rica in April, southern Utah in June of 2025, and back to Kilimanjaro August of 2025.
Speaker 1:I just want to put that out there, just so you know that we do other things besides Mount Kilimanjaro. This is Rebecca signing out. Thank you so much for joining me. We have one more podcast in this three-part series about Mount Kilimanjaro and we talk about why I think we were successful on the mountain. So be sure to check that out next week. Thanks so much and I'll see you out on the trails. Hey, real quick before you go. You know that here at Hike, like a Woman, I rarely promote products or services, but I do want to tell you about a new partnership we have with Global Rescue. I think it's important. This company saves lives.
Speaker 1:On Kilimanjaro, we had a member of our group get altitude sickness and she needed to be evacuated quickly down the mountain. It's not my story to tell out of respect for her, but what I want to say is that our guides recommended calling in a helicopter for this evacuation. So she's really sick. She just got off the summit, she's on the phone with the medical evacuation company and they want to charge her credit card $5,000 before they'll come and get her. All because I had recommended travel insurance that didn't offer high altitude rescue. I felt terrible. She was escorted down the mountain by our guards and porters and she felt good once she got down a few thousand feet. But as a trip leader, this was a major failure of mine.
Speaker 1:Since coming home, I've been researching travel insurance and rescue insurance and I've discovered that the best company out there is Global Rescue. They will literally pick you up from anywhere in the world, get you to a treatment facility, get you taken care of and get you back home to the United States or wherever you live, not just if you're sick or injured, but also if there's a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. Whatever happens, wherever you are, they'll take care of you. Also, they have this cool feature where, if you're out on a trek somewhere and you get bitten by a spider and it starts to look funky and gross, they actually provide a doctor that you can talk to. That doctor is going to tell you exactly what to do and where to go. In addition to rescue memberships, they also work with another company to provide regular travel insurance as well, so that'll cover things like your flights getting delayed or your baggage getting lost.
Speaker 1:So if you're climbing Kilimanjaro or a big mountain, or even just traveling abroad, you need to protect yourself. That's why I am personally using and recommending Global Rescue. They're amazing, you guys. You can learn all about them by visiting my website, hikelikeawomancom. Just head over to hikelikeawomancom, click that tab at the top of the website that says travel safely, and you can learn all about them. Thanks so much for letting me share this really important thing with you today.