By Kelli Saunders
Staff Writer
Nineteen-thousand, three-hundred and forty-one feet is the height that Mira Costa junior Nick Keenan plans to be looking from when he reaches the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro this summer.
Keenan has been hiking mountains for four years and previously hiked the highest peak in the United States, Mount Whitney, which is a 14,505-feet peak and a 22-mile hike that lasted 16.5 hours. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest freestanding mountain in the world.
Click here to find out more about Mt. Kilimanjaro
“I have always had a passion for the outdoors, and every summer since I was little, we have gone on camping trips with hikes,” Keenan said. “I started out with small hikes, and soon, I wanted to try hikes that were different and more challenging.”
Keenan and his family will be flying into the Kilimanjaro National Airport in June, where they will spend their first night near the town of Moshi, the base camp for Mount Kilimanjaro. The Keenans will then hike along the Marangu Route to arrive at the base of the mountain before beginning their ascent with a tour guide from the REI Adventure Program, a program dedicated to helping people organize outdoor trips.
“It’s definitely a bit more nerve-wracking knowing that I will be climbing in a place where I’m a foreigner,” Keenan said. “But, it’s also going to be an amazing experience to do something like this in such a unique country.”
The hike is a nine-day excursion with seven of the days consisting of hiking to the summit and two days consisting of the hike down the mountain. Each day, Keenan and his family will cover five to six miles and will then set up camp for the night, Keenan said.
Click here to find out more about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro
After the nine-day hike, Keenan and his family plan to stay in Tanzania, Africa, for an additional week to go on an African safari and explore the native culture and surrounding area.
“I am super excited for this hike, but I do not know what to expect since I have never hiked a mountain nearly this tall,” Keenan said. “We are in for quite an adventure.”
To prepare for the hike, Keenan, his two sisters, his parents and their close family friend will be completing different hikes throughout the year on local mountains such as Mount Baldy and White Mountain in Mammoth, California. They will be spending the nights on these mountains to prepare for the conditions that they will face during the Mount Kilimanjaro hike such as the different altitude and weather than what they are used to.
“I’m glad I am able to share this experience with Nick and his sisters,” Keenan’s father, Jeff Keenan, said. “It is something that very few people get a chance to do, and it is cool to be able to learn about the local cultures of the areas we will be in as well.”
Keenan does not plan to pursue climbing as a career; however, he hopes to continue to climb as a hobby throughout his life. His goal is to keep progressively climbing higher mountains as he gets older and stronger. He eventually aspires to hike the Seven Summits, the highest mountain peaks on each of the seven continents.
“Getting toward the top of a mountain with my family is so rewarding and invigorating,” Keenan said. “All of my hard work pays off when I look down and think about everything that I have just walked and all the effort that it took to get there.”
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