Opened on 19 March 2026 by King Charles III, the trail extends for 2,689 miles (4,328 km).
Existing coastal trails in England will be incorporated into the King Charles III England Coast Path. Signage along the whole route now falls to a uniform design:
We had 22 hikers. 18 of us made both summits. That’s about typical for the Machame Route. It went well for me. My 3 weeks training & acclimatizing in Ecuador prior to this trip was a good idea.
Kili Summit Ridge
Age & fitness matter much less than the ability to acclimatize to altitude.
It took me 68-years to finally get to Kilimanjaro. The eldest my African guide got to the summit was 79.
We had another in our group age-66.
Truly impressive is one of our assistant guides who’s been to the summit over 200 times over 31 years. He’s age 64.
Here we are — clean & keen — at the start of the 7 day adventure.
In fact, it was a party from the start as many who had hiked with Eric in the past joined for Kili. I was simply an addition to a large group, many who knew one another. This is a very social adventure ➙ shared suffering.
Eric was our American guide. Freddy our African guide. Both responsible for keeping us safe. It was these two who’d make the decision whether or not you were healthy enough to keep climbing.
Those who decided to go down were unable to acclimatize quickly enough. We had daily blood oxygen tests.
Three decided to walk out. One took a helicopter, hoping she will recoup the $4100 cost through insurance.
New to me on a trail was the singing and dancing. Non-stop. To the top.
Oddly, all 7 days we had the same weather. Some sort of micro-climate.
Morning clear. Sunny to start the hiking day. Snow, sleet, and hail in the early afternoon. Clearing by dinner time. Clear skies at night. Kili summit clear at dawn.
We added and removed layers non-stop during the day.
Each day we spent some time hiking through clouds.
We mostly had clear skies at night. The iPhone 16 Pro is terrific at night photography on a tripod.
I’d paid a little extra to have a tent to myself. It was fairly comfortable — though many of our tent sites were far from level. 😀
We were happy to see two kinds of monkeys. But both were at lower slopes, close to the start and finishing gates.
Blue Monkey.Black-and-white Colobus.
Baboons and velvet monkeys have been spotted, but rarely.
This bird took a dump in my backpack. 😀
Vegetation was much more interesting as we climbed through so many different ecological zones.
I do love thistles.
We had great views over to nearby Meru volcano. When you see hikers posed like this, you know they are searching for line-of-sight mobile phone reception. 😀
The Machame Route was crowded when I was there. We often had long lines of hikers & porters.
Camps are crowded and littered.
Personally, I felt the portable toilets provided weren’t great. I preferred squatting over a hole in the concrete in the permanent toilet buildings.
Hygiene is not top of mind for any of the guiding companies. In particular, I was surprised alcohol gel was not constantly provided.
That said, nobody in my group got sick from water or food.
CRUX of Kilimanjaro is summit night. One of the toughest hiking days any of us could recall. I felt perfect. No pain. No problems … when starting.
Wake at midnight. Hot drinks 12:30pm. Start up at 1am.
It was a slow, cold trudge until dawn.
We had an ideal view of the changing light.
Way above the clouds.
We finally reached the first summit peak. And on perhaps another 35 minutes to the highest peak.
I took a LOT of photos and video up there. Most impressive were the odd, receding glaciers.
That was the FUN part.
Guides hustled us down as quickly as possible to avoid altitude sickness. We climbed down 8000 feet, not getting into low camp until 6pm or so. I ascended & descended for 16 hours, grabbing 1 hour sleep around noon.
Sore knees. Sore toes. And cramping quads.
Highlight?
Most would agree that the porters, guides, and staff were the most impressive takeaway from this adventure. We probably had over 100 staff taking care of us over the week. And these folks will do positively anything you request.
Back at the hotel, we celebrated with alcohol and devoured a full roast goat. Delicious.
A hiker died on Kilimanjaro while I was there. Reported heart attack.
On December 24, 2025, a rescue helicopter crashed, killing all 5 people on board. Two were hikers being evacuated.
10–20 deaths annually out of 30,000+ climbers.
I wrongly thought Kilimanjaro would be easy for me. It wasn’t.
El Camino de Costa Rica is a breathtaking 280 km / 174 mile hike from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, which is no easy feat even for the most experienced hikers.
While it can be intimidating to take on this type of adventure, there are so many incredible things to see and do while trekking this route, from tropical beaches and dense trails to mountain villages and indigenous communities.
The world’s greatest living hiker, Cam Honan, along with Kate “Swept Away” Pickett, put together a route from Nevada to Colorado across Utah.
Highlights
Snow Canyon
Red Mountain Wilderness
Gooseberry Mesa
Canaan Mountain Wilderness
The Barracks
Great Chamber
Bryce Canyon NP – Under the Rim Trail, Peekaboo Loop, and Fairyland Loop.
Powell Point
Death Hollow
Egg Canyon
Upper and Lower Muley Twist Canyons
Cliff Point on the Waterpocket Fold
Stevens Canyon
Fold Canyon
Coyote Gulch
The Lizard Route out of Halls Creek
Grand Gulch and Bullet Canyon
Comb Ridge
Hovenweep National Monument
… a combination of cross country travel, 4WD tracks, rock scrambles, river wading, dirt roads, established trails, and a minimal amount on pavement. More often than not, directional choices were dictated out of geological and historical curiosity …
… water was one of the primary considerations when planning the trip. …
resupply a combination of mail drops and buying as we went …
Along with the America the Beautiful Entrance Pass, overnight camping permits were required for Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, and Bears Ears National Monument.
besthike.com 