Monkey rock...an adventure I'm not sure I want to repeat

This weekend we were invited to go hiking with friends in the hills around Kisumu.  Instead of our usual trail we were going to tackle Monkey rock.  We were excited as we had wanted to do this trail before but didn't know where it started exactly.  So we took off from Kisumu and after a little driving came to a small road that we thought was the start of the trail.

Getting out of the car, I looked over to the rock and questioned our ability to get there in one day.  It just looked too far, but alas I trusted our friends who had done it before and we were off.  Right away I realized this wasn't going to be the normal hike.  There was virtually no trail and more often than not we spent our time searching for anything that resembled one. 

After one steep hand and feet assent and some ducking under brush, we arrived at a large boulder overlooking the valley below.  From here we assessed where to go.  Half of us thought that maybe it was best to hike high and walk along the ridge line.  Josh, I and another one of our friends thought going low was the way to go as to better cross the rivers and gorges. 

I'm not sure we ever found out who was right.  The next 4 hours were spent blazing trail, tripping over vines, getting scratched a 100 times with thorns and even a really bad run in with some ants.  Needless to say I was getting frustrated.  We weren't making any progress toward monkey rock and looking back on it now, I'm not sure we even make it to the start of the true trail. 

We gave up and coordinated to meet at a compound we saw below in the valley.  Slowly we made our way down, sometimes sliding ok mainly sliding, till we eventually got there.  Little did I know but the adventure didn't stop there.  Instead of walking along the road to get back to our car, the group decided to cut through a sugarcane field instead.  Sure it was faster but for those of you that know what it feels like to walk through high corn, it wasn't a pleasant experience. 

I can't say what a relief it was to see the car and to know that we were headed home.  As I stood in the shower that afternoon, the water stinging every cut and thorn, I thought well I can finally say that was a wash.  Sure I'd still love to climb to monkey rock.  The actual monkey rock.  But I will never do that hike again.