There is no "trail" to the summit it is just a mound of dirt, which consists of loose rock, sand and gravel called "scree." Some hikers, including myself, enjoyed "scree-skiing" down this 40-50 degree steep scree (talus) slope. The same one we were hiking up a few hours earlier in the dark where if you simply stood upright you'd fall over, be peeled backwards from the mountain. Now instead of having to lean forward, I leaned backwards, zigzagging down the mountain --back and forth--planting feet firmly in the ground using my trekking poles for balance. Down, down, down, through the clouds, past Mawenzie -- Kilimanjaro's second-highest peak more than 16,800 feet (over 5,000m)-- and over a wasteland of slate chips and rock back to Kibo Hut. My thighs were burning and I was exhausted and we still had a 7 hour hike ahead of us that afternoon. I crashed for a couple of hours in my tent while I waited for the rest of the group to descend from the summit.
After some rest we continued descending along the Marangu trail to reach our final campsite at Horombo (3,270m/10,790ft). It was an extremely long and hard day, with approximately 16 hours of walking at high altitude. I had taken a couple falls down the steep path on my descent. They say most people who hurt themselves do it on the way down not on the way up. Physically my legs were sore and I wasn't picking up my feet as well as I should have and I stumbled on the rocky trail, my poles went flying and I did a face plant into the dirt. Two guides behind me helped me up and reminded me "pole, pole." I guess I just wanted to get down. I was feeling better as the air was becoming more oxygen riched and I just couldn't wait to feel normal again.
We had one more day and about 7,000 feet to go.
