For Becky Perlow, the next destination looms 19,341 feet above sea level. The goal? Reaching the top of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, located 3 degrees south of the equator and deemed by many the highest free-standing and "walkable" mountain in the world.

That's easier said than done, but Perlow's father, Howard, said he thinks his daughter will make it.

"When she sets a goal, she usually finds a way to complete that goal," he said.

Since 1991, Kilimanjaro-goers have been legally required to climb with a guide, so Perlow, 26, is hitting the hillside with the travel organization Adventures Within Reach and three other climbers, excluding the guides.

She will be accompanied by a CNN co-worker of nearly three years, Laura Koran, also 26.

They begin trekking the Machame Route, also known as the "Whiskey" route, on Tuesday and plan to reach the top at Uhuru Peak five days later, the ideal time to take to the mountain.

Koran's father, Donald, is the U.S. ambassador to Rwanda, which borders Tanzania, and she said she had been meaning to get out there to visit her parents.

"So Laura approached me several months ago and said, 'I want to hike Kilimanjaro,'" Perlow explained. "And I said, 'Me, too!' So I said, 'Why not? Let's do it!'"

"I've always wanted to climb Kilimanjaro but never really had anyone who wanted to do this with me," Koran said, laughing.

But Perlow is always game for adventure.

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For Pikesville-raised Becky Perlow, path around world winds upward to Mount Kilimanjaro