There were many setbacks and challenges we had to face on this trip. From poor footwear, the highest altitudes we'd been to, taking the Giardia challenge (and winning!), to just simply not having enough money. (Don't budget with a 3 year old guidebook and visit during a shortage of bank notes) We also ran into ad weather, food poisoning and a hellish night of bedbugs. Despite all this, we made it through and back to tell of what we have seen...and there is definitely a lot to tell!
It all starts with our arrival in Kathmandu and scrambling to equip ourselves for the journey. Four months in Southeast Asia meant that we had no gear for the cold and snowy conditions that we were likely to face. My feet hadn't been in shoes for the past few months! Kathmandu has a fairly developed tourist ghetto, a result of the many past mountaineering parties passing through on their way tot he Himalayas. It also has a huge number of shops selling all manners of knock-off outdoor brand gear to aspiring trekkers. Some of the gear is of great quality at one-fifth the cost and some are poor quality imitations that fall apart quickly. We spent 2 days gathering fleece and down as well as a pair of boots for me. Rashmi decided that her Keene's would be up for the test of hiking in alpine environments.
At the time we arrived in Nepal, banks were running out of currency notes because the expected shipment of new notes from France had not arrived. This meant getting Nepali rupees was an uncertain prospect as banks were closed and ATMs had low limits on what could be withdrawn.
Fully stocked and what we thought an adequate bundle of rupees, we left our extra baggage in our hotel bag storage and hopped on a bus bound for Pokhara. We stopped off halfway at Dumre where we planned to catch a local bus to the trailhead town of Besishahar. After much haggling we crammed into the minivan with what must have been 20 other people. With no place to sit I opted to ride on the roof rack with the luggage. This turned out to be a great choice compared to the stuffy interior. We arrived at the trailhead in the early afternoon and started off on our adventure, aiming for a village about 3 hours down the road.
The valley on the hike up
The hike starts at 760m and we slowly walk up a valley carved by the Marsyangdi river. We realized we had budgeting issues the first night when getting a meal to satisfy our rocketing metabolisms started at 600 rupees ($9). Prices were only expected to increase from the first village. We resolved to eat the local staple of Daal Bhat for most meals. Not that it was much cheaper, but because it comes with refills, so you can eat as much rice, lentil soup and curry your stomach can handle. Sometimes the food was great and really satisfying, while other times we were disappointed by the poor quality or stinginess of second helpings. I believe ate Daal Bhat for lunch and dinner every day until we crossed the pass!
Room rates were designed to rope you into staying as your were likely to eat at their restaurant where they made their killing. Rooms ranged from 100 - 200 rupees ($1.30-3) and came with 2 small foam mattress beds and a solar heated "hot shower" which was only hot when the sun was shining.
After the first night in the town of Bhulebhule Rashmi began showing signs of food poisoning. We took it slow the next day, only hiking a little further to the major village of Bahundanda. We had a great view at the top of the hill. That night I woke up covered in itchy bites. I was so itchy I thought I had some full body rash. the next morning I realized I had been ravaged by bedbugs. Rashmi counted about 100 bites all over me. From then on I checked every bed for the nasty bloodsuckers but never found them again.
One major environmental issue of this trek is the use of plastic bottles. With no proper system for disposal these bottles end up littering towns and trails or burned in trash fires. Not wanting to contribute to this problem we resolved not to buy any bottled water along the trail. Instead we opted to purify our own water with iodine tablets or the fill up at clean water stations sprinkled at various villages along the trail. This usually meant we would plan our itinerary around eating and sleeping at the next town with a water station. While staying at Bahundanda we had been filling up from a container labeled "Normal Drinking Water," but it turns out they did nothing to purify it! When we found out we were horrified as the potential for Giardia which was a major concern on the trail. Figuring it would take a week if we knew if we had caught the bug we decided to head off to the next water station 6 hours up the road.
Much of the scenery at the beginning of the trail was shrouded in fog and mist. The valley walls towered over us on both sides covered in lush vegetation and prickled with waterfalls. One fall, called Rainbow falls, was 202m long! The hiking trail up the canyon was fairly well developed and marked. The bridges used to cross the churning sinister gray river were most of the time very well engineered suspension bridges. However, every so often we had to cross on a rickety bamboo bridge clutching onto the railing for dear life. At one point, the river was so steep that the water was roaring through the canyon in consistent Class 6 rapids.
One of the enormous falls we saw
Crossing the bamboo bridge
We reached the top of our ascent for that day and were greeted with a break in the clouds and the sun shining onto a beautiful little plateau. The whole area was alive with many different kinds of birds singing and fluttering about. Rashmi's favorite was the Hoopoe, a orange bird with white spots and stripes and a crest on its head that fans open when it lands.
The next day was a long steep 7 hour climb to the next clean water station. We took the longer more scenic route but unfortunately did not see too much because it was drizzling and misty the whole day. At one point we heard a loud rumbling sound across the river and looked over to see a giant boulder hurtling down the side of the cliff. We had just witnessed a rockfall!
Every day that we hiked it drizzled a little, but soon enough, the real rain started. The first day of rain was drizzly at best and pouring at the worst times. We threw on our pack covers, Rash busted out the poncho, and I used my broken umbrella. We hiked for about 6 hours in the rain and made it to the town of Lower Pisang. The wet weather did not prevent us from seeing some really cool things along the way. For much of the hike, one side of the mountain was a very sheer, super-smooth wall glistening with frozen sheets of ice. We also passed dozens of waterfalls. At one point we could see 5 different falls all from one vantage point. Arriving in Lower Pisang was like stepping back hundreds of years. The river had turned into a primordial mud flow and the homes up on the hill sides had been constructed out of piled stones.
Ready to tackle the rain!
We huddled by the fire with many other soggy travelers and heard that the local lama had said it would rain non-stop for another day and then would be clear. Sure enough, we awoke to pouring rain, thinking about our dwindling stash of rupees we decided to press on as a wasted day just meant an even tighter budget. Within ten minutes of hitting the trail though, we were turned back by fierce winds that made the rain feel like taking an icy shower. We retreated to Lower Pisang to wait out the storm. While chatting with other travelers and their guides we learned that a bigger village over the pass had an ATM. Our money worries were over!
Many people and groups on the trail use guides and porters. Guides accompany you adding cultural information and acts as a liaison with the Nepali teahouse staff. Porters have the task of carrying huge bags (sometimes 3 peoples packs) while their clients stroll by with their daypacks. Although not all porters were so heavily loaded, we saw it as cruel and immoral to be putting so much weight on one persons back. Porters tie a rope around the whole bundle, throw it on their back, and stabilize it with a cord around their forehead.
We awoke very early the next day and as the lama had predicted, it was crystal clear. Excited and restless from the day before we got a dawn start and marveled at the beautiful valley as the sun rose over the unveiled mountain ranges. Towering over us was a huge smooth glacially carved rock bowl as well as the beginnings of the snow covered Annapurna mountains. Our hike to Manang that morning was breathtakingly wonderful. There was so much natural beauty all around us it would take way too long to describe it all in words. Below is a rough sketch of the many things we saw.
Breathtaking views of the valley
The glacially smoothed bowl
From Manang, the air started getting thinner and thinner. Because Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) was a concern, we spent the next few days hiking only a few hours in the morning and resting in the afternoon. It got cold enough that we would have to sit around in our down jackets and fleece pants in the middle of the afternoon. Each day as we climbed a little higher it got a little harder to breathe. We made it to high camp where we would make our one day push of 1000m gain to Thorung La pass (5416m) and the 1400m descent to Muktinath, the town on the other side. Neither of us had been at altitudes that high and any exertion was very taxing. The solution was to move very slowly as going at our quick hiking pace would leave us breathless and gasping for air.
All bundled up!
We left early for the pass, although many other trekkers left at 4 am. About 15 minutes on the trail we had to stop because Rashmi was having breathing difficulties. We weighed out our options of turning back, taking a mule over the pass, or pushing on. We attempted pushing on a few times but each time we had to stop. A passing Spaniard even lent Rashmi his trekking poles, on the promise that we would return them to him on the other side. Shortly after that I decided it just wasn't safe to continue on and that we should turn around. I left Rashmi to rest in the snow as I raced ahead to return the poles to the Spaniard. I quickly ran out of steam and started getting light-headed, but was able to slow my pace, recover my breathe, and catch up to return the poles. By the time I had returned, Rashmi was feeling much better after resting and had decided to try one last time.
We made it to the top!
We took it much slower and took frequent breaks and were able to move forward and not be completely out of breath. Metal poles marked the trail ad we would hike from pole to pole, resting for a few minutes before continuing on. We made it to the pass elated but very tired. Gathering clouds had started a snowstorm on the other side as we began our long descent to Muktinath.
Strong winds blew snow on us as we navigated the slippery trail down. We found a good technique of holding hands as we descended so if one slipped the other could be a support. In this manner we were able to move quite fast. Slowly the weather improved as we moved further down the mountain and left the snow-line. With the storm clearing the Kali Gandaki valley opened up in front of us. At this lower elevation, the terrain was very dry, arid, and desert-like. Oases of small irrigated towns dotted the hillside. After a grueling downhill hike we reached a warm shower in Muktinath and collapsed in our beds.
On the other side of the pass we started following the Jomsom trail, known as the "Apple Pie" trail for the way it accommodates trekkers. True to its nickname, accommodation and facilities were much more comfortable due to the dirt road that has been created for jeeps to bring in supplies to the local towns. And sure enough, every menu we looked at served Apple Pie.
We spent the next few days following the foot trail and the road while passing through dusty towns. Much of the landscape had little vegetation and looked like a bunch of scree and pebbles. Winds were ferocious in the valley, howling and kicking up a lot of sand and dirt. Villages huddled at bends to keep out of the strongest part of the wind.
Descending to one of the farming towns
After three days of descent we reached Larjung, an ancient looking village. Walking through the narrow cobblestone streets felt like walking in the past, when traders followed this route. We found a great place to stay and decided to spend an extra day there to do a day hike to the Dhaulagiri Icefall. We didn't have much information about the hike except a sketchy out of scale signboard map. It would be a full day hike up to about 1600m to the viewpoint, and then right back down. This was more elevation gain than we had lost moving down the valley the last 3 days. The promise of good views was too great, though, so we headed out the next morning. As we left we got guiding words from our guesthouse mother, "Cross the bridge, then don't go left, don't go right, just go up." And up we went, passing through forests, blooming meadows, scrubby and steep hillsides and onto the upper plains. I couldn't keep from smiling as we climbed to each false ridge because the views of the Annapurna range behind us grew more significant with each step. All around us were signs of life: Large birds of prey soared above, flocks of silvery birds burst into flight, and little Pika rodents scurried about. At one point we saw a white bird floating motionless in the air ahead of us on the trail. It looked like an angel saying "Thou shall not pass!". But best of all there was almost no one else on the trail. It was truly the most beautiful dayhike I have ever been on.
We scrounged some walking sticks from the brush to aid us on the steep uphill and anticipated downhill. As we reached the top, the Dhaulgiri Icefall itself was completely covered in clouds. but behind us the Annapurnas were crystal clear. We wandered through the yak pasture up on the ridge and spotted a deep gorge where a stream had cut about 50 feet into the ground. Waterfalls tumbled into the gorge forming small ice-blue ponds. We wandered through the soft yellowing meadow a little longer before starting the long descent. Along the way we stopped at a stingray shaped clear-blue lake to soak in the surroundings a bit longer. It was a great day.
Clear vantage of the Annapurnas
Beautiful hiking terrain
Deep ravines cut by alpine streams
The next 2 days were spent descending the valley to Tatopani. The terrain slowly changed becoming more forested, with waterfalls and aquamarine streams. From Tatopani we left the main road and followed the foot trail heading to Ghorepani. We blitzed this trail after hearing warnings that with the tourist season with the tourist season getting into full-swing, there may not be enough accommodation. We made the 1800m climb in about 5 hours, passing every group and getting to the town by lunch time. It turns out that we were misled as there were still plenty of rooms available by the time it got dark.
A very popular hike from Ghorepani is the one hour ascent to Poon Hill. This is a viewpoint famous for its views of the Annapurnas as well as the Nilgiri peaks. Trekkers make the ascent pre-dawn to catch the alpenglow on the peaks. We opted for a later start to get some sleep, and still the view was beautiful.
At the top of Poon Hill
Going up to the hill was a zoo! Trekkers arrive in Ghorepani on a number of different treks, some to Annapurna Base camp, some finishing the circuit or Jomsom trek, and some come from the city just to hike up Poon Hill. Everyone gathers at the lookout at the same time. One Thai tour group even brought the Thai flag with them to take photos and mark their historic achievement.
After descending and getting a light breakfast we hit the trail for our final day on the trek. We hiked down to Naya Pul, passing through more villages and forests before hopping on top of a local bus bound for Pokhara.
Absolutely gorgeous views! Happy travels and a safe return back to the US.
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