Pictures

If you want to see pictures from the trip, check out my web album at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/getout.domore/Nepal0902?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6vofLY3vf7Ow&feat=directlink

Finished the Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary Treks...

I have returned from hiking the Annapurna Circuit and the trek up to Annapurna Base Camp/ Annapurna Sanctuary. I will continue to put updates about the treks up in the next couple days... but for now, let me just say I am safely back and it was spectacular! More coming...

SOCKED IN!!!

Woke up to watch the sunrise... ran into Clive just outside my door, "You may as well go back to bed." He told me, the clouds had set in and we couldn't even see down the valley, let alone up to the peaks! Everyone about the place was equally bummed as we all sorta milled about, no one went back to bed. A few of us ordered breakfast right away, and as we ate, the clouds slowly started to lift and break up! Everyone was abuzz, in and out of the dining hall as a new summit peaked out! It was really something to watch the clouds lift and slowly reveal different views! The clouds really added something to the views too! We ended up getting at least a peak at everything but Annapurna I.

As we started to descend after breakfast, the clouds settled back in. We hiked through the fresh snow down to MBC and shortly after that we entered the rain... hiked in the rain most of the morning. Just after Deurali on the way down, we encountered a flock of the most brilliant blue birds I've ever seen! They were amazing!

The rain slowly lessened and we only had off and on sprinkles down to Sinuwa. We stopped for tea and biscuits there and then proceeded to Chomrong. On the way up the steps from the river through Chomrong, I had been counting the steps and at 2000 I stopped and announced to NP that that was the 2000th step from the river! He smiled and took about eight more steps and announced to me that that was the 2000th step! We'd both been counting! What nerds... At the top I had 2301 and NP had 2295, so we agreed on 2300 to make it easy! That was a lot of steps!

That evening the rain settled back in and it got pretty dark with thunder and all! Met a Kiwi girl on her way up to ABC, she's headed to Montana to work at a teen outdoor program. She's been working similar jobs in NZ and summers in Antarctica! How cool is that, she works as a field instructor, teaching survival, glacial travel and safety, as well as heading up the Search and Rescue for Scott Base! Sounds like a cool gig!

Rain and speedy Germans!

After we ate lunch in Deurali it started to rain a little and we ducked under cover. There the German couple that had passed us on our way out of Manang showed up. I remembered them, because they were the only people to pass NP and I on the trail while we were walking. Their names were Mark and Judith, hiked with them the rest of the way up to Annapurna Base Camp. Found out they started their travels by bicycle from Germany. They travelled down through Europe and all over the Middle East before leaving their bikes in Israel and flying to Nepal.

We stopped at Machhapuchhre Base Camp as it was starting to rain again, had tea and met an Australian meteorologist. When the weather seemed to be lifting a little we made a break for the last hours hike to ABC. About five or ten minutes out of MBC it started snowing and continued to snow on us all the way to ABC. I can't complain too much. This was the first day of my time in Annapurna that I had to wear my rain jacket! It was really quite a spectacular last half hour as we hiked with about 100ft visibility, snowing heavily and thunder booming in the distance and echoing off the mountains surrounding us!

At ABC they had heaters roaring in the dining hall and everything dried quite quickly and we all stayed toasty warm! Visited with a lovely British couple, doing this trek to celebrate 130 years! Clive's 70th and Caroline's 60th! I was impressed, and they had all kinds of wonderful stories from their travels over the years!

Had brief glimpses of the sun setting on Machhapuchhre through the clouds, that was spectacular... not sure if any of the pictures turned out though.

Poon hill, missionaries, and unnumbered stairs!

The next morning we got up around 4:30am and made it up Poon Hill by 5:10 to watch the sunrise. The sun rose over Machhapuchhre and illuminated Dhaulagiri! Just beautiful, no wonder over 200 people got up this early to hike up here! Had a cup of tea at the top, and watched the sun come up. After almost an hour on top, we headed down to breakfast in Ghorepani.

Great example of the Nepali Flats today... up to the top of a hill or ridge, then down the other side to the riverbed before heading back up to the top of the next hill or ridge! It would be amazing to know how much elevation gain and loss there is between Ghorepani and Chomrong! We did a shorter day, stopped by 2pm at a lovely little lodge in Chiule. Watched a storm coming up the valley and listened to the thunder rolling in the distance for a little while, drained my blister again, then I took a nap! Woke up three hours later to rain on the roof, nothing quite like the sound of rain on a tin roof!

Met a Korean/Hawaiian who comes over here each year to help at a church in Jomsom, he's travelling with the local Nepali pastor to visit other churches in the outlying communities.

The next day I felt much better, the extra rest worked its magic! Another day of much elevation gained and lost, but the views were stunning and the trail beautiful. It is very lush here, and especially after the Kali Gandaki it seems amazingly green!

We made it to Dovan for the night... but barely got a room! Of the three lodges in Dovan the last one had one room left. I was going to ask if I could sleep on a bench in the dining hall if they didn't have a room. Met a charming Texan couple at the beginning of an eight month honeymoon! They were playing cards with their guide in the dining hall and invited me to join them. Good fun! Egyptian War, but the rules were pretty lax!

I guess I was tired...

Today was killer, really just many things put together to make it hard. It was hot now, being back down at the lower elevations. Also, today it was muggy! The heat really saps my energy! We gained about 5,000ft and climbed innumerable stairs, but the uphill was good, was better for my toe with the blister. I think my body might be ready for a rest day... I fell asleep twice during the day today.

The first time was at lunch, while I was waiting for my food to be prepared I laid my head down and was awoken 15min later when my food was brought out. Then in the afternoon we stopped for a break and while NP made a phonecall I laid back to be more comfortable while I waited. A half hour later NP woke me up! I didn't mean to sleep, he should have woken me sooner so we could have kept on and gotten to our destination, then slept! lol

We made it to Ghorepani and planned to climb Poon hill to see the sunrise in the morning.

The longest day of the trip...

We started out from Marpha, waved goodbye to Paul and Brona as they drove past in their jeep and walked down the valley. Originally we had planned to take a jeep from Jomsom or Marpha to Tatopani and then trek up to the Annapurna Sanctuary, but as we made such good time before the pass we now had time to walk the whole thing.

At the end of this day I wondered if NP and I were bad influences for each other... we ended up walking all the way to Tatopani, about 26miles or just over 40km. We stopped for lunch where we originally had said we were headed, Kalopani and felt good so kept going. By the time we were tired and ready to call it a day we were only a couple hours walk from Tatopani, which means "hot water", named because of a hot springs, so that sounded nice and we kept going. We arrived in Tatopani after about 8 hours of walking with sore feet and very tired! NP and I each had one small blister on our feet. NP said he'd never made it from Marpha to Tatopani on one day on foot. Usually they do it in two or three days, so we were both proud of our accomplishment, and Paul and Brona, as well as their guide were all surprised to see us show up on foot!

I went to bed hoping for a shorter day tomorrow!

Temples, trash & apple orchards

We got up early in Ranipauwa to hike the 15 minutes back up to Muktinath, to have a look about. I must say the first thing that hit me about Muktinath... was that it was as littered as everywhere else! I guess I assumed that it being a sacred place to both Hindus and Buddhists that firstly; people wouldn't drop their litter there, and secondly; that somebody would have picked it up if they had. But there were the boxes from incense just dropped after the incense was removed to burn at one of the temples by some devout pilgrim, there were food and candy wrappers, thrown into the bushes, and all the other general rubbish left everywhere else. There is a very different view of rubbish in Nepal than back home!

Anyway, aside from that, Muktinath was fascinating. One location believed sacred for several reasons to both Hindus and Buddhists, and both religions have their temples side by side inside the outer wall. Saw temples to many different gods, and a number of temples to the same gods. The fountains, 108 spouts with water from a spring, pilgrims bathe in each spout or at least splash water over their head from each. Also saw the temple built over a natural gas vent that bubbles up through water. It's a sacred eternal flame over water.

We grabbed breakfast back in Ranipauwa on our way down the valley. As we walked down towards Marpha we saw lots of sheep on the hillsides, they have long spiralling horns. When we turned the corner into the Kali Gandaki valley we encountered an increasingly strong headwind. At times gusts would set me back a step!

We stopped for lunch in Jomsom where it was nice to get out of the wind for a bit. There are loads of pilgrims along the road now, this side of the circuit has a very different feel than the other side before the pass. The villages in the Kali Gandaki are beautiful as they are surrounded by lush orchards. They really stand out on this dry, windswept valley floor! Marpha is especially beautiful as they pride themselves in being a very clean community. It was by far the cleanest village I went through on the circuit. The streets are paved with large flagstones, and each house in the community is required to have new whitewash once a year.

I did some laundry (much needed) and watched the procession of several hundred people accompanying a wedding from the roof of our lodge. There was music following the procession, drums and something that reminded me of bagpipes and then the occasional loud blast of horns that didn't seem to blend or fit with the rest of the music at all. The horns reminded me of being at a hockey game in Canada!

That night in our tea house I met an Irish couple, Paul and Brona. They were great fun and we visited till quite late... almost 9:30pm!!!

The Pass! (17,770ft) and motor noise already!

We left from Letdar the next morning around 5:30am. Had a quick cup of tea and we were off! Arrived in Thorong Phedi for breakfast at 7:00am. After breakfast we headed out around 8 just behind an Austrian couple with mountain bikes. They had been riding the whole circuit! I didn't envy them this morning, but I figured that afternoon I might be thinking of their bicycles quite differently. We stopped for tea at a tea house just before the top of the pass, played a round of a card game similar to Rummi with the guy running the shop. Then continued on... about 10 min out of the tea house we caught up with the main rush of people heading over the pass! Passed probably 20 people before the top of the pass. We made it from Letdar to the top of pass in just over four hours traveling time!

It was a beautiful view from the summit of the pass. Everything with a fresh covering of snow! The trail had probably 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow, and the mountains around had lovely clean capes! Gorgeous and sunny and only a slight breeze! Island Peak was great acclimatization for Thorong La! lol Felt the altitude only slightly in increased rate of breathing near the top, but that could have been fixed if I'd slowed down. We made a really good pace and whenever we'd stop my breathing rate would return to normal within a half a minute or less. Never once felt so much as a hint of a headache!

At the summit we at my last two snickers from home in celebration.

Arrived down the other side in Ranipauwa next to Muktinath around 2pm. Showered and then just chilled that afternoon. Visited briefly with an older couple from Idaho who were just returning from a circuit trek up into the Upper Mustang, sounded pretty cool. Much less tourists and they compared it to a small grand canyon as far as terrain. Many ancient villages still lived in. Maybe next time I'll have to save up for that trek! It costs more because of being a limited access area.

I was very disappointed when we arrived in Muktinath to first hear and then see motorbikes and jeeps up there! I knew the road came up to Jomson, but I didn't realize it came all the way up to Muktinath... rather distracting after several days of wilderness to have the roar of engines again...

Rain, friends and fireballs!

We'd planned to leave Braga early the next morning so we could make it to Thorong Phedi... but awoke to continued rain. It had been raining most of the night. So, back to bed I went and didn't get up for a couple more hours, ended up leaving Braga around 10am.

That morning we caught up to and then hiked with an American couple from Gunsang to Yak Kharka. NP visited with their guide and I talked with Jeremy and Julianne. They were from the West Coast and on their way to work in Hong Kong for a while.

In Yak Kharka we stopped for lunch and caught up with the six guys from Braga. Ate and visited with them. They had come up from Manang that morning and were planning to stay there. NP and I decided to keep going and see where we could get to that afternoon. Bid the international crew farewell, and off we went. Our decision was made easy as it started to snow just before we reached Letdar, so that was where we stayed! It was a nice quiet little guest house with fantastic views later that night when it cleared. The snow covered mountains under full moon-light were spectacular! It was just a father and son running the guest house. We all sat around the small stove and visited... well they visited and I mostly listened and observed. I picked up a few words I knew... unfortunately those are numbers so all I knew is they were discussing prices of 250-300 rupees... not terribly informative. While we were all huddled around the stove the wind caught and blew down the chimney... with a WHOOSH! flames followed by smoke shot out the front of the stove and we all had a good jump away from the "explosion"! We all looked around at each other and cracked up! This proceeded to happen several more times throughout the evening, each time surprising us, and each time we all had a good laugh at our reactions!

Mountains, kids, bugs and fungus!

In Pisang we got our first views of the old villages that have been lived in for centuries! Very cool, the old towns still feel very medieval. Narrow little streets winding up the hillside, ancient stone buildings that lean and twist! Very cool, I came back with probably too many pictures of the towns that will look the same... but I'll be able to thin those down to the best ones:D

When I woke up in Pisang, after the rain of the night I got my first views of the mountains! Pisang Peak behind, and Annapurnas II, IV, III and Gangapurna in front! WOW! It was good to be back in the mountains! That day we took the high trail from Pisang, a very steep climb up to Gyaru and then a lovely walk across through Ngawal to Braga. The upper trail's views were spectacular, looking right across the valley as the mountains seemed to grow the higher we got! I felt sorry for anyone who took the low trail... they missed so much.

Just before we reached Braga where we stayed the night, we passed through the village of Mungji, there were dozens... maybe up to 50 baby pygmy goats! They were so cute, spread out all over a large pasture area, didn't see any adults, just the babies an they were adorable! Bounding around, nibbling on the grass or bushes, walking among the horses and mules also grazing there. Many a little bleat or bah, so funny to watch. The antics of goat kids are so entertaining!

That night at Braga met a group of six guys also staying there. They had all met up along the way of their various travels. Two British guys, one has been biking around India and Nepal for about 5 months, two Spaniards (brothers), one Dutch, and one Israeli. Cool guys, it would have been fun to travel with them, but we had a different pace, lol. (I ended up meeting up with them a couple times after, and then I've run into two of them here in Pokhara and hung out a little)

After the first night in Braga, NP and I climbed up to the Ice Lake (at 15,000ft), a nice Sabbath afternoon hike of about 4,000 vertical feet from Braga. The views were awesome, and up at the top we walked up and talked with some of the people who were up in the hills hunting for some insect that they will sell down in the valley for good money. They do this every two years, the season lasts about a month and a half and there were dozens of people that come up for the season. The bug looks like a caterpillar, about 1 1/2 - 2 inches long an at the tail it looks like a plant shoot, that's all that sticks out of the ground and apparently one to two of these a day is pretty good hunting! Wikipedia calls these "caterpillar fungus" and if you want to know more you can look it up there. But a brief overview is that they are a moth larvae which gets invaded with a fungus that eventually kills the larvae and grows out of them into a sort of mushroom that is able to release it's spores to continue the life cycle. Strange!

When we returned to Braga that afternoon for lunch we decided to spend another night there before heading on as the weather wasn't looking too promising and it's encouraged to spend two nights at Braga or Manang for acclimatization. We didn't think we probably had to worry about that, but weren't in a huge hurry and liked the people at the guest house there. That afternoon I did wander up to Manang to have a look around, it's about a 20 min walk between the two towns. The old part of Manang was very cool, another medieval town with many winding passages and alleyways. I wandered and hoped I wouldn't get lost or end up someplace I wasn't supposed to be, but it all turned out well :D I definitely felt like I got a little off the main tourist track as the locals seemed to watch me curiously, which doesn't really happen on the main paths. But nonone looked angry or upset so I continued my meandering until I had made a circuit through the village that if tracked probably looked something like the trails of Billy from the cartoon "Family Circus".

That night back in Braga I played dice with NP... he wanted to play for money, so we set the stakes at 5 ruppees a game. I ended up winning three times in a row, we'll play again later and see if he can win it back!