Himalaya (Annapurna) Trek

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(Jeff)
After a few days of getting oriented, settled, and geared up at a few of Pokhara's ubiquitous outdoors shops, we were ready to set off on yet another fantastic adventure within an adventure; we decided to go on a trek in the Annapurna region of the majestic Himalaya mountain range. We acquired all the necessary permits and a trekking map, checked in with the embassy, packed one bag with our essentials (plus a small daypack full of provisions), and early one morning we caught a taxi then a bus and headed for the hills.

We decided on a trek called the Ghorepani - Gandruk loop. We'd read that it was possible to do the trek in 5 days, but it turned out that this was only if one had superhuman hiking abilities, and no interest in stopping to enjoy the stunning scenery and absorb the culture (and hot springs!) of the Nepalese mountains...it was an 8-day trip for us.

After a 2-hour bus ride winding through the foothills of the Himalayas, we arrived at Nayapul, the starting point for our trek. We unscrewed our shiny new telescoping hiking poles, checked in with the official who registered our permits, and began our ascent. We hiked up a trail that climbed steadily through meadows and areas of terraced hillsides. Much of the trail was made up of stone steps which made for easier walking. After a solid 7-hour day of walking, we arrived at our first destination - the small mountain village of Tikehedrum. We booked into a lodge there, and heaved hearty sighs of relief as we unstrapped our packs and pulled off our hiking boots. Our rooms were very basic on the trek, but what do you expect for 100-200 Nepali rupees (CDN$1.40 - $2.80) per night? We were warm and grateful to have a roof over our heads. We quickly fell into the common trekker routine of 'early to bed, early to rise' - after a full day of walking uphill, we were in bed by 7pm, and we were awake before 7am.

Our second day was on the trail was perhaps the most grueling of the entire trek. It started out with a long, extremely steep uphill slog to the next village called Ulleri. We had to take it slowly, at times stopping every ten steps or so to catch our breath. The combination of the steep grade and the rapid elevation gain made it a heart-pounding, leg-burning climb. Mel & I took turns carrying the larger, heavier pack filled with our warm clothes.

Thankfully, the trail leveled out somewhat after Ulleri, and after another solid 7-hour day of hiking, we reached Gorepani, our second destination. Although it is one of the larger villages along the trail, the local population is probably still around 50 people. We got a room in the oddly-named 'See You Hotel' - it had a great view of the valley we'd just hiked through, and the luxury of an attached bathroom.

It was here that we discovered the 'go-to' trekking meal, Dal Bhat - it is a standard Nepali meal consisting of rice, a serving of lentil stew, some steamed spinach-like greens, and a papad (round crispy tortilla-like thing). I was lukewarm about the rather bland, unexciting Dal Bhat...until they came and offered us a second helping. Once I learned that the Dal Bhat menu option was typically 'all-you-can-eat', I was sold. These tiny Himalayan villages make their tourist money on the food (not the rooms, obviously), which is usually at least twice as expensive as the same thing in larger, more easily accessible towns. It makes sense, considering that much of the food ingredients (and literally everything else) needs to be hauled up the mountains on the backs of porters. Anyway, the days of strenuous exertion left us with hearty appetites, so we gratefully accepted the heaping second helpings of rice and dahl from our hosts.

In order to economize in light of the pricey food on the trek, Mel and I took to traveling with a loaf of 6-grain bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a block of yak cheese. Instead of stopping at one of the many 'teahouses' along the way for a lunch that could easily set us back over 500 rupees, we'd find a wide, flat spot on the trail and whip up some quick peanut butter and/or cheese sandwiches. That would keep us going until dinner time - which, given that we were going to bed at around 7pm, we would often eat at around 4pm.

We awoke particularly early the next morning, in anticipation of one of the highlights of our trek; watching the sun come up over a panoramic 360 degree view of the the Himalayas from a high point called Poon Hill. We dressed in our warm clothes and started walking up the trail from our lodge as dawn was breaking. The views of the high, snowy surrounding peaks were stunning even as we hiked up the trail. A short way into the walk we discovered that there is actually 'lower Ghorepani' (where we had spent the night) and 'upper Ghorepani', which had much more impressive views. We had planned to spend another night in Ghorepani, so we decided to move up the hill for our second night.

As we climbed up the steep stone stairs to the peak of Poon Hill, we met several large groups of hikers coming down. Although it was still before 7:00am, a few of them commented that we were "late". While it was true that we had missed seeing the sun rise on the summit, I was very glad that we arrived at the top when we did. It was a difficult climb (especially straight out of a cozy, warm bed!), but it was well worth it when we reached the top of Poon Hill. The views were amazing, and after the throngs of sunrise early-birds departed, we literally had the place to ourselves. There must have been at least 80 people up there for the sunrise (we saw them all heading down!), and Mel and I didn't see a single other person up there for a good three hours. We brought a picnic breakfast (the good ol' bread, PB & cheese) and just soaked in the spectacular mountain vista views all around us. It got warmer as the sun came up, and Mel even ingeniously hung some laundry out to dry on our hiking poles for a while. Looking around at the peaks of the Annapurna range and other mountains was an incredible feeling - like we were really 'out there' - so far from the the bustling cities far below (let alone the baking beaches of southern India), and we'd arrived at that magnificent peak under our own steam - it was quite a feeling!

Having had our fill of the amazing views (and snapped countless photos, of course) we made our way back down the trail to Ghorepani. We checked out of our lodge, and moved up the hill to the highest lodge up the mountain. We spent the afternoon soaking up the mountains views (and a couple of drinks) from the patio in front of the lodge. After another massive dal bhat dinner, we were ready for bed early.

(Mel)
DAY 4
The morning of day 4 I woke early while the sky was still full of stars and headed half-way up Poon hill (west of Ghorepani) hoping to catch a glimpse of the pink light upon the mountain peaks we'd missed the morning before with our late start. It turned out that the only pink to be had was in the south-eastern sky (while the mountains were in the west and north), but along with a crescent moon as a backdrop to Buddhist prayer flags, it still made for some great pictures. After a 6:30am breakfast we were on the trail by 7 and headed east out of town in the direction of Tadapani. The climb through an old Rhododendron forest was spectacular as we kept coming upon clearing after clearing that afforded us continually better and better views of the mountains. We eventually peaked at a height that was equal to that of Poon Hill (if only someone had told me I'd have saved my legs and climbed up this way early this morning instead of in the counterproductive direction of Poon Hill where we's already been yesterday!). An old abandoned tea house made of stone and a plethora of prayer flags graced the top of the hill where views of Daulagiri and some of the Annapurnas were breath-taking. It made for a great place to take a break and catch our breath.

The rest of the day continued to inspire tons of photos with the landscape continuing to change as we enjoyed some of the most beautiful scenery of the whole trek. The older parts of the Rhodo forests reminded me of the old-growth forests at home with all their ferns and moss hanging from trees. We walked through a pass down between two ridges and along a creek for some time. The loss of altitude was a much welcome change to the steep elevation gain of the first two days --not to mention the first 2 hours of today's hike). Photos will of course do a much better job of depicting how incredible the landscape was so I'll leave the rest to pictures.

Now is probably a good time to add a note about the quality of trekking maps in Nepal...
A typical start to our day would be Jeff and I looking at the map over breakfast so that we could wrap our heads around what type of terrain we'd encounter that day (which we'd have already done at least 3 times the evening before). We would look at the distances relative to different settlements/villages we'd pass through as well as any topographical feats we'd have to perform (and occasionally endure). For example, on this particular day we had 2 main settlements that we'd hike through (which have a combination of homes, restaurants/tea houses and usually lodges) and about 3/4 of the way through there's a really steep down followed by a really steep up and then the last 1/4 of the hike (divinely flat). From a combination of signs about towns and the notes on our map, we figured we had about 6 hours of hiking that day. Now imagine this: you're 3 1/2 hours in and your trekking partner pulls out the map and shows you that you've only covered about one eighth of the distance you need to cover that day (!!!). What?!?!?!?!? How could that be?!?!? We were now in the first of the small settlements we'd hit that day and according to our map we'd hardly touched the distance we needed to travel that day and we'd already put in more than half the time we believed the whole day should take. Arg. Though this was the most extreme of examples, it was certainly not the only time this would happen. There's really nothing to do at this point but to keep hiking. Worst case scenario is we'd have to stop somewhere sooner along the way than anticipated... and with such beautiful terrain it's not like it would be a hardship really.

And so, keeping breaks to a minimum, we plodded along. And now I interject a confession: I can be very competitive. It's not something I generally feel comfortable admitting... having it in my head that it's a bad thing. Most days we'd see the same people along the trails and we'd take turns passing each other. Though some of the more fit people would often pass us, not stopping at a lodge or tea house for lunch gave us an edge. Where one of these lunch stops would often take 1 to 1.5 hours, ours often took less than half an hour, and we'd pass others as they ate. This particular day however, we didn't seem to pass anyone at lunch. As far as I could tell, we were really behind the eight ball... and with that, I was all the more determined to push ahead. We eventually hit the gully where we had to do our steep down followed by a steep up. Phew. Now we know we're roughly 3/4 done and it's only about 1pm. We hike another 15 minutes and suddenly, we're there. Wha?!??! Who made the last part of the trail disappear?!?!? What a relief! And in great time, it turned out. Ironically, we were the 1st ones to arrive (all that competitive worry for nothing -Ha!).

Tadapani was a great little town on a ridge overlooking a valley with a good sized river. At the far end of this valley, we could see Jhinudanda (tomorrow's destination and home to the hot springs which Jeff had been longing for). The town had a bakery and unlike the one in Ghorepani, this one actually has bread (hot and fresh out of the oven to boot!). The shop across the way sold Yak cheese so we're able to load up on lunch food for the rest of the trek (which is great because we were so low on bread we were starting to lay the peanut butter on as thick as the bread slices themselves).

The advantage of having made such great time getting to Tadopani, was we had the first pick of rooms in what seemed to be the best-situated lodge in town. We managed to snag ourselves a fabulous room with windows that lined 2 sides that reminded me a lot of a tree fort. The common plywood-thin walls helped too and made for very little privacy. The room was scarcely bigger than our twin beds pushed together which gave it a cozy-nook feel as we were able to soak up an unobstructed view of the mountains from the comfort of our bed. Divine. And that's where we soaked up sunrise before heading off on Day 5...

DAY 5
We started off a little later that morning since our hosts forgot about our breakfast order. Perhaps I should have realized that this might happen after they'd forgotten about our dinner order the night before (meals are supposed to be ordered in advance, in writing including the time of when you'd like it), but so it goes. The first part of the hike was fabulous. I was an easy descent through the trees with little stone farm houses here and there. More great views.

We hit a steep down through the trees which was followed by the familiar suspension bridge and then back up a steep set of stone stairs and steep dirt trail (I'm starting to think Nepalis like going from A to B as directly as possible regardless of topography). This pretty much marked the end of the Rhodo forests. The rest of the day we hiked along what one of the guides we met called "Nepali flat", which meant that overall the topography was relatively the same...with sort of rolling ups and downs (in place of the plummets up and down). That part was great. What was less great was that this side of the hill/mountain had been badly deforested over time (a big problem in the Himalayas) and was in the full sun for the rest of the day. Because we were packing our own lunch instead of eating in tea houses like all the other travellers we met were, we didn't have the awning of a restaurant to take a sun break. It made for a longer day and, I must confess, got the better of my patience at times (sorry Jeff!). It all ended in the biggest, steepest downward stone staircases we encountered our whole trip. It must have been around 1.5 km straight down and we switched the load of our one big pack back and forth between us frequently to preserve our knees.

This had been my most challenging day of the whole trek, so finally reaching Jhinudanda at the bottom and knowing the treasure it held in store for us was like water at the end of a dry walk through the desert.

(Jeff)
We checked into the Namaste Hotel at the end of the high, landlocked fijord-type point of Jhinudanda, reasoning that being at the lowest elevation, it would make for the shortest walk down the valley to the hot springs.

As many of you know, to say that I am a hot springs enthusiast is an understatement. I was very excited about the opportunity to have a leisurely soak in some beautiful natural riverside springs...in Nepal! -- Especially after five straight days of intense physical exercise. My weary muscles and bones were more than ready for it. I could hardly wait to get down there - shortly after we checked in, I pulled out my swim suit and towel and headed for the trail down to the springs. The sign at the trail head said 'Hot Springs: 15 mins.' - I'd learned by this time that hiking time estimates were generally about half of what they should be (for me, at least) and this was no exception - I reached the hotsprings after about a half hour of walking down the trail through the forest.

I was not disappointed - the hot springs at Jhinudanda are beautiful. There are three stone and cement pools right beside a river, set in a lush, steep-sided valley with great mountain views. I quickly determined that the lowest pool was the hottest (unusually), and slipped into the soothing waters - aaaahhhhhhh. It was heavenly. I eased my sore muscles in the hot, flowing geothermal waters for the rest of the afternoon, and only trekked back up the hill when it was starting to get dark.

This mountain hot spring paradise was definitely a place worthy of lingering in, so we spent the better part of the next day down in the shimmering natural pools as well. After another marathon soak, I felt ultra relaxed, recharged, and ready to continue on with our trek.

We walked back up the hill, and once again shifted to a new lodge - this one with a beautiful rooftop patio, where we watched a dramatic thunder & lightening show in the surrounding mountains in the evening.

[Mel interjects: One of the most shocking sites during the storm, was the porters who continued to hike into the late evening. While I'd had an awareness that the working conditions of these porters was not always ideal, I was shocked to find that even in the pelting rain, even past 10pm they carried on. And these guys were heading in the opposite direction we'd been going, meaning they were just about to climb the steep, long haul up to Chomrong. It's hard not to feel pangs of over-privileged Western guilt. It was at least a relief to have read in the paper before leaving that with the new Moaist government, there was some headway being made towards improving their working conditions with better pay and weight restrictions on their loads (we'd met a porter along our trek who was carrying 70kg... more than he himself likely weighed).]

We had a role reversal the following morning - I was awake at dawn, and out gazing at the morning sun on the tips of the mountain peaks, while Mel slept in well past 7:00am (wow!). We had breakfast at our Jhinu guest house, then began our descent into the river valley that would take us back to where we started. I was grateful that most of our heavy climbing was behind us and that it was mostly downhill (though some of it quite steep!) from that point. We hiked along the side of the valley, continuing to pass through scenic mountain villages and settlements. We passed the usual other 'traffic' on the way - ponies and porters carrying huge loads, and a few other trekkers. For the past couple days before this the sky had clouded over in the afternoons, and we got some rain. Thankfully, we'd already been safely settled at lodges (or in hot springs!) when this had happened in the past couple of days. The sky started to darken and clouds began to gather on the peaks behind us as we made our way back down towards civilization. I was beginning to worry that we were going to get soaked on the trail. On top of this concern, I had matching blisters beginning to form on my baby toes, and we were both feeling the effects of our strenuous endeavours over the past week.

For these reasons, I was very happy when we walked down a long flight of flat stone steps, and into the riverside settlement of Syauli Bazar. We found a room in spite of the village being nearly overtaken by a large group of Japanese trekkers, and we'd only been sitting under a sheltered guest house patio by the river for about 20 minutes when a great downpour began. Talk about great timing! We played a game of chess and took a break from dal bhat with a dinner of the other Himalayan lodge standard meal, chow mein.

[Mel interjects again:
A note about "tourist package trekking groups"...
The Japanese trekking group was the second group of it's kind that we encountered. The groups would consist of about 20 people --mostly of early retirement age-- and about 25-30 porters (!). Why so many porters, you might ask? Why to carry not only their luggage... not only all their food... but also all the kitchen equipment to cook it! Unbelievable. Porters would be carrying these huge baskets on their backs, afixed by a strap on their head, filled with steamers, pots, and even plates and glasses! All to be able to provide all the comforts of home. Back to you Jeff...]

We awoke at our typical early hour the following morning for the eighth and final day of our trek. We got packed up and checked out of our guest house, and hit the trail. This day entailed a relatively short (about 2-hour), easy walk beside a river back down to Nayapul. We reached our destination in the late morning, and registered our return with the the small 'office' at the trail head. From there, it was a bus ride back into the town of Pokhara.

As I sat on the bus and watched the scenery go by, I reflected on the week we'd spent in the mountains. We didn't break any speed or elevation records, but we weren't any slouches, either. We covered a lot of ground, and a lot of it was pretty steep, both up and down - and I'm pretty proud of us! We saw a lot of incredible scenery and places that are indescribable with words. I would recommend to anyone to go and see it for themselves. This Himalayan trekking trip ranks up there with the best of the many adventures we've undertaken on this epic journey - it was a truly awesome experience that I will never forget.

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Photos

Prayer Flags
at sunrise (crescent moon still visible) from Poon Hill

On the way up
Here we are with fresh legs on day two, just before our slog up to Ulleri

Ulleri: Sweet Relief
You can't imagine how good it feels to reach the top of a stone staircase that takes 2.5 hours to climb

Mel diggin' the Dal Bhat
Our hearty standard trekking fare

Us on Poon Hill
Here we are at the beautiful Poon Hill lookout point

First light
On the peaks of the mountains in the morning - definitely worth waking up for!

View from ridge apex opposite Poon Hill
Poon Hill (with view tower) on the left, Ghorepani below, and snow-capped Dhaulagiri behind

Schoolyard in Ghorepani
What a place to go to school!

Rhododendron trees and snowy peaks
What a beautiful contrast in scenery

Mountains & prayer flags
It's easy to understand why the locals here regard the mountains as holy places.

Second Breakfast
After a 6:30am breakfast and a 2 hour climb a good view spot in a rhodo forest with an Annapurna view seems the best place for second breakfast

Arrival snack
Mel gets set to bust into our fresh loaf of bread and some yak cheese in our fort with a view at Tadapani.

Homestead
Early in the day between Tadapani and Jhinudanda(Day 5)

It's a LONG way down...
Day 5: It was 1.5 or more km STRAIGHT DOWN from Chomrong to Jhinudanda

Jhinudanda
Looking up the hill from our room at the Namaste Hotel

Tatopani: Nepali for 'Hot Springs'
Hot pools. Cool river. After the last leg down to Jhinu, we REALLY earned this.

Cool dip...?
Mel contemplates a dip in the rushing, icy river beside the springs.

Morning mountain
I couldn't get enough of the stunning mountain views, which were best (clearest) in the early mornings.

Steep down
It's hard to really capture in a photo how steep some of the parts of the trek were - this shot comes close, with the river valley far below.

Passing through
A typical lodge on the trail

Porter
These guys carried massive loads of stuff and always flew past us on the trail, going up or down - it was amazing.

We made it!
Day 8: We finally arrive back down where we started - here Mel checks out at the Annapurna park office.