Trekking Day 5

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Trekking Day 5
May 12, 2014
I know better that to anticipate and have expectations. Usually that just leads to unhappiness when things don’t turn out as planned. Still I thought this day would be a little easier. After all, I had been at it for four days and I thought I might be a little stronger. Not so much.
We started out downhill at a good clip and there was actually soft woodland duff under foot for a while. Once we got to the connection that allowed wheeled vehicles, i.e. cars, trucks, motorcycles and the occasional bus I thought it might be easier. Instead, we dropped over the edge of the road and traversed small farms as we lost elevation at a more rapid pace. It gave me a chance to see the cultivating close up, but it seemed like we went on forever. Finally, in the distance we saw the yellow road and I was not looking forward to walking it. But it had its own charm. People were so busy. We saw construction of side routes, and new groups of tourists, one 22 person strong, more small businesses, and lucky people riding back to the starting point in jeeps. I felt riding back was not an option. I wanted to do the whole thing, all twenty six miles of it. Nor did I want Ashok to carry my pack for me. He knew I was done in, and I am sure he just wanted to speed things up, but it wasn’t the weight that was slowing me down; that was minimal. It was the heat, and the cumulative effort of the hike.
We crossed a couple of bridges and finally came to a check point (the young women who manned it looked rested and cool). Shortly after we started up a little, toward the Nayapaul road where we would catch our bus back to Pokara. I saw three women who looked to be grandmothers like me, beside a three or four foot pile of sand on the side of the busy road. They each would carry a bag of sand on their back and climb the sand pile and tip the sack upside down to add their load to the pile. This was strenuous enough on the flat, but they were hiking down a hillside for the distance of several blocks, and filling the bags at the river below. Wow! Ashok said it was a private enterprise, for fixing something of their own.
When we got to the bus Ashok walked me past it and we climbed into a more comfortable car for the ride back to Pokara. I slept all the way. I think we got there about 4 p.m. It had been a long day.

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Photos

Project destination
I think this lady's stance says it all...very hard on the back.

Project materials
This is a long steep climb carrying sand from the river bed.