Traveling up the Kali Gandaki Valley

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November 3, 2008 Monday Day 14 Ghasa

We walked from Tatopani to Ghasa (or Ghansa as it is spelled on the menu). We’re at the Golden Inn Guest House.

We had an early wakeup call from Dilman at 6:30 a.m., but it took us forever to get organized and packed. We had breakfast at 7:20 and left the Guest House at 8 a.m., arrived at Ghasa at 2:30 p.m. with several short breaks - tea break, apple break, then a coke and boiled egg break. Again the walk was different than any other day. The trail starts up the Kali Gandaki valley which is said to be the deepest gorge in the world. During the first part of the morning we trekked through farm land - citrus and banana trees, terraced fields. We stopped for tea in a garden under a large poinsettia tree. After tea, most of the rest of the day was walking along a dusty road shared by horse trains, trekkers, porters of all sorts (carrying cement bags, apples, trekkers stuff), motorcycles, jeeps and buses. We went across a long suspension bridge.

Shortly after passing through Rupse Chhahara (which means “beautiful waterfall” and is named for a huge waterfall), the road, much of which is cut through solid rock, is blocked by the remains of a landslide that occurred last year. We scrambled over and between boulders with a sheer drop down to the river. It was very tricky and somewhat scary. I was out in front of Dilman and Bruce at this point, with both porters quite a way in front of me. So I just followed the dusty footprints through the rubble and tried not to look down. It was scary but also exhilarating. (The Grand Canyon should by a piece of cake after this trek!!)

We are at the Golden Inn Guest House. I just finished eating Vegetable Spring Rolls with chips (fries) and salad for lunch. Very good. I’m planning to take a shower and wash some clothes. Tomorrow is supposed to be a little shorter - only 4 ½ hours I think. We met Helen and Ian’s guide here having lunch. He is now guiding a Japanese group that had just finished lunch. No one is in the lunch room right now but a large group - German - is outside talking.

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Photos

"Beautiful Waterfall"
The middle section of the Waterfall. For scale, notice the man in the right center of the picture.

Horse carrying apples from Marpha
Horses, Jeeps, Trucks, Buses, Porters, and Trekkers share the road.

Crossing the landslide
I took the photo looking back at the trail I had just walked.