After a few days off we headed off to our next trail, the Annapurna Curcuit. We hopped on a local bus and settled in for the four hour ride to Besi Sahar. Little did we know, as many people as they could cram in that bus would be going with us. We hopped off the bus midday and navigated through the chaos of others finding jeeps to further up the trail and checking their permits. Hiking out of town, the heat and humidity started to hit us. I stripped off my layers knowing that women weren't supposed to be seen in a tank top and shorts. I couldn't help it; it was that or die of heat stroke. Still, the disapproving eyes of everyone found me. Passing villagers tending their goats and cattle, a large cow nearly blocked the trail. As Sam passed he let out a growl and the massiverge creature turned right toward me, lowering his head, preparing to ram me into the side of the tiered field. As his horn hit my wrist with a ton of force, Moose stepped in with his trekking poles and knocked the creature away. We grabbed lunch at a small table on the side of the road as chickens and roosters pecked at our feet. I promised them in my mind that it was veggie fried rice but knew they weren't safe for long. We slugged out of there and back out into the heat, only making it a few more kilometers before coming upon a wonderful little lodge by the river and deciding to stop. We laid in the cool water of the river and scrubbed off the sweat and dirt for the day. Just as I had cleaned up, the boys threw a huge rock into a mud pit, splattering poop smelling mud everywhere. The glob that had hit my upper lip was by far the worst but as I looked down my clothes were covered in the stuff. Having to be less modest than I already was, I dunked my clothes in the river and walked back up without. We spent the rest of the evening having a fly killing contest and preparing for the next day. Before we went to bed, massive winds came through the lodge threatening to rip off the tin roof of each room. Fires swelled on the mountains in the wind and we weren't sure if they were intentional or not.
Finally a light rain came putting out the fires and creating a terrible noise on the thin tin roofs. By the middle of the night the wind had stopped and everything was dry again. Waking up the next morning, you'd have never known of the storm that passed through that evening. The morning was cool and the trail was enjoyable. We stopped for tea at a guest house with an incredible view up the valley. As we got going again a group of students passed and held out their hands for a handshake. I was duped by the second young boy who suavely threw his hand up into his hair. They asked for sweets and when I didn't have any switched their requests to pens. I didn't have eight pens on me either. The day slowly heated up and we all began to sweat. The men herding mules wore sport coats and shorts, almost looking cold in the hot sun. Rather quickly the clouds came in and it started to sprinkle. It felt nice to be out of the sun but luckily we got into a town and sheltered in before the rain really came in. We had an absolutely wonderful host who even took off his sandals and washed them to give to Sam so he wouldn't have to wear his boots. The next day we started out on the road and chose not to take the trail that rose steeply to the left. At some point the trail switched on us and we saw it spring up on the right side of the river, perfectly shaded and with much less elevation change than the road we currently trekked. After a long hot morning on the road, we made it to a town and crossed the river to rejoin the trail. We had some tea and wallowed in our laziness before starting on the trail again. The trail would have been perfectly acceptable and not too difficult if we weren't staring at the now shaded and much flatter road that we had just left.
Even so, the trail was littered with incredible waterfalls and a gorgeous river running below. It looked good enough to dive in but the glacial temperatures kept me from it. We made it to our destination but were less than impressed by the village. Making our way through we stumbled on a place that had a huge front lawn and rooftop area to soak up the sun. We moved in quickly but had little time to enjoy the sun before the afternoon clouds came in and wind whipped the valley into sweater weather. That night was made for hiding out in the room and playing cards. Starting a bit later than usual, we walked out of town and hit our first checkpoint, places where they write your name down in an old book and hope you don't get lost and they have to find it again. The day heated up faster than most days and we spent it hiking uphill all day long. Though 1000 meters of elevation gain did cool down the air a bit. The trail had many different routes and somewhere along the way I unknowingly passed Sam and Moose which made getting into town quite confusing. Once we will were all in the same place at the same time, a torrential downpour started. More rain than we had seen our entire time in Nepal. We were happy for the common room and the burning stove that night. That rain would spur snow further up as we climbed another 1000 meters up.
The Valley before High camp.
View of Annapurna II and IV from the monastery.
Everywhere you look was the shot of a postcard with some ill-placed telephone poles. We walked up the river and were stunned by the glare of the massive Pisang wall. Covered in snow and water reflecting off the sun, the wall is near blinding early in the day. From there we passed over a rickety bridge that dumped us into a beautiful pine forest. We were sheltered from the wind that had been biting at our faces all day and the only sound was the snow melting off the trees and hitting the pine needle floor. I couldn't help but be reminded of the pine forests along the Pacific Crest Trail. We spilled out of the forest into a tiny village and stopped for coffee and tea and to bake in the hot sun on their roof. It was only a short distance further to the town of Upper Pisang, situated on the side of the valley just above Lower Pisang at the river. It was a steep climb up to the hostel but it was worth it for the views of Annapurna II and the village below. We were situated right under a beautiful monastery being built by the people in town since 1999. Every family had to make a donation or spend 54 days helping with the project. A sign said the construction was ongoing but it looked incredible well done, with tiny ornate details everywhere. People outside prayed and it seemed everyone made a climb up to the monastery at least once a day.
The Monastery in Upper Pisang.
We sat below one of the tallest mountains in the world for the rest of the day, reading and filling our stomachs. The night was cold and the next morning wasn't any warmer. We hiked from our perch in the village out into the wind of the valley. The sun slowly made its way down to the trail and I delayered after a small uphill. From there the trail turned into a shaded, downhill section that froze me until we we're at the bottom of a mountain and the only trails were up. We climbed 400 meter up before getting to a monument and sitting to look over the mountain range and the valley below. A kind woman brought us teas and tried to peddle some apple pie. It was tempting but we had more hiking to do. The village that appeared behind the stupa was almost completely made of stone with no glasses windows and doors cut from large pines. It was cold navigating our way through the small stone alleyways to get back to the trail but the sun hit us as soon as we were out. Just before our destination we happened upon an restaurant on the side of the trail with a table overlooking everything. We sat and had hot soup and chatted with some other hikers before making it into town. It was another stone village that looked as if it we're a bunch of ruins settled into the ravine.
The town of Chulu tucked under Annapurna.
Upon closer inspection the little town was thriving and we spent the afternoon exploring, laying in the beating sun, and trying to catch up on the sleep we lost the night before. The sun dropped and the wind became icy, knocking out the power to the whole town. It seemed as though the roof was going to peel off but it was still there when we woke up the next morning. We took the high route that day and lost most of the crowds. As we hiked past a monastery and said namaste to the monks, I realized I had forgotten to pay for some chips I had at our last hostel. I felt terrible but not terrible enough to hike all the way back. We trekked down to a nearly abandoned town and then had a huge climb back up onto the ridge. Once there the trail was extremely pleasant and we took many breaks in the sun to read and relax. On our way back down into the valley my stomach began to rumble and I found myself throwing off my pack and diving for a nearby bush. Just as I got my pants down, a guy walks two feet away and looks quite awkwardly in my direction, even though we hadn't seen another human for hours. I looked up at a nearby rock that had a word painted on it, KARMA, and I couldn't help but think yes, it definitely was. We made it back into the valley and up to the larger village of Manang. It actually had shops and bakeries that we took full advantage of and a movie theater that only played everest themed movies three times a day. At dinner time Sam and I heaped on a few spoonfuls of the local chili sauce, a decision we would immediately regret. We started sweating at our first bite and shoveled the food in our mouths to tame the burning. My lips burned for the next few hours and I vowed to never eat local chili again, knowing I wouldn't keep my promise. Before we were finished with dinner, huge booms of thunder sounded outside. We were waiting for the downpour to start but nothing came. For hours the thunder and lightning shook the sky with no precipitation. Then suddenly snow started coming down in troves.
Hiding in the bathroom.
The boys rushed for their cameras and hid out in the bathrooms to take pictures without getting wet. The snow would lay down a blanket of white but it would all but disappear by the next morning. After one last trip to the bakery, we hiked out of Manang. The air was much thinner than it had been before and the hike up another 500 meters was tough. Half of the valley was green with the sun while the other stayed white with last night's snow. A mountain loomed at the end of the valley looking at us as the trail of hikers climbed up. We reached 4000 meters and stopped at a lodge to acclimatize for the rest of the day. Just as we got settled, a helicopter landed below the lodge and a woman was carried out and stowed safely on board before it took off again. Another victim to the extreme altitude. We still felt well but had already been at this elevation just weeks before. Three more helicopters would come that day. Then a snow storm would roll in and dump all evening with boughts of brilliant thunder and lightning. We'd wake up to a completely different landscape, covered in inches of powdered snow.
View from the climb up to high camp.
I was afraid of the elevation gain for the day, from 4000 to 4925 meters, and the snow travel in an area known for rock slides. I followed the footsteps that the boys had left and had no problems making it to the first village which was a gradual gain of 500 meters over about seven kilometers. After that it would be 400 meters in only a kilometer, straight up the mountain, to get closer to the pass. I threw a snickers in my mouth for energy and puffed my inhaler before heading up the trail. It was slow going and incredibly snowy. I had put on a forty minute podcast at the start, thinking it would be finished by the time I reached the top. When it ended, I heard a guide mention to his client that we were 60% of the way up. The snow turned slippery and icy but suddenly you could see the building of high camp. We got a room with one double bed and a thin mattress on the floor for Sam. We sat in the common room with a bunch of other hikers from all over the world. When we looked outside, the clouds had come in and it was almost a complete white out. Some snow came through the roof of the common room when the wind picked up. There was talking all over the room about how long the pass would take the next day, some said and hour and a half, some said seven to eight hours. I was comforted knowing I'd be somewhere in between. The boys left around 5:00 am with the wind howling and snow coming down. I hoped it would be better slightly later in the day and slept in until 6:00. It was almost a complete white out. I got up and packed anyways, hoping the sun would come out and burn off the clouds. I met up with an Australian couple that I had planned to hike with the night before for breakfast. Everyone in the common was worried and wondering whether to wait it out or push through it. It was still snowing but the wind was dying down a bit and we decided to take a chance. I threw on most of my layers, strapped my crampons on, and headed out. A few others came with us and we formed a group of six. More groups started to pack up and leave so we knew we wouldn't be alone up there. The first part of the trek was thin with a steep drop off and many turned back thinking the whole trek would be like this. We pushed on and after after a bridge and a short climb, the ridge evened out and the steep slope vanished. It was hard work traipsing through the snow while trying to breathe the thin air at 17,000ft. Many struggled and moved slowly, stopping frequently. I felt really good and knew a positive attitude was the only thing that would get me over the pass. I briefly saw my shadow in the snow and looked back to find the sun peaking through the clouds. It tried it's best but we felt no warmth from it and it wouldn't break through the clouds until after we were down from the pass. The thing I loved most about being up there in a storm was the comraderie between trekkers. We all knew we were up there in a dangerous situation and no one was going to be left behind. Anytime anyone stopped, we were checking in to make sure they weren't feeling too cold or the effects of altitude. After what seemed like forever but was only two and a half hours, we saw prayer flags on the horizon and knew we were there.
All of us crowded in the tiny tea house to escape the wind before getting our pictures with the sign. It was nearly unbearable to stand on top of the pass as biting wind and sleet hit your face like daggers. I warmed my hands and my insides with a cup of tea but had nothing for my frozen feet, still caked in snow like two ice blocks. I sat for as long as I could stand it before packing up and heading down. The first half hour of downhill was the coldest it had been all day and I tried to move faster in the snow to warm up. We were all sliding down in the lush snow thinking about the hot showers down in the next town. Slowly, as we dropped in elevation, it started to warmup and yes snow beneath our feet thinned out and melted. 1700 meters later we were at the bottom. We sat at and cafes of grab lunch and relived what we had all just gone through. The sun came out and we relished in the heat, stuffing our faces with fried rice and mo mos. A little while longer would take us to our destination town and the weather would return, pouring down snow on the village. Everyone was talking about their day, when they left, how it was, how they felt. We enjoyed dinner with our new friends and put our tired aching bodies to sleep. Waking up early, even though we had planned to sleep in, felt good. I felt refreshed knowing the hardest part of the circuit was over. We ate breakfast and did a little shopping before leaving town with the Australian couple. We hiked through a few small villages with 500 year old monasteries that had been devastated by the earthquake. A kind old man opened it up and showed us around, hand motioning to us because he spoke no English. Further down the trail we stopped and looked for fossils of the Kali Ganaki gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. We found some amazing stuff in the rocks. It was hard to believe at one point the whole place was covered in water. Kagbeni was our destination, tucked in the gorge next to the river. We grabbed lunch once we got there at a tiny shop with a bunch of pictures of food on the front. Sitting around a table in the woman's bedroom, we found out you could only order three things, none of which were pictured outside. It was good food anyways and incredibly cheap. We took hot showers and explored the maze like town until it got too windy in the gorge to be outside.
The Kali Ganaki gorge.
When we woke up the next morning, Sam was sick with food poisoning but we hiked out anyway. We walked down the river gorge for what seemed like forever before coming upon a field of fossil rocks and spending some time to break them open. We made it to the town of Jomsom which was thoroughly covered in a thick layer of dust and we were too by the time we left. Marpha was the next town, known for its apple orchards and famous for its apple brandy and cider. By the time we got there, both boys were sick and spent the rest of the day in bed. That night, I would fall ill and spend most of the night sprinting back and forth from the bathroom. The boys would feel better in the morning but I could barely lift my head. They hiked on as I stayed in town, planning to catch up with them the next day by bus. I still felt very sick even after a day of rest so I went to findo a bus out of town. By the time I got to the station, every bus had already passed through. My only option was to start walking and hope something would come by. The walk wasn't so bad and I made it ten kilometers before flagging down a bus and getting it. The bus was full of tourists from India who all seemed to know each other and began singing together shortly after I hopped on. The singing would last the next four hours until I reached my stop and stepped out into the rain. I had made it to Tatopani, which translates to hot water, known for its natural hot springs on the side of the river. After meeting back up with the boys, we went down and jumped in. It was nice after two long weeks of trekking in the snow. That night we'd meet back up with our Australian friends who soon came down with our sickness. We'd all take the next day off to try and recover. I felt much better after a rest day and was motivated to get hiking again. We had to climb 1700 meters that day up to the town of Ghorapani. It started to pour as soon as we got there and only stopped briefly overnight. What was supposed to be a great view of the entire Annapurna range was nothing but clouds in all directions. The rain came down even harder just before I stepped outside to hike that morning. Leaving town we were spit out into a vast Rhododendron forest at the end of its bloom. The trail was muddy and downhill and the rain didn't let up for hours. Whatever had been making me sick came back the night before and I struggled to make it to the road where I flagged down a jeep to take me back to Pokhara. We spent our last couple days there, relaxing, before taking a bus back to Kathmandu and heading home.
Overlooking the town of Kagbeni.
