Hiking To EBC Part 5: Gokyo Ri and The Return To Namche
Made it to Bangkok safe and sound last night. Looking into booking my ticket for my return to the US then getting myself down to one of the islands (probably Koh Tao) for a diving refresher course.
In the meantime, on with the EBC trek photos. The usual map link is here.
Day 14: A failed attempt to walk to Fifth Lake.
A few days before arriving in Gokyo ran into another American who I'd been hanging out with in Pokhara and Kathmandu and he suggested that the views from Fifth Lake up above Gokyo were spectacular and well worth a day hike up there. Since the weather was OK on the day after I arrived in Gokyo I decided to give it a shot.
Unfortunately the trail was completely hidden by the snowfall from the day before and to top it off I got some bad directions from someone in my lodge. Rather than following the river bed I ended up trying to hike up the top of the moraine. After 2 1/2 hours I had made it only as far as Fourth Lake which was only about 1/3 of the way up. I hiked for another hour or so then decided it was getting too late to continue and turned back. Oh well, at least I have an excuse to go back now.
Here are a couple of the very few pictures I took on my first day in Gokyo.
Day 15: Hike up Gokyo Ri
The usual thing to do in Gokyo is hike up Gokyo Ri, a hill with Everest views that are at least as good as those from Kala Patthar. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best so most of my Everest shots have the summit hidden in the clouds. Regardless it was a beautiful hike and I took quite a few photos on the way up.
Day 16: Gokyo to Portse Tenga
Had the weather been nice on this day I would have liked to make another attempt at making it up to Fifth Lake. When I woke up it was another miserable cloudy day so after a quick breakfast I decided it was time to start heading back. This was a long, cold, grey day but I made it all the way back down the Gokyo valley past Machhermo and Dole to Portse Tenga.
Since the weather was bad and I had already covered this ground on the way up I only took a few photos on the way. The most interesting part of the day was the climbing school that was being held on the ice waterfalls below Dole. This is a big multi-day course that is held out of Portse once each year and I spent quite a bit of time watching all the activity on the way down.
Day 17: Portse Tenga to Namche Bazaar
This was another day with ugly weather and mostly covered ground I'd seen on the way up so I took even fewer photos than the day before. Here's one of the least lame ones.
Day 18: Side trip to Thame
By this point I had decided to walk out to Jiri instead of flying from Lukla. When I woke up it looked like a nice day so I decided to take a side trip west up the valley to the town of Thame instead of starting the hike out immediately.
Although the clouds rolled in in the late morning (a pattern that was to continue almost daily for the rest of the trek) it was still a nice walk and worth the extra day in Namche.
And that's it for this post. I probably have enough photos from the walk out to Jiri for two more posts. I'll continue tomorrow or the day after with the next one.
In the meantime, on with the EBC trek photos. The usual map link is here.
Day 14: A failed attempt to walk to Fifth Lake.
A few days before arriving in Gokyo ran into another American who I'd been hanging out with in Pokhara and Kathmandu and he suggested that the views from Fifth Lake up above Gokyo were spectacular and well worth a day hike up there. Since the weather was OK on the day after I arrived in Gokyo I decided to give it a shot.
Unfortunately the trail was completely hidden by the snowfall from the day before and to top it off I got some bad directions from someone in my lodge. Rather than following the river bed I ended up trying to hike up the top of the moraine. After 2 1/2 hours I had made it only as far as Fourth Lake which was only about 1/3 of the way up. I hiked for another hour or so then decided it was getting too late to continue and turned back. Oh well, at least I have an excuse to go back now.
Here are a couple of the very few pictures I took on my first day in Gokyo.
Day 15: Hike up Gokyo Ri
The usual thing to do in Gokyo is hike up Gokyo Ri, a hill with Everest views that are at least as good as those from Kala Patthar. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best so most of my Everest shots have the summit hidden in the clouds. Regardless it was a beautiful hike and I took quite a few photos on the way up.
Day 16: Gokyo to Portse Tenga
Had the weather been nice on this day I would have liked to make another attempt at making it up to Fifth Lake. When I woke up it was another miserable cloudy day so after a quick breakfast I decided it was time to start heading back. This was a long, cold, grey day but I made it all the way back down the Gokyo valley past Machhermo and Dole to Portse Tenga.
Since the weather was bad and I had already covered this ground on the way up I only took a few photos on the way. The most interesting part of the day was the climbing school that was being held on the ice waterfalls below Dole. This is a big multi-day course that is held out of Portse once each year and I spent quite a bit of time watching all the activity on the way down.
Day 17: Portse Tenga to Namche Bazaar
This was another day with ugly weather and mostly covered ground I'd seen on the way up so I took even fewer photos than the day before. Here's one of the least lame ones.
Day 18: Side trip to Thame
By this point I had decided to walk out to Jiri instead of flying from Lukla. When I woke up it looked like a nice day so I decided to take a side trip west up the valley to the town of Thame instead of starting the hike out immediately.
Although the clouds rolled in in the late morning (a pattern that was to continue almost daily for the rest of the trek) it was still a nice walk and worth the extra day in Namche.
And that's it for this post. I probably have enough photos from the walk out to Jiri for two more posts. I'll continue tomorrow or the day after with the next one.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home