Hiking To ABC Part 1: Up To Poon Hill

The first three days of my trek involved a hike up to Ghorepani for the view from Poon Hill.


Day 1: Birethanti to Ulleri

The first day started out with an easy 2 1/2 hour walk up a valley to Tikhe Dunga.



After Tikhe Dunga, I received my reintroduction to what hiking in Nepal is all about. The trail up to Ulleri is a stone staircase that climbs 400 meters in tight switchbacks straight up the side of the valley. It turned out that this was probably the toughest 2 hours of my entire hike up to ABC.



Ulleri i perched on the side of a valley at 1960 meters and has a nice view up to Annapurna South and Hiunchuli.




Day 2: Ulleri to Ghorepani

The second day of the hike was a mostly gentle and very pleasant uphill walk to the pass (Deorali) above Ghorepani where I stayed for the night for an easy climb up to Poon Hill the next morning.



The views from Ghorepani Deorali itself were absolutely stunning, with two 8000+ meter peaks (Annapurna 1 and Dhaulagiri) and a good part of their ranges in view. I got in early and spent 3 or 4 hours on the terrace of my lodge trying to read but kept continuously distracted by the view and probably finished less than 5 pages in my book.




Day 3: Sunrise at Poon Hill

The next morning I got an early start for the 45 minute climb up to Poon Hill (3210 meters) for sunrise. Poon Hill is supposed to be one of the best views in the area and I can believe. I think these are some of the best pictures I took the whole trek.




Day 3 (cont): Ghorepani to Tadapani

When I set out I had originally expected to spend the day relaxing in Ghorepani but was enjoying the hiking so much that I continued on instead. By this time I had made the decision to do the full Annapurna Base Camp trek so it was off to Tadapani, a town on a high pass about midway between Ghorepani and Chomrong, where I would pick up the trail up to the Annapura Sanctuary and ABC.

This day and the following were probably my two favorite days of hiking the whole trip. The morning was a mostly gentle walk up above the tree line to a pass that had views that were at least the equal of those from Poon Hill.



Then, the afternoon was a steep hike down through a dramatic gorge and valley followed by a climb up a ridge to Tadapani.



Tadapani is quite a bit closer to the sanctuary and again had spectacular views of the now much closer Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre.



That's it for this post. I'll post the next part in a day or two. I'm headed back to Kathmandu tomorrow and I'm not sure if I'll get to the next part tomorrow afternoon after I get in.

Back From ABC

I enjoyed the hiking so much I hiked up to Annapurna Base Camp, and in much less time than I was expecting. This was my second time to ABC but things have changed so much that almost everything was new to me this time.

I have almost 1000 photos from the trek to sort through so expect a few posts over the next couple days. For now here are two photos until I have time to tackle the rest of the pile.

In the first picture, the mountains are (from left to right), Annapurna 1, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, and Machhapuchare. In the second shot Annapurna south is directly behind me and the mountain over my right shoulder is Hiunchuli which gives a bit of an idea how far I'd come from the first picture.

Trailhead

I finally left Pokara to get started on my trek today and, what do you know, the town at the trailhead has internet access. I'm actually staying a couple kilometers up the trail in Birethanti which is close enough that I had a chance to wander back down the hill. I think this town (Naya Pul) is where I finished my Annapurna Sanctuary trek last time however I don't really remember for certain.

Anyway, since I have a chance here are a couple pictures from today. Anyone who is sick of Machhapuchhre pictures can skip the first one.



This will probably be my last post until I return from the trek which could be anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks depending on how much I enjoy the hiking.

More From Pokhara

Here are a few more pictures from Pokhara before I head out.

Pokhara

I finally managed to drag myself out of Kathmandu and came to Pokhara on Wednesday.

These first two pictures are from a stop at a small town on the road between Kathmandu and Pokhara.



And here are a few shots I took this morning around Pokhara.



In a day or two I am going to head out for a short (6-7 day) trek up to Poon hill. If I am really enjoying myself I may make it a longer one while I'm at it.

Small Temples Around Kathmandu

Here are a few shots of some small temples around central Kathmandu.

This Blog Has Gotten Lame

Once again I apologize for how lame this blog has become since I came to Nepal. I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures because I haven't been off doing much sightseeing.

Earlier this week I went on a two day whitewater rafting trip (what better way could there be to recover from being ill). The river was too rough to take my camera but I took a few pictures from the land. All in all it was a great trip. The rapids were not the toughest I've ever done (at this time of year they were mostly high class III), but they were non-stop for the roughly 5 hours we spent on the river each day.



Then yesterday and today I wandered down to Durbar square and did a bit of sightseeing. These pictures are all from yesterday - I'll post more tomorrow.



I should have more pictures over the next few days, however Monday or Tuesday I am heading up to Pokhara where I will do a short (5-7 day) trek and I doubt I'll have Internet access during the trek.

Catch-up: Tibet To Nepal

I've finally shaken off whatever vicious little bug was lodged in my gut. With the exception of a little weakness from three days with barely any food I'm almost completely recovered so its time to get caught up.

First up is a final HDR shot from Tibet, featuring Everest and some prayer flags (my two favorite Tibet subjects). I had some other HDRs but they didn't come out as well I don't want to overdo it by posting too many.



Moving on, these next couple shots are from Zhangmu on the Tibet side of the border.



I'd wanted to do a Tibet wrap up, but I really don't have as much to say as I did after Mongolia. Although I loved Tibet nothing really leaps out at me. I do have one thing to say though (and pardon my french). The Chinese government can go f itself for what it has done to the Tibetan people and culture. Particularly its continuing sinofication policy that has resulted in most cities, including Lhasa, now having a "Tibetan quarter" in an otherwise Han Chinese majority city.

After my day in Zhangmu I got up in the morning, had a quick breakfast, and headed across the border to Nepal. Turns out I should have gotten moving faster as the trip to Kathmandu ended up taking much longer than I'd anticipated, especially because traffic in Kathmandu at rush hour is a nightmare now. All in all I enjoyed it though because I was so thrilled to be back in the first country I travelled in back in 1994. The first bus ride, from the border town of Kodari down to Barabise was the best part as I finally got a chance to ride on the roof of a local bus, something I wanted to do but missed out on last time. It ended up being the most comfortable bus ride I've ever taken in all my travels as the roof was loaded with big bundles of something soft (clothing maybe) that made for very cushy seating.



I haven't taken any pictures since I've been in Kathmandu so there's nothing to show after the bus ride down. I plan to get out and have a look around tomorrow so there should be plenty coming in the next day or so though.

Ugh.

Sorry for the lack of posts from Kathmandu, but the last two days I've been floored by the same thing that I remember oh-so-fondly from my last time here. Whatever it is it's kind of like "Delhi Belly" only a couple of orders of magnitude worse and with a nice fever thrown in for added fun.

Anyway, posting to resume whenever possible.