Hiking To ABC Part 4: The Path Back

And finally I'm up to the last post of the Annapurna trek.

Day 9: Himalaya Hotel To Sinua

This first picture was actually taken the evening before. Shortly after I got to Himalaya the clouds rolled in and stayed for the evening. Unfortunately this became a pattern that continued for 3 of the last four days of the trip.



Sinua is the town on the far side of the "final" valley from Chomrong. I'd liked it when I went through on the way up and thought it would be a nice place to stay instead of Chomrong so this was another short day.




Day 10: Sinua To Landruk

The morning was a hike back down that valley and up to Chomrong. The rest of my trek from this point was following the trail I took up on my first trip in reverse. The first part was a short but very steep descent to Jinu down a hill that I remember well from my first trip.



I'd originally planned to stay in Jinu for the hot springs but didn't want another short day so decided to push on another 3 hours or so to Landruk.




Day 11: Landruk To Pothana

This was another short day to Pothana with one last steep climb in the afternoon. This made for a short day but I didn't want to go all the way back to Pokhara that day and Pothana is a much nicer place to stay than Dhampus. Also, I remember it from my first trip so didn't mind spending my last night there.




Day 12: Pothana To Phedi (And Back To Pokhara)

Finally, my last day was yet another short day with a gentle downhill to the large town of Dhampus.



From Dhampus it is a long steep descent to Phedi where I picked up the bus back to Pokhara. I remember my climb up these stairs from my first trip (my original introduction to hiking in Nepal) and was interested to see if they were as bad as I remember. Turns out that the intervening years did not exaggerate them in my mind and they were pretty much as long and steep as I remember.



Thats finally it for the Annapurna trek posts. I have some pictures from Kathmandu that I hope to post tomorrow. After that I plan to fly up to Lukla on Monday to do another trek to Everest Base Camp.

Hiking To ABC Part 3: The Base Camps

This post picks up where the last one left off with my arrival at MBC.

Day 6 (cont): MBC

Not much to say about this day since I already covered the walk up in the last post. Here are the pictures I took at MBC that evening. The lodge I stayed in, although different from my first trip, was definitely on the same spot and I recognized the area well although it was no longer covered with snow.




Day 7: Christmas Eve at ABC

I took my time getting going in the morning since I only had a short 2 hour walk up to ABC. Last time I did this walk I remember having to walk up in the snow and it being a long slow trudge however this time it was an easy walk up the path to ABC. Being somewhat acclimatized from Tibet, and not being sick this time, also helped make this a much less strenuous hike than the first time.



Once I got up to ABC I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at my lodge and walking around base camp. ABC was one of those places on the trip that I had thought I'd forgotten but remembered as soon as I got there. Although I have no pictures from my first trip as soon as I got up into the sanctuary the view of the surrounding ring of mountains was very familiar.




Day 8: Leaving The Sanctuary

I had originally planned to spend Christmas day at ABC but with the short walk the day before I decided to start the walk back instead. Also, although ABC wasn't as cold as I was prepared for, it did get cold early as the sun went down behind Hiunchuli around 2 PM in the afternoon. Although the next few days are just retracing my steps back to Chomrong I still managed to take a few pictures on the way back.



This is a good place to end this post. I'll continue from Himalaya Hotel tomorrow or the day after.

Hiking To ABC Part 2: Into Annapurna Sanctuary

This second part of my Annapurna trek post covers the walk from Tadapani up into Annapurna Sanctuary.

Day 4: Tadapani To Chomrong

This was another very nice walk. The morning started out with a long and very steep drop through forest and terraced farmland down to the river crossing at the bottom of the next valley.



From there it was a walk back up the other side of the valley to Chomrong at 2170 meters. Chomrong was the first place on this trek where I had stayed on my first trip up to ABC in 1994.




Day 5: Chomrong To Dobhan

The next morning it was up early to cross the final major valley before heading up into Annapurna Sanctuary. From Chomrong meters it's a 350 meter drop to the river crossing, at which point you've only gained 800 meters from where the bus drops you off so almost all the climbing up to that point was for nothing. This time the climb back up the other side of the valley didn't seem so bad though.



From Sinua I continued on Bamboo (2340 meters) to Dobhan (2560 meters) where I spent the night.




Day 6: Dobhan To MBC

The walk from Dobhan up to the misnamed Machhapuchhre Base Camp (climbing Machhapuchhre is not allowed so it is not really a base camp) is a steady but mostly gentle uphill walk. The weather all day was interesting as every 30 minutes or so the clouds will blow up from the valley and completely obscure everything so it was like hiking in a heavy fog for a few minutes.

The morning was a 3 or so hour walk up to Deurali. At 3150 meters this is the last place to stop before heading up to MBC and ABC. In 1994 I dumped a bunch of gear here (I was carrying way too much that time) to lighten the load for the final climb.



Just before Deurali the trail leaves the tree line behind and from there it was another 2 1/2 hour walk up to MBC. I remember this part being difficult and rather boring last time but this time I really enjoyed the walk and the scenery.



That's probably more than enough for now. I'll continue this tomorrow with pictures from MBC and ABC.