Shikha to Pothana: Trail of Neverending Stairs

Shikha to Ghorepani: Hail and rain in a Rhododendron forest

Up skyward was the name of the game today....again to 9,380ft / 2860m, our destination being Ghorepani (Horse water). 

Saying goodbye to our hosts and Patrick from Plymouth, who has been very helpful to us, we started our rock stair climbing through the most spectacular Oak and red and pink blooming Rhododendron forests imaginable. It rained and even hailed with reverberating thunderclaps all the way up and we finally got good use out of the trekking umbrellas which we’ve been carrying all this time. 

We had wonderful, friendly encounters with the local people we met along the way today, from porters of other hikers, to school children who spoke very good English. One man we spoke to told Dreadknot that he looks like a scientist... we laughed.... it must be the bushy silver beard!

At the halfway point of our stairmaster extraordinaire exercise today we stopped off in Chitre for a lunch of vegetable fried rice, apple pie and ginger tea. On a funny note, Dreadknot has always hated ginger and now he is the first to order ginger tea!

Reaching Ghorepani was akin to reaching nirvana, we were so exhausted from all the climbing.....925m/ 3034ft of elevation gain today! That on top of an 744m/2440 ft climb yesterday was killer!

Once again, as if on cue, the heavens opened up and unleashed a heavy rainstorm just as we found a room. We were turned away from 2 hotels as they were fully booked at first. It is pouring out there and there is an electrical power outage here on top of this mountain. Ghorepani is an extremely busy trekking town, with multiple lodges and hotels. Trekkers arrive here from every direction to do various hikes that are available from here, the biggest draw card being Poon Hill, which when clear gives epic views of the Annapurna Range.

The Annapurna Circuit forks into two potential trails to end the Circuit. We are choosing the original longer route through Todopani, Ghandruk, the Australian Camp down to Lumle where it officially ends. Depending on how fast we are able to hike , this will take another 2-3 days, after which we plan to spend a couple of days in Pokhara before returning to Kathmandu.

It’ll be early to bed tonight, snuggled up in our cosy sleeping bags with duvets on top!

Ghorepani to Ghandruk:

The magnificent sight of the peak of Annapurna South welcomed us into the day. The rains had stopped, the sky was partly blue, still with evidence of a threat of more rain to come.

More climbing was the order of the morning out of Ghorepani on the challenging Ghandruk Trail, part of the original Annapurna Circuit. We did not go to the Poon Hill lookout at 04:00 am, as we got the same vistas from this trail at a vantage point high above the town. We could enjoy the peak of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna South from the Deurali Pass lookout.

We climbed back up to 10,600ft/3231m and then endured a punishing downhill on uneven rock stairs, dropping 2000ft/610m in elevation just to have to climb back up another 1000ft /305m before we could enjoy lunch at Tadapani in the mountain top.

By the time we reached our destination of Ghandruk, (Nepal’s second largest Gurung community), we were ready to call it a day. The entire afternoon was spent plummeting downhill through a vast Rhododendron forest alongside a stream. Our knees and the bottoms of our big toes were feeling the pressure. 

We walked past a sticker on a pole which read, “ Auditions are being held for you to be yourself. Apply within.”

Ghandruk is a beautiful town. The views of the Annapurna range include : Annapaurna South, Himchuli, Gangapurna and Macchapucchre(Fishtail). The clouds parted after 6pm to reveal these majestic peaks to us. We are in awe and feel so fortunate!

There is a temple at the start of the town with beautiful views and 670 steps leading up to it from the village, which we walked down. The old part of the village is extremely picturesque, all the buildings built from stone, with slate roofs and neat gardens. We passed by the Ghandruk Cultural Museum and Lama Heritage Resort.

Relaxing in the dining hall of The Hungry Eye after a hard day of hiking and a freezing cold shower we enjoyed the company of fellow trekkers and were told the unsettling information about a series of recent murders on the trail, it sounded like solo trekkers in particular were being targeted.

After numerous cups of ginger lemon honey tea and Dal Bhat we settled in early to be energized for our last couple of days on the spectacular Annapurna Circuit.

Ghandruk to Pothana:

After a knee breaking descent down the mountainside from Ghandruk following a sleepless night due to a chorus of barking dogs, we were faced with the awful reality of climbing up the mountain on the other side to Landruk. To be honest, I was not a happy camper and inched my way up another thousand plus rock stairs. I started feeling a little better after I fished around in my backpack and found a roll of sports chews with electrolytes and glucose in them.

We stopped in at the Moonlight Guesthouse and Restaurant in Landruk for a bowl of veg noodle soup to give us some more energy to keep going. The owners proudly exhibited the volleyball championship medals earned by their son on the walls. We noticed that the local school high up on these terraced slopes had a good volleyball court in the grounds.

Lesson from the trail: Many small steps make big progress. Just when you think you can’t carry on anymore or you feel that you can’t reach your goal.... just continue moving forward, “ Slowly, slowly” as the local Nepalese tell us and eventually you will get there.

After Landruk, we walked through Tolke still high up in the mountains and then trudged through a few more small villages. We have used our map app map.me often to check whether we’re on the correct trail or not and have even had to backtrack and make a correction.

I had the feeling of being saved when we arrived at Pothana, a haven up in the pine forests, just as the rain started coming down heavily. Our trekking umbrellas have come in very useful during this last section of the hike. We even got to have a hot shower!

Tomorrow is our last day on the Annapurna Circuit. We have chosen to walk every step of this epic hike on the original route, starting in Besisahar and ending in Lumle, near Pokhara. It’s been tough and not many people hike it from start to finish. This last section in particular has been emotionally and physically taxing as we have been going straight up and down mountains multiple times on a daily basis. Tomorrow we go through Australia Camp and then on to Lumle where we finish and will spend a couple of days in Pokhara to decompress.

Tonight we are cosy and safe at “ See You Guest House & Restaurant “.

We’ll check in again at the end of our quest tomorrow.

Namaste from Nepal:

N never

E ending

P peace

A and

H happiness 

Tatopani to Shikha: Up a thousand stairs

Over two suspension bridges , up thousands of rock stairs and then up some more, gaining 735m/2400ft of elevation to get to the town of Shikha was how we started our day. Along the way we stopped at “Excellent View Restaurant “, which is so incredibly rustic, high up in the hills at Ghara. While waiting for our food to be prepared we sat beside two woman thrashing wheat with sticks, endlessly. 

The little children who lived there would peek shyly around the corner to look at us, quickly shout “chocolate “ and then run away and hide after being scolded by their mother. They were a very sweet family, the patriarch ran the teahouse and cooked the food which was arguably one of the most delicious meals we’ve eaten on the Annapurna Circuit even though it did take about an hour and a half to prepare. He is very proud of his son who is in the Ghorka Army and he introduced us to his daughter in law and grandchildren. Later on we found out that his house had been torn apart in a storm a few years ago and he was slowly trying to piece it together again. 

The sky was hazy with a threat of rain and the hillsides were teaming with bird life and beautiful blooming bushes and trees. 

It was awe inspiring to look at the terraced hillside across the valley and see how high up on the mountains people lived and farmed.

We are both feeling lethargic today and are making the ascent slowly.

Leaving Ghara, the clouds became thick and black and we felt splatters of rain on our skin. We hoped we would make it to Shikha before the thunderstorm broke, which we did in the nick of time. 

Right now I’m typing from a tiny, cosy room at the Mona Lisa Hotel, looking out over the terraced village with slate roof houses and the mountains beyond as the rain pours down in torrents. I am so grateful not to be hiking in this torrential downpour. We even have a bathroom ensuite with a seat flush toilet and enjoyed a luke warm shower which was a treat compared to our usual ice cold showers in an outhouse bathroom which induce screams of shock as the cold water hits our bodies.

It’s important to keep on top of our laundry daily and wash our socks and underwear by hand, hanging them up to dry overnight a little and then further drying them by hanging items off our backpacks. In this manner, we are able to wear at least clean base layers of clothing everyday, which makes trekking far more pleasant.

Another daily issue is clean drinking water. It is advised to use some form of water purification system, either iodine tablets, life straw, UV system or charcoal filter. We have a Sawyer lightweight filter system. There are a few safe drinking water stations in some towns which provide ozonated water, this is preferable to buying bottled water as waste disposal is a serious issue here and the less disposable plastic used, the better. We have observed this problem in many villages where the streams are choked with plastic rubbish.

Hopefully the rain will stop by the morning and we’ll be able to continue to Ghorepani Pass tomorrow and then onto Ghandruk, whereafter we’ll make our way down to Lumle which is the end of the Annapurna Circuit.

Fun facts about Nepal:

National flower: Rhododendron

National bird: Himalayan monal ( Impeyan pheasant)

National animal: Cow ( sacred to Hindus)

National color: Crimson 

Ghasa to Tatopani: Into hot water

Leaving the Mustang district and entering Myagdi in the early morning, we marveled at the lush verdant landscape filled with the sounds of insects and birds. Ghasa is situated on a narrow chasm and is the last town in Mustang .

We had very little sleep last night as the Mustang Hotel filled up with a busload of 30 people all on a pilgrimage to Muktinath and this was the rest point for the night. They arrived late and we thought the hotel was hosting a loud party, then they left early, making a huge racket before the crack of dawn with the result of us getting only a couple of hours of sleep. 

As we walked down the street we were astounded to see the beautiful dog who had been following us yesterday. She was sitting on the side of the road next to a local man who squatted beside her, stoking her back and she had a very content look on her face.... we were so happy and relieved to see this.

There was heavy road construction which was blocking off passage along the actual road. According to the map app (map.me) we are using, there was a side trail downhill from the road which we decided to take instead. However, once we got down there, the trail was partially obscured by a rock slide caused by the roadworks. We scrambled over the rocks and realized that the rock slide had also obscured the fork we needed to take leading back to the road. As we backtracked, the bulldozer on the road above us started dumping rock debris down the slope onto the spot we had been standing on 3-5 minutes earlier. This was very scary as huge rocks and lots of loose dirt came hurtling down, too close for comfort, but Dreadknot remained level headed, told me to wait in a safe zone while he scoped out how to get onto the right path. He then came back to guide me over boulders and with a bit more rock scrambling and a good amount of adrenaline pumping we were safe and back on track.

The rest of the morning we spent walking on the road that was in use despite the fact that was still in the development stage. There was the choice of an off road trekking trail across the river which we were glad we didn’t take as we could see that it had been obliterated by a large natural landslide. There is also so much talk about whether this new road is a good thing or not, but quite honestly whatever is best for the Nepalese people is the only concern. There are plenty of alternative trekking trails and trekkers are simply visitors who are here for a very short period of time. The construction of this road is a massive undertaking and extremely interesting to observe how it’s been done as it hugs the mountainside on the cliff line for much of the way.

We passed “the deepest gorge in the world” and a magnificent waterfall and then crossed over a suspension bridge after lunch to walk along the trekking route to Tatopani, our destination of the day. During one of our rest stops inscribed on a poster was our message for the day, “Life is a promise, fulfill it”.

Tatopani ( which means “hot water”), is a lovely little village alongside the river with natural hot springs . As we walked through the village looking for a place to stay we saw many of the trekkers we had met before which was fun, and had to stop in at the Bob Marley restaurant for a drink.

The air is so much warmer down here and it was so pleasant eating dinner at a table outside in the balmy evening with Ohad, a trekker from Israel we had been crossing paths with ever since the early days of the trail in Jagat, after watching the locals getting very into their game of archery.

We are preparing ourselves for another long climb up through the rhododendron and oak forest to Ghorapani Pass, which means “horse water”, regaining 1,660m/5,450ft) 

From Tatopani with love.

Muktinath to Ghasa: Downhill in Mustang

Muktinath to Jomsom:

Muktinath was covered in a dusting of snow when we awoke at the Bob Marley hotel. As we looked out of the window onto the streets a stream of horses were being led with riders on their backs, some of them dressed quite finely, making their way up to the temple.

Dreadknot went down to the street to watch a woman weaving the scarves, hats and ponchos she was selling. He bought himself a beautiful green scarf.

Once we had departed from our tea house, I couldn’t help but admire a beautiful shawl spun on site, which I bought, before checking in at the trekkers police check point.

We were now in Mustang district, the dusty, dry and barren side of the Annapurna mountain range. Muktinath is situated at 3710m/12,170ft at the base of Thorong Peak. Named after the highly revered Muktinath Shrine, the valley is of significance to both Hindu and Buddhist religions. Due to the proximity and extensive influence of Tibet, people of Mustang traditionally follow Bon, a form of Shamanism originating in Tibet.

Muktinath is a complex of temples, prayer walls, springs, sacred trees and other natural and manmade features which reflect both religions.

We decided to take the “dreaded” road from Muktinath to Kagbeni, which turned out to be a fantastic paved road with alternate off-road trekking options which paralleled the road. We rapidly descended in altitude with incredible views of what we had left behind us and the lower Mustang valley ahead with its ancient clay citadel and cave dwelling openings into the mountain sides. The terrain is so varied with visible strata, this hike would be a geologists nirvana. 

Kagbeni is a lush and quaint farming community along the river. Posters along the way advertised “Yak Donald’s”, so we decided to investigate it. The restaurant is absolutely quaint, serving many local dishes and one item on the menu was a “ Yak Cheeseburger Happy Meal”, which Dreadknot ordered and I ate a delicious veggie burger. There was nothing “fast food” about any meals prepared here, as it was all made from scratch.

After leaving Kagbeni, we hiked through the mostly dry, wide Kali Gandaki river bed which used to be the bottom of the Tethys Sea 40 million years ago and is littered with fossils which you can buy as souvenirs. We hoped to find one ourselves but have not had any luck yet.

The wind whipped at us as we trudged towards Jomsom, our destination for the night. My shawl and Dreadknot’s scarf were put to excellent use during this section, protecting us from the biting wind. Jomsom is a bigger town with an airport and many people end their hike here, catching a flight to Pokhara.

We passed an Army installation with armed guards at the entrance gate, we had to check in with the tourist police and show our permits and there was a noticeable police presence in town.

Xanadu was our teahouse for the night and we met up with four British trekkers whom we had chatted with since Yak Kharka. One of them had lost her sunglasses prior to crossing the pass and now her eyes were damaged. She could not see, they were watery and her lids were swollen. This was a result of snow blindness. Fortunately she was able to be evaluated by a doctor in Jomsom and received the appropriate eye drops and dark glasses. We really hope that she recovers well because having sunburned retinas is serious business.

I was still feeling weak and ill and decided I would seek medical attention in the morning if I didn’t feel any better.

Both completely wiped out and exhausted Dreadknot and I collapsed and fell asleep immediately.

Jomsom to Larjung: 

We had read so much about why people left the trail at Jomsom. Some people had time constraints and other people stated that it isn’t worth hiking because of “the road” that’s been built. We prepared ourselves mentally to do a lot of road hiking but we were surprised and delighted at how little road walking we actually had to do as there are alternative off road routes all the way along.

A lot of the trek today consisted of walking through the almost dry Kali Gandaki but then, after crossing a suspension bridge we entered a delightful trail shaded at first with willow trees and apple trees in blossom until we reached a Tibetan Refugee Camp that was undergoing restoration amidst an evergreen tree forest. Following on from this we passed pleasant villages and a school and then the trail hit a fork, one leading towards a road walk and the other continuing in the forest. Just after we headed down the path continuing into the forest we arrived at an army post with armed guards. They asked us where we were from and allowed us through the boom gate. This was obviously a military training camp. Their tents were set up amidst the trees and there were AK47’s visible at guard points. I felt a bit uneasy and wanted to hurry through this section.

Once we left the training camp area, we discovered that the trail had been washed away by a massive landslide, removing all markers, which was a little disconcerting for a moment. Since we couldn’t see a bridge across the river where there was supposed to be one, according to the map, we wondered how we would make it to the other side without backtracking or climbing a steep trail in front of us. 

Fortunately at this point we saw two men crossing a tiny wooden bridge barely visible over the fast flowing deep channel portion and we made our way across the partially dry Kali Gandaki onto the side of the river we needed to be on.

At Tukuche, where we thought we might stop for the day we encountered a beautiful memorial stupa in honor of a Japanese man named Akio Ujihara who was the founder of the union of Tukuche (Nepal) and its sister village Toga (Japan).

The next village of Khobang was tiny with few options for tea houses. We did however see the trio of trekkers we had met before from Italy, Spain and Brazil who said they had hiked far enough and were waiting to catch a bus. After saying our goodbyes we continued on to Larjung were we are sleeping tonight. 

The Riverside Lodge is very rustic, situated along the river we walked along, surrounding by the awe inspiring Tukuche and Tukuche West snow capped mountains.

Exhausted but improving in health we go to sleep feeling satisfied with our progress.

Larjung to Ghasa:

Our morning consisted of crisscrossing Kali Gandaki and walking along the ACAP ( Annapurna Conservation Area Project) trails, which was extremely pleasant. The trail took us through small villages along the river with beautiful weeping willows lining the banks with their gorgeous waving branches of emerald green.

Kalopani was our lunch stop. It was a little early for lunch but when we saw the luxury Annapurna Coffee House & Bakery we had to stop. This place is exceptional and from what we could gather, Kalopani looked as though it had a fair amount of new development.

 Once back on the trail we meandered through a lovely pine forest and a very friendly dog was suddenly beside us. We tried to shoo her away so that she would return home, but she would have none of it. We hid behind a rock so that she couldn’t see us anymore but she attached herself to the next hiker. We had now walked very far from the place we first met her and we were concerned she wouldn’t be able to find her way home. After more stern shooing she finally turned around and we felt so worried for her and are hoping for the best.

We did do a fair amount of road walking today, but when we say “road” it is actually a rutted jeep track. The only vehicles on theses roads are motorcycles, jeeps, tractors and maniac bus drivers.

Many of the passengers in the jeeps would lean out of the window as they passed us a take a photograph.

Ghasa was our destination for the day and we arrived at around 3:00pm, which gave us time to wash our clothes by hand at a teahouse and hang it out to dry in the cold breeze.

Tonight we stay at “ The Royal Mustang”, which at least has WiFi that works and we don’t need to use an outhouse toilet in the middle of the night.

Thanks to everyone for well wishes. The antibiotics have kicked in and I’m feeling much better.

The downhill journey continues.....