Annapurna Sanctuary Nov 2012
Carol and I often attended slide shows at a travel store called Changes in Latitude in Boulder. The owners have since retired but for many years they would invite a local traveler to share their story. We happened to be there one night back in 2012 when Karma Sherpa gave a presentation about trekking in Nepal. Karma as you might have guessed is from Nepal and has a side business setting up trips to his homeland. The name of Karma’s company is Sherpa Mountain Adventures We loved the show and the thought of a Trek in Nepal was planted. We meet with Karma a few weeks later to learn more about trekking in Nepal and he convinced us this would be our next adventure. Since Carol does not do well at really high elevations, we decided on the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek since it’s highest point, compared to other Himalaya treks, is lower and the trek itself is less demanding than some of the others. Having said that, this trek is not a walk in the park although there is nothing that requires any technical expertise. The entire trek is around 115 km and steep climbs every day. You should be very comfortable hiking rocky terrain with daily climbs or descents between 500 and 1400 meters. Still plenty high with the destination Annapurna Base Camp at 13,500 ft. many of the other treks like Everest Base camp go much higher. This is typically a 10 day trek meandering through the small local villages and staying at very rustic tea houses all the way up to Annapurna Base camp. We made our plans to go in Nov of 2012 and invited our daughter Rachel and her friend Erika. Karma was fantastic at making sure we were comfortable with all of the plans which included his brother as our guide, another brother as our cook, his nephew was our Sherpa along with another friend who was a second Sherpa. As you probably know, Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world so the most expensive part of going there by far was the plane fare. Our entourage of guides, cook and porters was relatively inexpensive.
If you would rather just see photos from our trek, below is an 11 minute video slide show that I put together in 2013.
If you would like to read my blog describing the trek, continue past the video. Many of the photos in the video are duplicated in my blog below.
Kathmandu
We arrived in Katmandu exhausted and in a daze from the long flights and were delighted to have Karma’s brothers Phurwa and Nima waiting patiently at the arrival gate with big smiles and a welcome sign. He and his brother took us under their wings and made sure we were safe, healthy and happy the entire time we were in Nepal. No Worries!
We spent the first day doing some sight seeing in Bhaktapur
Bhaktapur has the best-preserved palace courtyards and old city center in Nepal and is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its rich culture, temples, and wood, metal and stone artworks.
The Annapurna Sanctuary Trek starts just outside of Pokhara, a popular tourist destination east of Kathmandu. There are buses to Pokhara but we were told the road is in bad shape and it would take from six to eight hours. We decided to take the half hour flight for under $100 round trip.
We arrived in Pokhara and spent the rest of the day exploring and enjoying the views of the lake and Himalayas just to the north. Rachel and Erika signed up for a paragliding adventure that included hawks that were trained to cruise alongside para-gliders and land on their outstretched arms. As parents we were a little apprehensive about the idea but that did not deter the girls. They went up the next morning and did have an amazing time. I have since read there was some controversy over the operation and it was shut down in 2017. paragliding next to hawks.
After a day and a half in Pokhara we woke up excited to start our long awaited trekking adventure in the Himalayas. The morning started with a one hour drive by van to the start in Nayapul. The map below is one of many available for the Annapurna Sanctuary trek. All of the small villages with tea houses are marked on the map all the way to Annapurna Base Camp, our destination before we turn around and return back to Nayapul. Our trek, like most of them, is designed to give us 6 days to acclimate before we reach our highest elevation at 4130m (13,250ft) at Annapurna Base Camp. We did this trek about 8 years ago and am relying on some old travel notes, my memory and Google, so there may be some things that have either changed or I did not remember correctly. For those I apologize or contact me and I’ll correct / fix them
Day 1 Nayapul to Tikhedhunga - A relatively short distance with about 600m (2000 ft) of climbing
We start along the banks of the Modi Khola river excited to finally be out on the trail.
Nayapul with our guide Phurwa
The sacred Machapuchare mountain, also known as fishtail.
Our first night’s accommodation at a tea house in Tikhedhunga. The tea houses are as basic an accommodation as one can imagine. One light bulb, one thin mattress and sheet, paper thin walls, lots of fresh air ( make sure you have a sleeping bag ) and a door that sometimes fits it’s frame. The toilet is a shared out house. Sometimes there is a warm water shower, sometimes freezing cold and we also had one so hot it was unusable.
Day 2 Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani (2860m)- A long day with close to 1400m (4500ft) of climbing
You will challenge your knees on this hike and especially today. If the stair stepper is your go to work out, this hike is for you. The good news was we had blue skies and no rain so far, along with some amazing scenery. Today I really began to feel like I’d taken a time machine back 100 years. Other than our guides with mobile phones, there are few signs of 21st century civilization. The Nepali in this region are living a very sustainable lifestyle off the land. There are no automobiles or any motorized vehicles, only donkeys, mules and horses. It seemed most of them were either farmers or in the hospitality (tea house ) business. We had left all of our electronic paraphernalia behind, except for a camera, and it was a wonderfully liberating feeling.
Plastic bottles and the pollution from them are a huge problem in Nepal today and were back in 2012 when we did this trek. One of the big reasons was due to the lack of clean drinking water available from the tap. They had recently started a clean drinking water project to help mitigate some of the plastic water bottle mess. This was one of the hotels in Ghorepani that proudly participated in the project.
A much needed apres lunch snooze break
Sharing the trail
What the rooms lacked in comfort the views made up for in grandeur and majesty. This is our amazing view from our tea house in Ghorepani. Annapurna South is the peak to the left. These peaks majestically sit up at 7000 to 8000m (23,000 to 26,000 ft.)
Our guide Phurwa is on the left and our cook Nima is on the right. Karma convinced us to have Nima join our expedition in the interest of staying healthy. We ran into many trekkers who had one or two days of nasty intestinal / stomach issues which we thankfully dodged by having Nima with us. I remember handing out many Imodium tablets on a daily basis.
Day 3 Ghorepani to Tadapani (2630m) via Poon Hill - climb about 350m (1100ft) to Poon Hill then back down 580m to Tadapani
The views up near Poon Hill were amazing. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. Our expectations of the scenery had been far exceeded and our guides and cook were the best. We were having a grand time. I forgot to mention that we had a second guide, Passon ( blue shirt in photo) join us for the trek and he fulfilled an important role besides keeping us from dawdling too much. Some days he would run ahead to our destination village and secure lodging for us. It seemed it was typically first come first served at the tea houses and since it was high season, we wanted to make sure we did not have to sleep in a barn.
Day 4 Tadapani to Chommrong (2170m) downhill 700m then back up 200m to Chommrong
We started the day with a hearty breakfast of nice warm porridge, french toast and plenty of bread and jam. There was always plenty of tea and coffee. The hike today would be downhill for 2 or 3 hours until we reached the river at the lowest point on the hike. Then we would climb up another 200m to our destination. We stopped at a school house along the way and they gave us a short tour.
Nima borrows the tea house kitchen to prepare our lunch. Nima and Phurwa seem to know all of the tea house owners and workers on these well traveled paths.
Day 5 to Chommrong (2170m) to Himalaya Hotel at 2900m (9300 ft)
Leaving Chommrong that morning we all of a sudden heard a very loud roar almost like an explosion and as we looked out at the mountain just in front of us, we saw it. I caught the tail end of what was a good sized avalanche with my camera. They say there are places along the trek just a little higher up that are susceptible to avalanches and they recommend NOT to go there after they start getting snow, in the December through February time frame.
The lunches and dinners were delicious and usually more than we could eat. Dal Bhat is the go-to meal in Nepal. Locals will often eat two or even three meals of Dal Bhat per day. It will differ from teahouse to teahouse but generally, it’s made up dal soup, rice and usually a small mix of veggies. Sometimes Nima would add chicken or slices of beef. I enjoyed the Dal Bhat and had it at least once a day. I remember Phurwa would eat two huge helpings of rice with his daily Dal Bhat intake. I was surprised at how much he could eat!. Quite often there was also pizza available and Nima also surprised us occasionally with a jar of tuna fillets in olive oil that Karma had given us to carry over to Nepal for our expedition.
Our wonderful porters and Nima our cook in the middle. The porters Ming-ma and Jae ta had tough jobs carrying all of the gear but they were always smiling and joking around with us. A Sherpa makes a very good wage in Nepal but, like a pro athlete, how long can their bodies endure the physical stress? We were extremely grateful we did not have to carry a heavy pack and tipped them generously.
Day 6 Himalaya to Annapurna Base Camp (4130m) with 1230m of climbing (4000ft)
Today was the big day. After five days of trekking and acclimating, we were on target to reach our final destination, Annapurna Base Camp at 4130m (13,250 ft). We were excited and nervous at the same time. Sleeping ( or attempting to) at 13,000 ft is known to be difficult due to the lack of oxygen and none of us had ever spent much time at that high of an elevation. We continued to enjoy crystal clear blue skies and nice cool hiking temperatures as we eagerly began our hike, taking in the breathtaking views of the Himalaya surrounding us. We arrived at Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) around noon, in complete awe of the Annapurna peaks towering above us. We had lunch, and then headed up for a better view of this gigantic glacial basin.
It is hard to describe the euphoria we experienced, the towering peaks surrounding us and the feeling of accomplishment having survived the trek to the top. Wow, this is what traveling slightly out of your comfort zone is all about! Amazzzzing!
Day 7 Annapurna Base Camp to Bamboo (2300m) all downhill 1800m (5900ft)
It had been noticeably more difficult getting a good nights sleep at ABC but we made the best of it. There was one guest who was struggling with the altitude and was walked down to a lower elevation sometime during the night.
We retraced our route from the day before with mixed feelings of accomplishment and joy that we conquered ABC with it’s amazing scenery, and sadness we were now near the end of this fabulous adventure.
Day 8 Bamboo to Jhinu Danda - distance is 8.5km but we have to climb many stairs to reach Choomrong before decending to Jhinu
It had been really cold in Bamboo as the sun set the night before and when we awoke the next morning, so we decided to have breakfast after we had hiked for awhile and warmed up. It was all uphill to start so we warmed up quickly. We stopped after an hour in Sinuwa and Nima cooked us a wonderful breakfast.
Jhinu Danda is known for it’s hot springs and that is exactly were we went as soon as we arrived. After our cold evening and morning in Bamboo, this was a real treat.
We were now seeing more of the locals and villages along the hike. As I mentioned earlier, we had gone back in time where most daily tasks were done manually. There was something to be said for the sheer simplicity of it all. The man dancing on the left is processing millet.
Day 9 Jhinu Danda to Pokhara around a 3 hr gradual descent to Nayapul - van back to Pokhara
Admittedly i am a tall guy at 6’4″ but even Carol at 5’2″ had to duck to get through the toilet doorway at our tea house in Jhinu Danda. I have learned in many of the places I’ve traveled to wear a hat indoors. Even with the hat, I almost always return with some souvenirs from head into ceiling incidents.
There is always some interesting tid bit that happens at the tea houses. Last night before I turned in, I had not realized my simple wooden bed frame was much narrower than the thin mattress on top. So, in the middle of the night all of us woke to a loud crash that was me rolling right off the bed onto the floor – Ouch!
Big rocks are more plentiful than nails and work well to hold down the roof.
Once Ming-ma and Jae ta met up with us in Nayapul, we jumped on our van and were off to Pokhara.
Our final day of trekking! After we navigated the first couple of miles of stairs, we were hiking in the valley floor where there were many sprawling fields of crops, farmers with their livestock on the trail and in Nayapul, many locals busy with everyday chores.
We had brought pencils with us to give out to the children we met along the way. We had many left over so I got busy taking some photos of these adorable children as Rachel and Erika gave them the pencils.
We spent the next day doing some sight seeing in Pokhara before heading back for one last day in Kahtmandu where Phurwa invited us over to his house for a good bye dinner. We said our good byes and the next morning we started the journey back home with a stop over in Japan.