Day 18 - February 16, 2010 - UP

Go To Day 17

Hille to Ghorepani

It was an early morning, we left at 7:45 just after breakfast. We walked up and up and up and up, then we took a break and walked up more, we had tons of elevation to gain. There were hordes of people on the well maintained trail, steps and set stones were everywhere. I guess they had to be well maintained or else they would wash out, plus the towns must receive good money from the tourists passing through. It was odd seeing so many people all around us after being in the deep backcountry on the other side of the Circuit.

It was really nice not having to walk in snow anymore. As we made our way along an odd feeling crept up on me, being with this "herd" of people made me feel like just another tourist. I'd always thought I was different than everyone else on the trail or at least I'd tell myself that.

We stopped for lunch after the massive elevation gain, the stop took nearly 2 hours. The place we stopped to eat had many other people there ordering "Western" food that required more prep time and slowed down our dhal bhat.

After lunch we hiked about another hour and a quarter. There were so many massive buildings build out of stone on this side. Ghorepani had so many beautiful and huge stone hotels. The place we were staying had an awesome 55 gallon drum wood burning stove.

We had quite a bit of daylight left so Khem brought out his ropes and we practiced and set up belays and slacklines inside the hotel. I had veggie momos for dinner with chapati bread and milk tea for dessert. It was a really early night, we planned on getting up at 5:30 to see the sun rise on the top of Poon Hill.






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Day 17 - February 15, 2010 - We Begin Anew

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Go to Day 18

Pokara to Hille

We woke up at 7:50 to meet Khem and the rest of the crew for breakfast. I had the "American Breakfast." Which was sausage patties and links, hotdogs, bacon, ham, and smothered in gravy with extra grease on the side for dipping. Actually, I don't remember what it was and never wrote it in my journal, so I'll just create that memory.

We took a taxi to get our new permits to enter the Annapurna Circuit area again. There were lots of other tourists there, it was really hectic and unorganized trying to get in there and apply. We were pretty early so we didn't have to wait that long. I had about 10 pictures of myself, for permits and stuff, but I left them all in Kathmandu because I didn't think we'd have to turn back and not be able to use the original permit again. I ended up getting gouged for two pictures from a local photo place. I still have those pictures in my wallet actually. I have a massive beard and long hair and have that dazed "I'm back in society for the first time in a week" look.

Sujan met us after one of his appointments and we went back to the hotel. We sorted out what gear we were going to leave, we weren't going to be hitting any snow and were going to be able to ride most of the way to the end. We threw our stuff that we wanted to leave in a massive bag that Khem had and had it stored somewhere at the hotel.

A jeep came at noon and we drove to the trailhead. We started our hike around 2:30 and stopped after an hour or so to have these thick skinned oranges. No one knew the English word for them. We had them with chili powder and sugar. I also downed a Coke, the place we were in was accessible by a road so I thought that (hopefully) the bottle wouldn't just be thrown in a nearby ravine.

We hiked until 5:30, stopping in Hille. We had fresh popcorn and tea for a snack, while taking turns waiting for a gas heated shower. I caught up on my writing too. Dinner was veggie momos and a whey drink that was like really thick milk and had a sour tang to it. Looks like tomorrow is going to be a bit difficult, we have to climb 1,300 meters (4,265 ft.) in elevation.

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