Amazing 3 Day Trek in the Himalayas of Pokhara, Nepal.

Photo of Fewa Lake from the Lakeshore Tourist side of Pokhara.

We are now in Pokhara, Nepal (refer to previous blog).  It is such a welcoming relief.  Most of the time we are trying to get away from the touristy locations but after being deprived of these luxury amenities for sometime...it is darn nice to have them!

We checked into the Celesty Inn  Hotel.  This place became home to us for awhile.  Once we arrived we quickly started planning our 3-4 day trek into the mountains.  The Annapurna Mountain Range (mountains as high as 8091 meters) has a complete trekking circuit around it that takes 16 days.  So, you can see we were doing quite a short trek in comparison.  We had to get 2 different permits for trekking, rent an appropriate backpack, trekking poles, etc.  That took a full day to organize.  The next day we started on the hike.  We were warned of leaches as it is the beginning of the monsoon season and I had actually talked to quite a few hikers that had already experienced them.  As I am not a fan of blood sucking creatures, I purchased salt, made sure my arms and legs were covered, and as my sister Pat suggested...tried to remember, "they are just sucking the bad blood out".

We were told our route would take 5 days at a very easy pace, 4 days at a comfortable pace and that we could do it in 3 days at a fast pace.  We decided we would take 4 days since we wanted to take pictures, make sure we could see the mountains when they decided to show themselves etc.  The first day of hiking we reached our overnight destination by noon.  That was much too early to stop so we kept going and ended up reaching the destination that we were going to stay at the second night.  The other hikers were all amazed that we did it in one day.  I guess we are used to putting in long days on the bike and stopping at noon just didn't seem right.  There is no need to camp since guiest houses are available.  We had fun that night talking to the trekkers from other countries.


Passing through one of the many small villages on the route.



Ward hiking.



Everything has to be carried up by humans or donkeys.
Local person carrying a table up the mountain.

The next day was going to start  at 4:00 a.m.with a short hike to Poon Hill to see the mountains unviel themselves at sunrise.  (Jeff and Ward had to go without me as it was my turn to have gastrointestinal problems.)  This view is suppose to be "in the top" panaramic mountain views in the world!  Because the best season to climb is in Oct/Nov, not May (monsoon season) the chances of this view are slim.  They saw the top of one mountain but that was all.  I then joined them for the remainder of the day.  The weather was humid and changing between mist, rain, and sunshine.  We were always checking for leaches and having to brush them off of us at times.  Ward had one burrow through the stitching of his tennis shoes then through the stitching of his socks and then attach onto his toe!  Now, that's a desperate sucker!

Jeff and Jacky making their way down the muddy trail.

The second day was hard.  It was up and down and very muddy - difficult not to slip and fall.  I wasn't able to eat or drink anything as my system was upset so the fatigue and lactic acid set in quicker.  We reached our overnight village and found a fantastic place to stay, the Trekkers Inn.  Hot showers, clean rooms, great food and friendly staff.  That's all you need.  It is a place we will certainly return to. 

Rule #1:   Hike faster than a donkey because its darn hard to get by them!

Trekkers Inn.  This is where we stayed the second night.

Day 3 we finished the hike out of the mountain.  Once we reached the end we had a celebratory beer sponsored by Mark Pernitz.  It was a great experience.  All three of us said that we would like to come back and do the larger circuit in the future.

Terraced mountain side.

Fishtail mountain (Machhapuchre) decided to show itself
at the end of our hike (6,993meters)

Enjoying a celebratory beer sponsored by Mark Pernitz.
Thanks Mark.

Great time!