Skip to main content

Let’s Go Trekking…

Tomorrow morning the adventure begins.  At 10AM I will head off to the TAAN office to get my TIMS card (which I have been unable to obtain for the last two days due to various reasons), after which I will be heading out of Pokhara via road towards the “good stuff” on the Annapurna Circuit (~150-200km of it) followed by visiting the Annapurna Sanctuary(~100km).  Here’s an overview of what I’m looking at, where the yellow lines are trekking and the orange are by land transportation:

annapurna

1.  Bus from Pokhara to Besisahar, followed by a jeep up to Ngadi to avoid two days of walking on a dirty busy road.

2. The real trek begins in Ngadi either Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, depending on how fast I make it out there.  From Ngadi I will be steadily increasing in altitude trekking through the mountains, as you can see looking at the map it quickly goes from 1100 meters to 2670 meters to 3500+ meters, followed eventually by the literal high point of the trek, the Thorung La pass at 5400+ meters (almost 18,000 feet high!).

3. After the pass it’s downhill towards Jomsom where civilization begins again and the rest of the circuit is again disrupted by road construction.  At Jomsom I will be taking a jeep down to the next spot.

4. In Tatopani or Ghorepani – or maybe even Chomrong (TBD based on where I can hitch a ride to) I will start the trek to Annapurna Basecamp.

5. At Annapurna Basecamp, I’ll explore for a bit then turn around and retrace my steps back out towards Chomrong or Ghandruk

6.  From somewhere around here, I’ll pick up a jeep back to Pokhara (worst case I may have to walk to Birethani).

1. Back to the beginning – depending on what kind of time I make, I’ll hopefully chill in Pokhara for a day then fly or bus out to Kathmandu, chill there another day, then fly back home to the US.

So, there you have it.  Once I hit the road tomorrow I don’t expect to see internet until I make it over the Thorung Pass to Muktinath or Jomsom, which should take anywhere from 7-10 days.  No guide, no porter, no guidebook…  just good old fashioned walking.

Here we go.

5.

Comments

Jeremy said…
Good luck, mate - looks exciting! I wonder how the high altitude will affect you - my only experience has been in Wyoming at about 8000 feet and that noticeably affected my stamina. I can't imagine double that...

Popular posts from this blog

Patagonia Beckons

Today I begin what may become one of the most difficult tests of long term mental and physical endurance and strength I have ever undertaken: for most of its remaining 2500km through Patagonia, Ruta 40 is considered one of the most desolate highways in the world. Over half of the remaining road is gravel, sand, and dirt. The number of towns listed on a map once I pass Perito Moreno can be counted on one hand, and there are many stretches of hundreds of miles without provisions, fuel, or places to stay.

5 Things that Suck about Traveling Solo

I find it telling that it seems a majority of the interesting travel blogs I run across are written by solo travelers, most often women. I think there’s a reason why we write more than people who travel with friends or in groups and that it’s pretty self evident: it’s an outlet for our loneliness. In the last year and a half, the vast majority of my time has been spent away from home, alone. As I write this, it’s been over a month since I’ve conversed with anyone in my native language, and I can remember every single conversation in English for the month before that. The truth is, I don’t think I could have done this without the internet – without a blog to share my thoughts, without Facebook to see what my friends are up to, without the occasional e-mail to provide a façade of normalcy… without these things I’d likely have driven myself insane with my internal dialogue. Now, I grant, there’s a reason I travel alone and I do love it, but lately it seems all I run across in the blogosp

Gear Review: Sea to Summit Big River Dry Sacks

In the past couple months on the road I think I’ve spent more time riding my scooter through rain than I have in the dry – this is clearly reflected in the fact that as time has gone by I’ve invested more and more money in things to keep my stuff dry, since wet gear sucks. One of my favorite purchases for this trip is the pair of Sea to Summit Big River Dry Sacks I picked up just before leaving, in 13L and 20L sizes. They cost me around $20 each and are one of the best pieces of gear I’ve purchased in years – extremely durable, effective, and simple to use.