“The Donkeys Are Coming!”

Today’s route: Ghandruk to Chhomrong

Starting elevation: 6,546ft
Finish elevation: 7,598ft
Ascent: 3,674ft, Descent: 2,637ft
Fitbit active zone minutes: 110
Quote of the day: “I can’t eat all my poop” – yours truly, defeated by the pile of buckwheat sludge for dinner (close second -“They are a great source of collagen protein” (Aqua and Alison discussing the nutritional benefits of strawberry Sour Patch kids)

The day started early as Sandip had told us last night that the best chance of seeing the Fishtail mountain (and all the other ones I can’t remember or pronounce) would be from about 5am onwards.  So Alison and I gamely set our alarm – and I guess we must have gotten some decent enough sleep as it woke both of us up with a start!  We pulled the curtain back and looked out of the window – and didn’t really see anything worth getting up for.  So we snoozed the alarm for another 15mins and then gave it another go.  Now we were getting somewhere!!  For the first time, we could see the faint outline of the Fishtail mountain – and almost by the minute it got clearer and more visible as the sun started to rise – it was quite exciting!  Also visible – Annapurna South – one side of which shone brilliant gold.  It was fantastic – and well worth waiting for.  We had been getting a little worried we weren’t ever going to see them because of all the haze and pollution – but there they were!  And each day, we’ll be getting closer and closer, so our views are just going to get even more spectacular.  Pictures don’t really do it justice – but here are a few from our morning’s adventure (one thing to note: all the pics on this blog are straight out of my phone as I won’t have a chance to edit any of my fancy camera pics until I get home).

After the excitement, it was time for breakfast (coffee, omelet, toast) and make sure our duffels were all packed up by 7am, ready for the sherpas to grab them and haul them along our route for us.  Today was our first day on the trail, proper, after our little starter hike to Ghandruk yesterday.  The plan was to walk up from our tea house through the rest of the village of Ghandruk, before then a fairly steep descent down through the valley to the river floor, before ascending back up on the other side of the valley,  Our guide Sandip did warn us that the trail would suck at certain points of the day, particularly after lunch where it would be a steep climb, in the heat of the afternoon, on a full stomach.  As you can see from the trip stats above, there were indeed some decent elevation changes

Weirdly, I found it both tough and not too bad.  The first section of elevation where we climbed up out of the village of Ghandruk certainly woke up the legs which almost instantly felt quite heavy.   Then on the long descents, my knees starting grumbling a bit, joining my shaky legs in protest and asking me just what the hell I think I was doing.  While my heart rate definitely did spike up in a few places, on the whole though, I didn’t feel too out of breath for most of it and the HR wasn’t racing wildly.  So I think I definitely trained well enough from a cardiovascular perspective in keeping a manageable heart rate, but maybe I need to focus more on leg stamina (Andy – lets discuss!).  I did feel a bit weak at times – but that might still be a combination of jetlag, Diamox-adjustment plus the fact I can’t breathe very well as my nose is completely congested!  I had been thinking it was allergies and the pollution – but as I kept sneezing throughout the day, I am beginning to think I might actually be fighting off a cold.  Fortunately I brought some Turkish Iburamin (cold medicine) with me so I chugged a couple of those – if it is, those little puppies should knock it cold (pun intended) pretty quickly.

Despite the physical challenges, it was a fantastic hike.  For a good chunk of the day we were hiking through the forest so got to experience and enjoy the beautiful rhododendron bushes that Nepal is famous for (its their national flower).  There were also several different species of bamboo plants – from the long spindly ones, used for basket weaving, to the big chonkers used in house construction.  There were tons of butterflies – I can’t remember how many species Sandeep told there are in Nepal – but we saw a LOT.  So nice to see, especially given the depressing decline of the butterfly population in the US.  We made a couple of river crossings over bridges of various shapes and sizes (training for the mahoosive suspension bridge that awaits on our last day of trekking) and stopped at several tea houses along the way, for pee breaks and for lunch.  At our morning pee stop, Alison introduced the tea house lady’s young daughter to the Power Of Glitter – which was pretty adorable to watch.  We predict she’ll be jamming out to T Swift within the week.  Equally as adorable – a baby goat in a round wicker basket out the back of the house, on the way to the loo.  Not quite as adorable – the loo itself.

Another fairly easy aspect of the trek was that the terrain underfoot (the parts that were not stairs) was not all that different from what I would normally hike – perhaps in parts slightly easier due to the lack of tree roots crisscrossing the trail, looking to trip you up.  Of course, there were some novel hazards to navigate – namely the proliferation of dogs, donkeys and water buffalo!  The donkeys in particular have a reputation for being crazy bastards – hence the shout of “The Donkeys Are Coming” whenever our guides spotted them heading our way along the trail.  We then would scrunch ourselves into the mountain side of the trail, hopefully in a wider part, so as to give them plenty of room to pass us, without kicking our asses.  Sandip revealed that he’d fallen victim to some donkey kicks in a previous hike and was still suffering the after effects – thus giving rise to his new trail name of “Donkey Knees”!  We all felt very satisfied with this decision (as I’ve mentioned in my previous Paria Canyon posts – the bestowing of trail names is a very important rite of passage for any hiker).

We reached our destination just before 4pm so we made pretty good time.  The last 30mins were pretty tough as my legs were totally shot by then (hello, knees!) and felt very wobbly!  And its the last 10mins as you are descending the stairs leading to your tea house for the night that is always the most hazardous stretch of the entire trail!. As we were coming into the tea house, the wind started to pick up and we could feel the first few drops of rain, so we were lucky again to miss the weather turning!  Chhromrung is the convergence point for 3 routes so it is a very busy junction and the tea house was packed.  Apparently, from here on it, the trails will be crowded with hikers and donkeys and sherpas, so Sandeep emphasized to us over dinner the need for us to be aware of what’s going on around us.

So that was our first major day on the trail.  Apparently tomorrow is going to be a tough day, especially in the morning, with some more killer ascents, so I’m going to turn in early.  The cold medicine would appear to be working as my nose is not congested for the first time in 3 days – so that is good – even if its a pain in the arse that I’m fighting off a cold!  Ah well – it could be worse – keep calm and carry on, right?