“To The River!”

Today’s route: Dovan to Jhinu Danda

Starting elevation: 8,2289ft
Finish elevation:  5,647t
Ascent: 2,942ft, Descent: 5,599ft
Fitbit active zone minutes: 58
QOTD: “My armpit surprised me this morning” – Forest
Honorable mention: “Run, Forest, Run!” – the rest of the group as Forest suddenly felt the urge to poop (sadly, the urge passed without resolution)

Our last full day on the trail!  Hard to believe the end is in sight and we’re almost at the end of our Annapurna journey.  Today was going to be another fairly brutal day as we retraced our steps from Dovan, past Chhomrong and onwards to Jhinu (and the hot springs).  It had rained solidly overnight, so the trails were going to be even slipperier today – requiring even more constant concentration to maintain a steady footing.  It was still drizzling a bit as we prepared to leave Dovan, so we made sure to layer up with rain gear – including some unnecessary gaiters that we hoped would serve as an offering to appease the rain gods.

The rain did mean that the weather was cooler for most of the day – which actually made for great hiking conditions (treacherous terrain underfoot, notwithstanding).  On our way out, it had been sunny and hot which made the steep ascents and descents even tougher.  This is what they mean when they tell you that Annapurna is all about the stairs – this last section is the most stairs-forward part of the whole trail, with thousands of stairs between us and our final destination.  I still don’t know how on earth I managed it with a cold on the way out!

We left just after 7am and kept a steady pace back through the rhododendron and bamboo forests – which looked even more glorious and vibrant after their overnight drenching.  Also more glorious and vibrant after its overnight drenching?  The copious amounts of donkey poop – particularly as we got closer to Chhomrong.   I forgot to mention in earlier posts (I think) but there are a ridiculously high concentration of ladybirds peppering the trail.  They are everywhere!  Stop for long enough and you will end up with at least one hitching a ride on you somewhere.  I did try to not step on them on the trail (bad karma probably) but I’m sure I did squish a fair few – sorry, Ladybird Gods!  The other distinctive aspect to the trail is how sparkly many of the rocks and steps are.  We asked about it on the first day and the rocks are mica – it really was very pretty, especially when they glittered in the sun.

As we continued on past the town of Bamboo and towards Upper Sinuwa, the sun started to break through the clouds.  I had to remember to occasionally stop and look up and then back towards the Annapurna Valley – we were just there!!  We walked from all that way!!!!    Our route today followed the river and alternated between steep ascents, a bit of flat that wasn’t really flat but “Nepali flat” and then steep descents.  We crossed over several bridges and I was very glad we didn’t have to cross that big avalanche snowbank today after all the rain overnight.  Even when we were crossing it yesterday you could see some big cracks opening up – eventually its gonna give and slide the rest of the way down to the river – and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near it when that happened.   Everyone was in great spirits and you would hear some variant of the following call and response between Sandip and our group (you kinda had to be there  – but it was a lot of fun).

Sandip – “Ascending, ascending”
All of us – “To the River!!”
Sandip – “Descending, descending”
All of us – “Switchbacks!”
Sandip – “Take it Easy!”
All of us – “Take it Easy!”
Sandip – “What a Trail!”
All of us – “What a Trail”
Sandip – “The Donkeys Are Coming!”
All of us – “Mountainside!”
Sandip – “Alllllllll is well”
All of us – “ALLLLLLLLL is well”

Buoyed by our fearless leader (ably assisted by Sarmila and Alicia), we made great time and got to Upper Sinuwa too early for lunch (around 10.30am), so instead we just stopped briefly for a pee and to catch our breath.  Instead we pushed on to Lower Sinuwa where we had lunch at an adorable tea house with an amazing view – and food that actually had some flavor! (yes – egg veg noodle soup – AGAIN).   The whole food ordering process has become progressively easier and more streamlined as the week has gone on, as we don’t even need the menu any more.  Its basically omelet or egg veg <insert carb of choice here>  soup.  I will not miss the food on this trip (no – not even the garlic porridge).  We always seem to be placing an order for our next meal – and its really hard to sum up any enthusiasm for your next meal when you could barely eat the one in front of you!  I did, however, discover that an ice cold Coke – in a bottle – absolutely hits the spot at lunchtime. 

After lunch, we continued our way towards Chhomrong and we could tell that the air quality was starting to worsen once again.  Fortunately it was nowhere near how terrible it had been, registering as merely “unhealthy” vs hazardous, but there were still plenty of wood fires burning as well as nasty plastic smells in places.  This was the absolute killer section with So Many Stairs – and as we approached Chhomrong, the heavens decided to open again and it absolutely chucked it down.  Clearly, I had angered the Ladybird Gods and they had a word with the Rain Gods to arrange some swift retribution.  The slippy trail got even more slippy – and I was SOOOOOO proud of myself at not having slipped or fallen up to this point – the pressure was on!  Don’t fall now when you are so close to the end!!  I made sure to Take My Time and keep plodding along at the back of the group – slow and steady wins the race to not break your ankle!

After what felt like an eternity (but was only a couple of hours), we finally glimpsed our tea house off in the distance in Jhinu Danda.  Sandip had referred to it as a “mansion” and you could understand why as it was situated on a prominent ledge overlooking the valley and was one of the largest buildings in the area.  By this point, the weather had really closed in and the clouds were thick and heavy so we soon lost sight of it again – and the very last stretch seemed too take forever.   The relentless stairs had begun to take their toll on people’s knees so we were all a bit slower in our approach – but when we finally came into view of our hotel, we made sure to wait for each other so that we could finish the trail as we started it – together – as a group, as a trail family.  We had made it.

We were rewarded with a tea house that was more like a regular hotel – so we had our own bathroom – although there wasn’t any hot water for the shower as its powered by solar and the weather had been crappy for the last 2 days.  The toilet was amusingly close to the shower (I guess if you are short on time you could combine the two ablutions?) with no visible flush handle again (I figured it out eventually) – but there was a decent light in the room, there were power sockets where you could charge your devices (for free!) and there was significantly less mold growing up the curtains!  Everything did still feel slightly damp and the quilt blanket had a big fat moth in it when I unfolded it, but it was a definite step up from the tea houses we’d been in for the last week.  (I am NOT complaining in the least – the tea houses are part of the quintessential experience – but after a while, you do start to miss some of the creature comforts which makes you SO much more appreciative of them when you start to get them back).

Another benefit to being back closer to a bigger tourist center – the meat was safe to eat again!  Yey for protein and NO to egg veg noodle soup!!  For dinner, I had a pretty tasty chicken butter masala with a very buttery garlic naan.  It was good – but my appetite is still off.  I haven’t been very hungry at all during this whole trip – and this hasn’t been helped by the same bland menu for every meal (only executed with different skill levels by the kitchen).  Amanda, Kerry and Alison joined for dinner a bit later as they opted to take an additional hike down to the river (descending! ascending!) to check out the famous hot springs but, for the rest of us, we decided to hang up our hiking boots and chill and luxuriate in that sweet sweet feeling of accomplishment that comes with a Job Well Done.

Tomorrow, we have a 10 min hike down to the long suspension bridge that we need to cross to get over to where our 4×4 Jeeps are going to pick us up in the morning.  And then we really are done.  Annapurna Base Camp – Level Unlocked!!