Ghorepani was beautiful in the morning sunlight.
This was basically the view from our hotel room (we were standing below the hotel taking the photo, so the angles are off, but you get the idea). I am sure somewhere there is an actual photo of the view from the room, but the clock is ticking if I am ever going to get through this trek before the children graduate from university. The key take away is, morning sun, Himalayas right outside our window, amazing.
Our next stop was a longish sort of a hike to Tadapani. It's almost 11kilometers from Ghorepani to Tadapani and the estimate was about 6 hours of hiking. After we had hiked two hours and and back to Poon Hill, just to clarify for anyone keeping score. The trekking was definitely less intense than the day prior, because we were no longer climbing. We were at altitude, though, so there was less oxygen than our crowd is used to, and there was certainly a lot of upping and downing, without much gain or dramatic loss of altitude.
The bottleneck of people leaving Ghoripani was definitely an issue. The guides left on a staggered "schedule" (I have no idea if they actually chatted with each other about it, but it was pretty clear different groups were scheduled to leave at different times, and as a group with "slow hikers" we left quite late, relatively), but still, there were a lot of people vying for not so much trail space.
It had been very cold all morning, of course, but as the sun came up, it got quite a bit hotter, so we wrestled with what clothing to wear, and how to manage rest breaks. We definitely needed more on this day than probably all three days prior combined.
Are you wondering how the children were doing?
Pretty well, all things considered. Peeps help.
Spectacular scenery and having a friend help. Hello, StickBob!
Plus, terrifically engaging conversation: "A Pringle can takes up this much space, but it only weighs ... "
Onward we hiked, out of the sun, and into the Rhododendron forests that this area is also famous for (at least, I think this photo is from the Rhododendron forests; you can have your money back if there isn't a single Rhodie to be found in this photo). And, the crowds thinned. Precipitously. It was interesting how the trek could absorb so many people (hundreds? A thousand? Mr. Google could not tell me how many tourists Ghoripani can hold, but it can't be more than several hundred?), and suddenly we were hiking alone again.
Next: We Straggle Into Tadapani
Take as many posts as you want. This trip is amazing. Good on the little ones for keeping up. I couldn't.
Posted by: Rodneyssaga | June 12, 2014 at 05:12 PM