Kamikaze Canuck

Day 8 (Doban to Chhomrong)

Starting Elevation: 2505m

Once again we backtracked along a picturesque river valley, passing terraced rice fields and long, waterfalls in the process. The long downhill stretches made our knees feel like they were full of loose ball bearings bouncing around. At times I felt like I could use a shot of grease to the knees like the tin man from Wizard of Oz. At points Megan and I would look at each other and wonder how we ever made it up such a steep incline.

Even though downhill is hard on the joints, it was still much easier than the going uphill and we were thankful for that. We also covered nearly double the distance on the way down – as we could travel much faster and needed less frequent breaks to inhale our 1 Litre water bottles.

We passed three teenagers along the way hauling 15 foot long pieces of timber up the mountain. The long length of the loads forced them to walk sideways to avoid crashing into the many trees that bordered the narrow paths. Seeing something like this made me feel like a complete wuss for thinking my 18 KG backpack was cumbersome.

The day ended with us climbing 3000 steps to get to the top of the village of Chomromg. It took us an hour and a half to conquer the 3000 steps (something that would have taken us 3 hours at the start of the trek).

We capped of the day by ordering a large tuna, egg, cabbage, carrot, onion, garlic, cheese, and tomato pizza at our wonderful guesthouse.

Total trekking time today: 6 hours

Day 9 (Chomrong to Ghandruk)

Starting elevation: 2340m

The day started with a steep 2 hour descent down to a gushing river. We crossed over a makeshift bridge made of trees and hay and began a 2 hour uphill climb to a small village where we enjoyed a cup of hot lemon tea before carrying on.

For whatever reason, we seemed to spend a lot of time on the side of the trail today waiting for local ranchers to move their mules and horses past us on the trail.

Megan gets caught in the middle of another mule drive

Finally we reached the old village of Ghandruk. This is easily one of the most popular villages to trek to in Nepal and it's easy to see why. The streets (if I can call them that) were bustling with life. Children were playing and women were dressed in elaborate colourful clothes. Houses changed from the typical thatched roofed houses to brick houses with stone slab shingles.

As we are admiring our new home for the night, a man passes us on wobbly legs. He is trying to pack seven mattresses on his back and is having a hard time doing it. The whole thing looked a little comical as he staggered past us in a zig zag pattern with each step being an abrupt, deliberate movement.

Total trekking time today: 5 hours

Day 10 (Ghandruk to Kimche)

Starting elevation: 2012m

We woke up early and hiked a short 1.5 hours to a village called Kimche where we bargained with a local jeep driver to take us 2.5 hours back to Pokhara. On the way we passed a cow that shockingly had the sense to kneel down on its front legs to get to some low lying grass just off the path. I had never seen anything like it so I had to snap a picture.

Total trek time today: 1.5 hours

The finish line

After 10 long days we were finished our trek with mixed emotions. On one hand, we were going to miss the daily routine we had become accustomed to. Spending time with our great guide, being in such beautiful scenery, late night card games, early morning tea drinking. On the other hand, our bodies were telling us it was time for a rest.

Total trekking time: 56 hours

Tips for anyone who would like to do this hike:

1. Pack light. I didn't see anyone else packing an 80L pack on the trail and we shouldn't have either.

My pack weighed about 18KG (40+lbs) and even though the Nepali locals pack this kind of weight, I wouldn't recommend it. Not on a 10 day hike with such extreme elevation changes. If we did it again I would take a 40L pack.

At times I felt like this

2. Bring a guide. It is possible to do this trek without a guide but a guide is so helpful in so many different ways. Our guide costed us $25/day – not a lot by Western standards. With that, we got:

• Someone to show us the way. For the most part it was self explanatory but there are a few times when we didn't know which route to take.
• A translator. At many of the teahouses the staff do not speak English. Trying to communicate with them would have been so much more difficult without Lal there. He helps us order food, choose a room, pay the bill, etc.
• Someone to explain what the heck is going on. When passing through villages we see all sorts of things that make me go:

Whether it's men making a thatched bamboo roof, grinding barley, or drying millet to make alcohol. It's so nice to have someone there to explain what is going on. Lal was born and raised in a small rural village so he always knew what was going on and how to explain it. To me, this is the most important reason to get a guide.

3. Bring warm clothes that you can layer. The first two days of the trek we wore shorts and t-shirts. The last two days of the trek we wore every piece of clothing that we had (long underwear, two pairs of socks, long sleeve shirt, sweater, jacket, mitts, toque) – at night it got as cold as 0 degrees Celcius with no heater. You need to be prepared to take off and put on layers multiple times every day. Also, stay away from cotton. It absorbs sweat and takes ages to dry. Instead, pack clothes that can dry overnight with little or no help from sunlight/wind.

4. Aquatabs. These little babies are life savers.

We saw multiple people along the trek who were packing around large filters or cumbersome instruments to filter their drinking water. Or worse yet, we saw many people buying bottled water every time they needed a drink. This is not necessary. Take a pack of aquatabs, drop one in your water bottle each time you fill up, shake it a couple times, wait 30 minutes, and enjoy. They take up next to no room in your pack. Nepal already has a litter problem – why compound this problem by buying and throwing away dozens of plastic water bottles? I'm not one of those hippies that drives a Prius and sniffs their own farts but the older I get, the more priority I put on preserving our planet.

Now we're back in Pokhara and in relaxation mode. I'll update soon. I'm way behind on blogs.

PS. This beard is getting really big and itchy. I'm starting to feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway.

Wilson!

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