Our trek in the Himalayas – Mardi Himal Route, Annapurna Range
April 8, 2014 • Spiritual Adventures
Continuing our coverage of our recent Himalayan spiritual adventure in Nepal. We pick up from the morning we left Pokhara, the little town by the lake, to head inwards towards the Annapurna range to begin our 3 day trek. We boarded our mini bus and drove about 45-minutes to a pick up point where our guide and sherpa was waiting for us with a jeep. From there we drove another hour into the mountains to the drop off point for the trek. Needless to say we were all very enthusiastic about the trek.
Ram, our amazingly fit guide, led us on this 3 day trek. Our first stop was this little village, I don’t think I could even call it a village, called Pothana, which was at 1,980 meters (6,496 feet). There was a small tea house kitchen and a few houses. We stopped here for a few minutes then climbed to 2,100m where we stopped for lunch. It was getting cloudy so there was not much of a view. After lunch we proceeded to climb up to Forest Camp (2,600m), where our team had set up tents for the night.
The climb from 2,100m to 2,400m was brutal. Once we got to 2,400m we were in a spectacular rhododendron forest. It was just unbelievably beautiful.
Clouds started rolling in and next thing we knew we were caught in a hail storm. Ice flung at us from the sky. We all took cover. The hail stopped after about 10 minutes and it got really dark. It was only 4:30pm but we could hardly see 5 feet in front of us. And we still had over 90 mins to trek to get to our camp. It was a little worrisome. Trekking in the dark in a forest up in the mountains was not what I had planned.
It started to rain then making the trail slippery as well. We had all purchased rain gear so it kept us protected as we continued on our journey. About 20 to 30 minutes later the rains stopped the skies cleared and what we saw left us completely breathless. Those pictures to come in our next post. Stay tuned.
The team about to leave the hotel to head in to the Annapurna range to begin the 3 day trek.
Our guide Ram, who was simply the best, was also extremely fit. He led us on the 3 day trek.
Our stop for lunch. At about 1,900m (6,233 feet).
The lady at the tea house whipping up a meal.
As we head into higher elevation we enter a gorgeous rhododendron forest.
This porter who we met a couple of times on our trek was unbelievably fit and strong. We saw him once even getting off the trail and running down the mountain on the side of slopes.
There are no words to describe how beautiful the rhododendron forest is.
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