The Trek to Poon Hill

After we celebrated the last day of Tihar with our friend and guide, Hem, we began our Poon Hill trek in Nayapol, which is at an elevation of 1070 meters (3510 ft).  Below is a photo of David and Hem ready to trek.  We both had our tikas from the ceremony for Tihar.

Nayapol was fairly empty feeling because so many people were gathered together for Tihar, so the streets were quiet.  There were many shops closed which was partly due to the holiday and partly due to the lack of tourists.

We walked along the river and crossed a suspension bridge.  That is David on the bridge.  It really gets bouncing so it is rather fun walking.

Soon we crossed another bridge; this one put us in an area where we needed a trekking permit.

This is the bridge, the last big one that could carry a vehicle, before serious trekking begins.  On the far side is Birethanti, where the authorities checked our trekking permits.

Above and to the right is the office where trekking permits are checked.  From this village we really began to feel as though we were trekking.  From Birethanti, our goal was to get as far as we could on our first day, because we had not started in the morning but well into the afternoon. Three hours of trekking was going to be about our limit because of darkness.

Going through one village, village Marty spotted an old woman lying down in her doorway on a map and could not resist the temptation to get a photo.

We made it as far as a village named Bajgara and stayed in a brand new guest house.  We had a good room with lots of hot water.  The shower was in the middle of a long bathroom with the sink closest to the door and the toilet at the farthest. The shower head was also almost at the top of the wall making for a lot of splashing water and a permanently wet floor.  The food was good and we slept well listening to the sound of the river behind the guest house.

Saturday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we started the hardest trekking we have done in years.  We had a goal of reaching Banthanti at 2210 meters (7250 ft) and we were starting at around 1160 meters or 3850 feet.  Granted, it was less than 4,000 ft in elevation gain, but it would be all on stone steps that were of greatly varying heights and we would work a lot harder with less oxygen than our usual walk up and down the hill to the Hallowell Post Office.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that some areas paid for trash clean up!  We met this man with his trash bag and he explained that this was his job.  That part of the trail was very clean.  This man is Gurong, which is an ethnic group in this part of Nepal.

Soon after we started our trek in the morning, we encountered the first of several mule or horse "trains".    It is important for us to note that there are no roads in this area, just trails.  Everything that is not grown locally must be brought in on the backs of horses, mules, or humans (porters).  The lead horse always has a bell and often all wear them, so that is your first audible signal that you are about to see a train.

A treat along the way, however, was seeing cherry trees in full bloom.  Given that it is November it was a complete surprise for us to see, but it makes sense that the trees would adjust to the fact that there is a monsoon season here when they would normally be blossoming.  Needless to say, we took rests fairly often.

Our trail was a mix of dirt and stone and going uphill, nearly always stone steps again of varying heights.

As we were walking we also saw oxen being used to plow the fields.  Rice has been harvested and now they are beginning to plant potatoes.  

There are swings in this country that are build of bamboo and like children everywhere in the world, they like to see just how high they can go!

Hay or other useable grain stalks are mounded around a pole and often elevated so that the air can circulate under it.  This particular mound was on top of a frame and other vegetables were being stored under it. This is a practical approach to hay storage if one does not have a barn.

Later in the morning we stopped for a tea break and were greeted by the children and their mother shown below.  Note that corn is being dried under the roof.  This may be popped or used for other dishes.  They enjoy popcorn here much the same as we do in the U.S.

Our break was here at this guest house.

This was going to be our hardest day of trekking.  There were stone steps ahead for us beginning in Tikhedhungga all the to Ulleri.  We would gain 480 meters basically without a break...step up, step up, step, step, step, rest and then step up again.   

There were lovely waterfalls along the way which Marty had to photograph.

Some times we just had to stop for water or give our legs a rest, which is what David is doing below.

Then there were more horses and donkeys.  Sometimes they got to eat along the way as this one is.

Eventually we arrived at our next guesthouse.  This one couldn't be missed.

Once again, we had a hot shower waiting, but we discovered that plumbing and bathroom design leaves much to be desired in these places.  The shower is not separate and is just there on the wall between the toilet and the sink, therefore, if you take a shower the floor is wet between the toilet and the entry door and doesn't really ever get fully dried before you want to use the toilet.  

We discovered early on that there was pretty much a set menu at all of the guesthouses.  So you paid roughly the same and got roughly the same food where ever you went.  Below is one of the standard breakfasts with Tibetan bread, fried eggs, and potatoes with onions and tomatoes.  The menus and guest room prices are set by an association, to which all guest and tea houses in the Annapurna protected region belong.

And yes, the food has been pretty good too.  At the end of the day the beers were pretty good as well!

That next morning, as we were leaving the village, Marty got to meet a lovely woman who was just about her same age.  They talked about children and grandchildren and aches and pains that come with their age.  Marty promised not to put her photo on Facebook because so many other Trekkers only wanted to take her photo to do so!

A ways up the trail we stopped for a tea break at this very interesting tea house.  It was partly constructed and remains unfinished except for restaurant part.  Here we met a German father and son and a couple of men from Montana along with a Brit who had also stayed in the same hotel with us the night before.  We would continue to see many of the same folks over the coming few days, we passing them and they passing us!

Here are the people we often caught up to or were caught up by at tea times or lunch breaks...or overnighting.

There were more stone steps as well as dirt trails all the rest of the way to Ghorepani. We entered through a gate into the lower village and proceeded to the upper one where we would stay.

Because of Poon Hill's unobstructed view of the Annapurnas, Ghorepani receives many trekkers and there are many guesthouses in both the upper and lower villages.  It was a surprise to us, though, that there were so few people around. It seems that this drop off of trekkers is a product of earthquake fears and the current fuel crisis.

Upper village "Main Street" in Ghorepani.

The next morning we rose very early to be able to climb the 1200 remaining feet to the top of Poon Hill at 3210 meters (10,500 + feet) before the sun hit the peaks.  It is difficult to hike up steps in the dark, as you only see the next one or two steps in front of you and it is easy to be disoriented. We did make it to the top before the sunrise and were a little surprised to find about 300 or more other folks there all wanting the best view.  Our hands were very cold and there was enough wind to make us glad we had worn wind breakers, but our feet did get cold as we stood around.  There was a kiosk selling hot coffee, which we wrapped our hands around as soon as Hem could bring us each a cup.

  

Do we look cold?

There was mist in the valley but the peaks were all clear in this view from Poon Hill.  The highest peak is Nilghiri, on of the world's top ten.

Looking carefully across the peak one can see the snow blowing off.

After a much easier walk down, we had breakfast.  Marty's looks almost the same as every other breakfast she had on the trek.

The difference in bread was only in name and the slits cut into it.  It was, for the most part, oil-laden and except for one or two times neither of us could finish it!

After breakfast we headed down...our goal for the day was down to Tadapani.  We had some amazing views along the way and crossed some interesting bridges.  Bellow is Hem crossing one of the wooden bridges.

After initially being in sunshIne, the weather came up to meet us and we walked mostly in clouds and mist.

As we headed down, we passed a place in the river where people had built cairns.   They are difficult to see, but we are showing you the spot anyway.

Our lunch was eaten inside to get out of the dampness.  Below a view of the restaurant area along the river.

This next shot is of a small shed which probably houses a grinding mill for villagers and would be used when there was a good flow of water.

Finally we got to Tadepani, our fourth guest house on the trek.  In the dining room below, we were with Russians, Slovakians, Brits, French and, of course, Americans.

This was our heated dining room, with a stove made out of a steel barrel.  In this case, it was encased in clay, which made the heat more even and longer-lasting.  They burned wood in this and it also had a rack above for trekkers' use in drying clothes.  We all enjoyed sitting around this at the end of our day and soaking up the heat while enjoying a beer.

The next morning we got this wonderful view of Annapurna South from the dining room.

The room we had here was very basic.  There was only an outside toilet with the wash basin outside the bathroom.  Here is David brushing his teeth in the morning.

This was a very interesting place because, if you wanted a hot shower, it was in yet another location and you paid extra for it, whether it was hot or cold.  This place also had the dampest comforters of the trek.  When we laid under them, we seriously wondered if we would ever warm them up enough to keep warm at night.  In the end, our body heat dried out the covers and we were halfway comfortable.

If we had wanted to ride we could have rented this fine creature.  Marty would have ridden just because of the blankets.

Our goal for the next day was Ghandruk.  This is a Ghurong village with two parts, one old and one new.  The old village is stunning, with Ghurong traditional homes, while the new part has the guest houses and a mixture of architecture.  The old part preserves Ghurong traditions, while the new caters to the tourists who trek through.  Three cheers to their desire to maintaining their Ghurong culture.

This is a place once could stay for a few days and take photos (if you were not on a schedule).  We stayed in a lovely place that did have a shower and toilet in our room, something we have come to appreciate even more on this trek.

We did a walk-about the new village and enjoyed seeing an old man, who is the village blacksmith, at work.   His equipment was fascinating to see, as he had a animal skin of some kind for a bellows attached to a clay stove.  His anvil was the head of a hammer, and he pounded away with another.

We also visited a one-room museum for which we paid 75 cents admission.  Walking the streets, we also watched two men plowing with oxen.  One ox was younger, so it took two of them to work with the team to ensure the younger ox was doing what he was supposed to do.

Again we had an amazing views from the dining room the next morning, along with awakening to the sound of bells from the donkey trains taking goods up the mountain trails.  After breakfast we headed down to Kimche, where we picked up the local bus back to Pokhara.  Our trek was finished.  

Doing a trek that isn't just a walk in the woods is an extraordinary experience.  In our trek to Poon Hill, we pushed ourselves more than we had expected and we were glad to have done so.  Emotionally it was a whole different experience because on previous treks in Nepal we saw mountains and were at even higher elevations than on this trek, but we never felt that we were truly in the mountains.  It was as though we could just reach out and touch them much of the time.  And, because there were no cars, trucks, motorcycles, or bicycles, we had only the sounds of nature.  Almost as though being in a cathedral, we didn't raise our voices; mostly we listened to that which was around us.

It was with a little sadness that we ended this experience and it is impossible to describe it to you.  You will just have to do something like this yourselves if you have not already.