Trekking the Himalaya

We've missed being in the mountains. Some people are beach people; some people are city people; some are desert people. John and I are definitely mountain people. We like the cool temperatures and the feeling of being on top of the world. That's one of the reasons we've come to Nepal, to hike in the Himalaya, the tallest mountains in the world.

Our plan is to hike into the Annapurna Sanctuary in central Nepal, a popular trek which will take us to the Annapurna Base camp at over 4000 meters. Our ascent should take us six to seven days, the descent another four or five. We'll eat at Mountain tea houses along the way and stay at the gurung village hotels. I can't wait.

Planning for this trek is a bit different from our other treks. For one thing we don't need to pack food; there are plenty of tea-houses along the way where we can get hot meals and drinks. The second thing is clothing. Up until now all of our treks on this trip have been in warm weather. Here we'll be climbing above the snow line and we will need all of our warm gear. This is good, I was beginning to think we'd carted some of it around the world for nothing. We'll probably be pumping all of our drinking water, so we'll finally put that piece of equipment to use and, for the first time, we'll use our Gortex wind pants. With all of our gear on, our packs should weight practically nothing (I hope).

Weight is a big factor. We'll be hiking for two weeks and I've already decreed that if we pack it we have to use it. We've separated quite a load to leave here at the hotel in Kathmandu. I want to go through the remaining things again and hopefully whittle a bit more. Fargo, of course, has to come and our camera equipment, right there we've already got a load.

Well, more about this trek as it develops. Right now we have to get to sleep. We leave tomorrow morning at 6:30 am for Pokhara. It'll be another long bus ride, my favorite.