Today's trek started off fairly easy. A mountain goat we came across on the side of the trail.
According to one of the maps we had there was a choice between a high and a low pass for the day, and we were planning on taking the lower pass. Before we knew it, however, we found ourselves in a very steep ascent on stone steps, the hardest we had encountered yet. about half way up we decided that perhaps we had missed the turn off for the lower pass. We heard later that everyone had to take the high pass, so there perhaps wasn't a sign to miss. In the end, the added elevation gain was well worth it because we were able to get a spectacular view of Manaslu from the village of Timang. There was a tea house there as well, so we stopped for a bit to rest and enjoy the view. Laurence and I had met an Italian couple and their guide in Bahundanda who were returning from a summit attempt of Manaslu. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad on them and the risk of attempting the summit was too great.
Manaslu - 8,156m (26,758 ft) - 8th highest mountain in the world
After tea, we pushed on to Koto before stopping for lunch. We passed this horse along the way wearing a Nepali bridal and saddle.
We also came across a hybrid of a yak and a cow. I believe they are called a dzo (male) /dzomo (female) but are also sometimes called yakows.
Part of the trail we hiked on today.
During lunch, we found out that Chame was only a half hours walk away. We also ran into Sarah, who was just finishing her lunch. She told us that there were hot springs in Chame. While it was chilly out, Alurence and I got bit excited about the prospect of soaking in a hot spring. Maybe we weren't carrying our swim suits for nothing!
I believe this is the village of Chame as we approached from Koto, but I can't remember for sure.
We intentionally chose a lodge on the far side of the village to be close to the hot springs. Our first order of business was to go and check them out. We were immediately disappointed. What we encountered, while a hot spring, was only about 3 ft x 5 ft and only 1-2 ft deep - not ideal for a soak. The only thing you could really do was stick your hands and feet in it. It was very hot, too hot, possibly, to get in anyways. We opted for a shower and doing laundry instead. I also wanted to go back to the main part of the village. This was the first place on the circuit with internet availability, and I wanted to see how Heather was doing and let my parents know I was okay. I must admit I was very surprised when I learned that there would be internet in a few villages along the way. I wasn't even expecting there to be electricity everywhere, but we didn't encounter any villages without it. There were blackout periods everyday though, and our hope was always that they would occur during daylight hours. Sometimes this was the case, but often they were around dusk and the early hours of darkness, so our headlamps came in really handy (assuming we remembered to have them on us).
When I finally got to my e-mail, I didn't have anything from Heather. I was immwdiately worried about her but hoping that she wasn't anticipating me having access to e-mail until the end of my trek and just hadn't gotten around to sending anything yet. I e-mailed her to let her know I was okay and would have internet access again in 3-4 days once I reached Manang. I later learned that she had tried to e-mail me as soon as she reached Pokhara but that it didn't go through.
I met another American (Greg from CA) in Chame, one of only 4 (total) I encountered along the trek. He had met and was traveling with an Australian named Jono. We had dinner with them and a French couple who had been traveling together for almost a year.
In the mountains, it gets cold as soon as the sun goes behind the mountains, and on the eastern side of the circuit this occurred fairly early. In Chame, this was happening around 4:30, give or take. It doesn't take long for it to start getting dark after that as well. On this day, Laurence and and I were chatting with the French couple in the dining room and weren't paying very close attention to what was happening outside. Neither of us had our headlamps with us. The complicating factor with today was that we were staying in one of the few lodges that did not provide us with a lock and key to our room, so we were using my combination lock. I'm sure you see where this is going. When we realized it was nearly dark outside, we rushed out to our room to get our headlamps, but we could barely see the numbers on the lock for the combination. Amidst our laughter at our folly, Laurence tried to hail someone down with a headlamp while I tried to undo the lock. The only thing I could make out was if the number was one or two digits in length. This turned out to be enough though because I was able to get it unlocked just as Laurence was bringing over French man with his headlamp. We made sure at least one of us was carrying a headlamp well before sunset from then on out.
2 comments:
Yakow huh... interesting animal. Erin, I must say, that this is day 4 and while I think I should go to bed soon, I am having such a good time reading about your trip... the suspense and interesting obstacles you have to overcome on a daily basis is fascinating.
Hmm - I guess this can count as a Yak picture.
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