Giving thanks at 18,000 feet

Just before beginning my recent 18-day trek of the Annapurna Circuit, I sat in the lobby of a musty guest house in Besisahar in anxious anticipation of the election results. I'd urged my trekking companions to postpone our departure by one day under the auspices of allowing time for my toenail to heal (which it did), when in actuality what I really wanted was to know the results of the election before we departed! It was a really spectacular moment in my life, and one that I know I will never forget. Al Jazeera was the only news channel that I could see, and the reporters were obviously elated. The people in the lobby with me were from all around the world, and they were celebrating too. I cried as I listened to Obama's acceptance speech, and then told nearly everyone who would listen along the trail about our soon-to-be new president. I can tell you first hand that the world is really celebrating this victory as much as we are, and perhaps more. This vendor in a remote village of Nepal had a photo of Obama on his wares, and was ebullient when I told him I was from the USA.

The Annapurna Circuit trek was fantastic... we crossed Thorung La, the world's highest pass at 5,417 meters (nearly 18,000 feet)! This was a huge accomplishment for me personally on so many levels, but mostly the fact that I really didn't think that I could do this. Some of you may know I have asthma, and though it's relatively mild I've always somehow been convinced that it meant that I couldn't challenge my lungs in this way. Well I did, and they worked! ANYTHING is possible...

Though the pass was certainly a big part of the feeling of pride that I'm feeling now, trekking for 18 days for approximately 140 miles, gaining (and then descending) approximately 17,000 feet of elevation is a pretty darn big accomplishment too! The photo on the left is of Thorung Peak, which stands at just over 20,000 feet, and it's taken from the pass that I crossed. Doesn't it look small? The photo puts it into perspective for me!


There were so many beautiful points along the trek. We walked counterclockwise around the Annapurna range beginning in Bhulbhule, and ending in Nayapul. The towns and villages along the way exist year round for the most part, which makes it different from the Sanctuary trek. Most of the villages are hundreds or even thousands of years old. Braga, Upper Pisang and Kagbeni were a few of my favorite villages as they have retained the character of their age, and reflect the simple way of life for the residents.

From Kagbeni, you look north into the Kali Gandaki river valley, which is the direct route into the Mustang region (where I might have been if my permit had arrived...but life works out exactly as it is supposed to) and it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It is late in the day so my photos aren't great, but they show the daily afternoon migration of the sheep from the mountains back to their home in Kagbeni. There were probably 1,000 sheep, perhaps 4-5 large flocks, each with shepherds and dogs to keep them in check. One by one, they each crossed a narrow bridge across the river, until soon after they were running right by us. It was a seriously beautiful moment that I will never forget.

The majority of the people who live along this route live an agrarian lifestyle; the others run guest houses or other services for tourists. We saw people farming potatoes, corn, millet, rice, cabbage, cauliflower and sugar cane. Mostly, the women do the harvesting work. The men handle the animals and plows. In the higher elevations, there were yaks, sheep and goats everywhere. At one of our guest houses that sat at about 4,000 meters I even had a chance encounter with a yak in bathroom! Luckily, I wasn't in there when he was cleaning the floor with his tongue, but I did get to witness it.

On the west side of the pass the villages are along the historic trade route between Tibet and India, and so a very strong Tibetan influence is still felt today. We met several Tibetan refugees who are proud to tell you about their heritage, and sad when they think of the current status of their homeland. This one, Norju, is a 71-year-old who emigrated to Nepal in 1959 at the age of 23 -- the same year as the Dalai Lama. He now sells Tibetan handicrafts at a small stall along the route. I wear a bracelet that I bought from him to remind me of my experience and this place.

The group that I was with was a huge part of the fun of this trip, too. Considering that I only knew one of the other five people (three trekkers and two porters) before we all met at the trailhead, it could have been a disaster. Indeed, it worked out perfectly. It was Erik, a hydrologist from Minneapolis, Jaya an engineer from California, Gerdien my Dutch friend that I met in Kathmandu, and then Shova and Parvat our two porters. We all got along great and really had good energy. I'm sure we'll remain in touch for a long time to come. We shared many laughs, much sweat, a few tears, a lot of gas (!), and an unforgettable life experience. The gas I'm told is a natural function of our bodies when they get to high altitude. I'm sure the diet of constant carbohydrates (dal bhat, macaroni, porridge, and Pringles) didn't help either. Trekking is a good way to get to know someone really well!

A memorable moment occurred on the second day of the trek. Ellen, a German gal that I had met in Pokhara and been traveling at the same pace with (she saw me cry during Obama's acceptance speech!), had a terrible accident. She fell through a window at a lodge where she was having lunch. Our group arrived about 20 minutes behind her and her partner Tine, and got to witness the chaos and a lot of blood. Her major bleeding had been stopped, but she had at least a dozen other lacerations that needed cleaning and glass removed. I immediately got into nurse mode, broke out my first aid kit and began to clean up her wounds. Thankfully, there was a doctor only one village away (almost two hours) so we stayed until he came and stitched her up in four places. Amazingly, Ellen and Tine continued their trek, and finished on the same day we did!

The flora and fauna are stunning...everywhere you look. I thought my plant-loving friends would appreciate seeing that poinsettias do actually grow in the wild! And, they grow to be 20-30 feet tall when given the chance!! And, did you know that there is such a thing as a rhododendron FOREST? They grow in the wild, and can reach 40-50 feet tall with trunks as much as 3 feet across. Certainly this is a reason to come back to Nepal in the springtime to get to witness it all in bloom.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and know that I give thanks to each of you for your support, friendship and love.

My Own Personal Himalayan Sanctuary

I don't even know where to begin the story of my trek. I will start with a resounding WOW! The essentials:

Route: Annapurna Sanctuary
Days: 11 (we cut it one day short)
Mileage: Approximately 70-80 miles
Weather: Nearly perfect (actually rather hot, except at Base Camp). 90% of the rain fell after we had arrived at our daily destinations, and ended before we awoke.
Terrain: From 3,000 ft. to 13,200 ft., with lots of ups and downs in between (we estimated that we gained 15,000 feet of elevation over the course of the trek) - forests, rivers, mountains, meadows, waterfalls.
Animals: Langur monkeys, and of course buffalo, sheep, goats, dogs and a few cats.
Views: I had no idea how amazing they would be... Every day there was a new vantage point of the remarkable Himalayas.
Group: Amazing. From left to right, Kathy, Joanie, me, Alyson, Megan and Leila. Kathy is a nurse from Boston, and Leila, a hilarious, 20-something Cannuck on her own spiritual adventure through Nepal and India. This was us all fresh and clean on Day Number One, before we discovered how much we could sweat.
Guides & Porters: As I mentioned previously, the trek was offered through 3 Sisters Adventures in Pokhara, Nepal. I would highly recommend this organization. As we were on an "all woman" trek we had a woman guide - Saru - and even women porters - most of whom weighed less than I do.
Body: I am feeling quite firm, healthy and buff, despite a ridiculous amount of calories in the form of carbohydrates, Pringles, and Snickers bars. (All readily available on the route.) Only bodily mishap - one mildly sprained ankle a day prior to our finish (it could have been much worse!) I was able to finish the trek with a borrowed brace and trekking poles no problem.
Health: Mine good, though Joanie had a pretty yukky head cold for most of the trek (though she still beat me on the trail every day!)
The Verdict: I made it!

Now, about trekking: Trekking is a rigorous adventure. Each day, we walked for between 4-7 hours and gained between 1,000 - 3,000 feet of elevation. There are about 50 million stairs (not an official count) on the Annapurna Sanctuary route, but they are not your standard "American" style of stairs. No, in fact, there is no standard height and they are made almost exclusively out of roughly carved rock, tree roots, or slippery earthen mud. I would guess that the stair height ranged anywhere from 2 inches to 3 feet. Needless to say, we worked hard for every one of the many steps, and it's nothing like the stairs you are used to at home! The elevation gain is slightly deceiving as we often gained only slightly more altitude than we lost in a single day.

A word about sweat. I had A TON of it on this journey! In fact, often we drank up to four liters of water a day which only resulted in a few trips to the bathroom. Most of the liquid excreted from my body was coming in the form of hard earned perspiration and exhalation!

The Annapurna Sanctuary is positively fantastic. The route is shaped somewhat like a wishbone were we walked out on one route (Nayapul to Chomrong), then headed towards the Annapurna Base Camp, backtracked our route to Chomrong, and then headed a different direction (Chomrong to Khare) on the way out. Each day brought a new view of at least one of the spectacular Himalayan mountains (each that we could see more than 21,000 feet high). The views are absolutely breathtaking. We hiked through Rhododendron forests (with trees up to maybe 40-50 feet tall, they are not like this at home!), over bridges of whichI know my mom wouldn't have approved, into bamboo forests, alpine meadows, under waterfalls and through dozens of small villages.

The highlight of my journey was arriving at the Annapurna Base Camp. THIS is why they call the trek the Annapurna Sanctuary. For us, it was a divine gift that was slowly unwrapped for us to experience. When we left our previous rest spot the weather was a bit cloudy and we couldn't see any of the mountains. Saru, our guide, couldn't promise us that the weather would change or that we would get to see the mountains once we arrived. As we got close and were working really hard for every breath, we began to see a tiny bit of blue sky, hinting at the glory that was to come. One cloud parted for about a minute and we were able to see one mountain - Fish Tail. That bit of beauty brought tears to my eyes... it was the moment that I realized that I had arrived at over 13,500 feet, and that my body was strong and my asthmatic lungs (fueled by pharmacy) had made it. This seriously could be one of the biggest and most amazing achievements of my life. And this was before the magic was completely born!

About an hour after we arrived in about as dramatic a fashion as I could have dreamed, the clouds parted and the angels started to sing... it was nearly that mystical!It is called the "sanctuary" because when you arrive you are literally surrounded on all sides by the fantastic Himalayas. Imagine 10 Mount Rainiers, but twice as tall and all around you. The photos can not serve justice to the beauty of this place. I am so grateful to have made it there, and to have witnessed the unveiling!

We watched the sun set over the mountains, creating an orange glow on the eastern slopes. In the morning, we woke early to watch the sunrise in nearly the same fashion except for this show I broke from our group and found a quiet place to sit alone. I closed my eyes and just listened to the mountains. Everyone had their cameras flashing and I couldn't bring myself to interrupt the experience with technology. When I opened my eyes I just started to weep. I had one of the most mystical, magical experiences of my life with those mountains, and did manage to capture a few photos before departing (though I swear the photos can't capture the scale and grandeur.) I can assure you that the universe has given me another sign that this is exactly where I am supposed to be...

Leaving the Sanctuary was a tough experience. That really was our "destination" and as we arrived on day 8, the final days were emotionally a little more taxing. The first part of our journey we were working to get to this amazing place, and coming down it felt like serious work! Still beautiful, but now the stairs seemed twice as big!

Our team of female guides and porters was awesome. 3 Sisters Adventures operates a program called "Empowering Women of Nepal", and it is through this program that they recruit young women to the trekking industry, which is Nepal's largest source of revenue. The women were from 18-25 years old, and each one had a story about a difficult life they were leading before being "discovered" by the Chhetri sisters (who own and operate 3 Sisters Adventures). The women all enjoy the mountains, nature, learning English, singing Nepali songs, and dancing! We shared many heartfelt laughs along the route. I found out after I arrived that 3 Sisters Adventures have just received a 2008 Geotourism Award from National Geographic Magazine. I can say that it is much deserved!

Another amazing discovery on the trek was the positively amazing variations in people that we met along the way. We met a family with three children under 7 years of age, met a 70 year old man who had tried and failed the Sanctuary route 17 years ago, two moms hiking with their two kids (who were married), budget travelers, sabbatical seekers, and many more. It was a wonderful surprise to meet such interesting people along the way.

Near the end of the trek, we opted to cut a day of hiking and one village (Ghandruk) off of the itinerary. The weather was questionable, the rain had fallen the previous night meaning that the leeches would be out and looking for our blood, and the route was 6 hours uphill without a rest stop. Wouldn't you cut that day too?

Alyson, Megan and I trekked at a pace slightly slower than the rest of the group, and dubbed ourselves the "caboose clan". Though we were always the last to arrive by 15 minutes or so, we all enjoyed our "relaxed" pace enormously (if you can call 5,000 steps in one day relaxing). Despite some serious calorie intake, our bodies all seem to have responded with a good deal of tone and muscle, something I hope will last for a while!

One disclaimer: if you are grossed out by the sight or smell of donkey or buffalo dung, consider yourself warned... it is everywhere!

Next for me: celebrating Dasain in Pokhara with the Chhetri sisters (Nepal's largest festival) and then back to Kathmandu with the gals for some final shopping and sightseeing before they all depart on Sunday. After that, I'm not quite sure yet... stay tuned and I'll let you know as soon as I do!

With love and gratitude,
Pam