Tag: annapurna

Day 9 of ABC Trek

Day 9 – Trek out of Jhinu

10/29/25

Our last day didn’t come a minute too soon. As I’d feared, spending so much of the day prior wet and cold had left me sick, with a sore throat and fatigue. And my sis was suffering from some serious blisters that had been developing more each day on her feet, to the point that some were now infected. So when I say in hindsight that we should not have gone to those hot springs – this is what I mean. I should have been dry, warming up somewhere out of the rain; she should not have put her feet with open wounds into warm spring waters; and we should have rested. And NOT given the leeches a free meal. But hey, now we know.

We took our time in the morning, for once in no rush to get going. So after our last tea house breakfast – banana pancakes – we started the slow walk down to the bridge, hand-on-shoulder in tandem, at 8:10am.

By 8:30 we were at the bridge, some of us enjoying the experience more than others, and starting back up the other side when two groups of mules and ponies came down to carry supplies across the bridge. We paused to watch them go, so impressed at how well trained they were to just calmly walk across this long, swaying, narrow bridge high over the river.

We reached the end at 8:55am, 45 minutes after leaving Jhinu, and hopped in a jeep to take the terrifying, bouncy journey back to Nayapul, and then to Pokhara.

We did it.

Day 8 of ABC Trek

Bamboo (7,710ft) to Jhinu Danda (5,840ft), 10km / 6.2 miles

10/28/25

Day 8. Rain. Cold. Leeches.

It’s raining when we leave Bamboo at 7am and it’s raining when we arrive in Jhinu at 4:15pm.

We’re the first to leave Bamboo and I am freezing cold to begin with. I try to wait for sis along the way but I get too cold so I go on ahead, planning to wait in Sinuwa.

Only I forgot how far upper Sinuwa is from lower Sinuwa, so when I passed through upper on my way to lower just thinking “keep moving to stay warm”, I realized….I have gone too far ahead. But there was no where to wait outside of the rain. Aaaaaand that’s how I temporarily went missing.

I ended up stopping at the first tea house in lower Sinuwa and turning on my cell data, but my phone didn’t immediately work (maybe from the cold and the rain?), but eventually I got a message through to Raj to tell him where I was.

40 minutes later they showed up to see me there – a pathetic drowned shivering kitten waiting under and awning. They brought me to the kitchen across the way and got me a hot tea to stop the shivering, then off we went.

Figures, I’d done so well every day of the trek with seemingly endless energy -but god help me if I get wet. I’m like a gremlin. I’d gotten so cold that I was worried I’d end up catching cold – it turns out my rain coat is not so waterproof anymore, and I was socked through to my bones. Sis was warm however and offered to trade coats, so that’s what we did.

From Sinuwa, we had to descend all the way to the river, cross the suspension bridge, then climb allllllll the way back up to Chhomrong. It took us an hour to slowly pick our way down, and an hour and a half of arm-in-arm climbing 20 steps at a time for over 2,200 steps (I counted….) to reach our lunch spot.

For the first time in days, I was actually hungry, and enjoyed the delicious tuna sandwich in a cozy warm dining room.

After lunch, we had to go all the way back down the other side of the hill to get to Jhinu.

Still raining, we descended each step in tandem for support and finally reached Jhinu an hour and 45 minutes after starting our descent. We threw our things in the room, embraced in a victory hug both in surprise and relief that we’d actually made it, and switched into our swimsuits to prepare for the thing that has motivated us for 4 days – the hot springs.

Now, in hind sight, this……was a mistake.

According to Raj, it’s just a 15 minute walk down to the springs. So naturally it took us as least 30 minutes. We quickly shed our layers and hopped into the delightfully steamy waters at the edge of the river, so grateful.

While we were experiencing cold rain at this lower elevation, base camp was completely snowed in, with more than a foot of snow falling overnight and throughout the day. In the course of just a single day, the route was shut down due to the storm – no one allowed in or out. Stuck there in freezing tin boxes they call rooms at 13,500ft. And anyone in Deurali was not allowed to go any further. If we had planned our trip for just 1 day later, WE would be stuck either at ABC or in Deurali. So yes, we were grateful.

We remind ourselves of that as we climb back up to the tea house in turbo mode – Raj and I on either side of sis -and inevitable find LEECHES feasting inside our boots on our feet and ankles when we reach our room. I’ll spare you the gory photo and instead leave you with a short poem:

A leech in the boot.

A leech on the ankle.

The carnage.

The blood.

The shrieks of “I want to go home”.

The emergency whistle hanging uselessly on our room’s door.

But at least we’re not stuck at base camp.

Day 1 of ABC Trek

Nayapul (3,510ft) to Ulleri (6,726ft)
10km / 6.2 miles

10/21/25

After 25+ hours of travel to Kathmandu, 2 days in the city to sightsee, a short flight to Pokhara and one night there, we finally arrived at the start of our trek. We woke up before the sun and had breakfast at 7, then back up to the room to pack the porter bag.

ABC Day 1 packing

At 8 we loaded into the car with our guide Raj our porter Sumon and began the 1.5 hour journey from Pokhara to Naya Pul over narrow, rocky roads marred by landslides, passing motorbikes and more-cautious cars along the way. Today I am thankful for Dramamine! Nearing our destination, we looked up the cliff to our right to see a turned-over truck that had veered off the cliff, taking out a water line on the way. A symbol of caution to drivers. At last we crossed a narrow bridge and emerged into a crowd of hikers waiting to begin their trek. At 9:40, we began!

With the sun beating down so hot, it wasn’t long before we de-layered. We wound our way up a gravel road with the occasional car, bike, and even bus squeezing past us. For nearly 3 hours we trod up a very gentle ascent with small hills interspersed with flat sections.

Rice paddies and the smell of homemade wine are everywhere. I note the plentiful banana, guava, and zucchini plants growing on the hillside.

We pause frequently in the shade to cool off, drink water, and once to try a guava that Sumon had bought from a woman outside a teahouse.

At around noon we decide it’s a good idea to stop for lunch at one of the many tea houses interspersed along the road – a feast of vegetable fried rice and a cool sprite to give us energy for the second half of the trek.

Lunch took about an hour. It felt so nice to have my shirt and pants dry from the sweat. Then we grabbed our bags and carried on.

We continued for maybe 30 minutes more on the road before we turned off the road and onto an actual hiking trail – that’s when the stairs began (oh how naive we were on day 1, we had no idea the STAIRS in store for us). It was gentle though at first – up a few steps, then flat walking past some tea houses, then a few more steps.

Another 30-45 minutes later, we crossed a suspension bridge and we could see Ulleri on the opposing hillside. I didn’t think it looked too far but the look on Raj’s face said otherwise.

There’s Ulleri, on the top of that hill. You can see the pink tea house we’d be staying in.

One more suspension bridge over the gorge and we were officially on the other side, starting the climb to Ulleri. The steps were relentless – just never-ending.

We got a brief respite when, from up ahead around a curve, I could hear the clanging of a bell. When I turned the corner, I saw a big momma cow right on the trail and a bunch of goats clearing the weeds from the hillside next to it. I shouted down to my sis to give her some motivation to get up there and when I turned back around, 3 youngsters had also emerged to follow mom. We sat at the edge of the trail to watch them go and give them space, but one little one took great interest in my shoes and even licked my leg!

At some point we got our first glimpse of the massive peaks looming behind the hills.

We spent hours climbing these stairs with nothing much to note. It was mostly a test of mental endurance. At some point I took my sisters backpack to help relieve her a bit – at least I’m used to climbing up and up for hours, but she doesn’t have any mountains around where she lives so this was a new experience. Her motivation for the day of getting to Ulleri was simply a shower. So I encouraged her by telling her all about the shower waiting for her at the top. I have no idea if it helped.

We reached Ulleri and our tea house exactly 8 hours after starting, at 5:45pm just before sunset. We were quick to get changed, have a shower, eat dinner, and pass right out in bed immediately after.