Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) Trekking: Full Story
September - October is a very good season to travel Nepal. The weather is clear, good sun shine, and its Autumn. Walking is not my thing, but travelling is, reaching to the height to see the sunrise and sunset, view of the mountains, reaching beyond the range of clouds and taking photographs is my thing. Travelling is very difficult not to travel but to gather the companions. There will be friends who want to go with you but could not at the last moment and friends who want to initially but steps back when the plan is ready. This have happened to me for many years. But last two years have been good for me. Last year I went to Muktinath (Lower Mustang) and this year to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). I would like to thank all my friends who made this journey possible.
Annapurna Base Camp was where I wanted to go this year. The pictures posted on the facebook wall were just majestic. This is what drove me to make plan for ABC Trekking.
I wonder if anybody would accompany me, I doubted. It was a long trek at least for 10 days. Every one had to take a leave from their office. It was highly unlikely. I started making plan before 1.5 months to gather friends and make some plan. There were friends who were ready to go on my first call. I was excited to see the level of their response for which I thought we could be around 7 people. 10 days is a long leave at the time of one of biggest festival of Nepal - Dashain. Some of my friends could not make it. However we ended up in a group of 4 people. It was a descent number, we thought and it was.
The plan was to leave on October 1st before Dashain but for some circumstances we had to postponed it for 21st October. I thought the plan will not work because the gap was huge, but I didn't lose the hope. I started packing on 16 of the October. As this was the peak season, the travel agency suggested to take the sleeping bag as an alternative to sleep in the dining hall. We purchased sleeping bag, trekking bag, trousers, jackets etc. As the day approaches near I feel fear whether the plan will work. It was that moment when it was confirmed to leave for 21st October. Thank God.
Day 1: Kathmandu - Pokhara - Naya pool - Birethanti - Hile, Tikledhunga
Day 2: Hile, Tikledhunga - Banthati - Ghorepani
Day 3: Ghorepani - Poon Hill - Ghorepani - Tadapani - Chueley - Chhomrong
Day 4: Chhomrong - Bamboo - Dobhan - Himalay - Machhapuchharey Base Camp (MPB)
Day 5: Machhapuchharey Base Camp - Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) - MPB - Himalaya - Dobhan - Bamboo -Chhomrong
Day 6: Chhomrong - Ghandruk - Naya Pool - Pokhara (via zeep from Ghandruk)
Day 7: Pokhara - Kathmandu (Via Bus)
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| Click to enlarge: ABC Map |
Day 1: Kathmandu - Pokhara - Naya pool - Birethanti - Hile, Tikledhunga
We marched from Kathmandu on October 21st from the New Bus Park at Gongabu. We reached early at 5:30 am. We purchased the ticket, snickers, snacks and some chocolate. Purchasing in the city would have been nice than the Bus Park. It was expensive. The Bus left from Kalanki around 7:00 am and reached Pokhara around 1:30 pm. We passed from Pokhara to Naya Pool at around 4:00 pm. We bought the trekking stick that was readily available at the stop. Our first plan to stay at the Birethanti but it was near than we expected. So, to make the first day of the trekking more enjoyable we headed toward Tikledhunga but we could only reach Hile, Tikledhunga as it was getting darker. We had regular dinner dal-bhat and some local alcohol.
Day 2: Hile, Tikledhunga - Banthati - Ghorepani
We took a hot shower and freshened up. We took one boiled egg and a lemon tea. This is what we had for breakfast each day for our entire trip. As we moved a head from the hotel we were astonished to see so many foreigners from the kid of age around 13 to the old age people around 62. I haven't seen that number of foreigners in Kathmandu alone. This trek to Ghorepani is the most difficult path of the entire trip. The up hill is the intense path, sweating you in minutes and forces you take the rest within some minutes you begin. This path was jammed by people only. Some of the trekkers were climbing, resting, having some water and snacks. It was the one way path though it was jammed time and again. Indeed there were many trekkers that day. We passed through every trekkers and were a head of them. We had some snickers and Wai Wai (noodles) on the way. The water we drank were mostly from the water fall that were abundantly available on the trek. We had our lunch/brunch at Banthati around 11am and left for Ghorepani. As we approached Ghorepani around 4 pm it was getting cold and chilly. The clouds started to spread over the hill and showed some sign of rain but it didn't. Some of the hotels were packed already since we reached late however we found one. 3 beds for 4 of us, we adjusted. That evening and night was cold. The moon was bright enough to lit up the Annapurna Mountain right behind me which I didn't notice cause we were playing cards - Call Break. As I noticed it, the feeling was WOW. I wished I had a tripod. (In my next trip I'll pack it whatsoever). The dinner was regular, no meat. Playing cards was fun to kill the time and the cold. I slept well that night but my friends could not properly.
Day 3: Ghorepani - Poon Hill - Ghorepani - Tadapani - Chueley - Chhomrong
We got ready for the Poon hill at aroun 4am. It took us like an hour to reach to the Poon Hill. Within some minutes the Poon Hill has covered by the people. I was shocked. We felt lucky to find the good place at the view tower. As the sun began to rise the color it flourished on the sky was worth watching. The silhouette of the hills and the mountains was something I was relating to some of the documentary. The first ray of the sun on the Annapurna then to the Dhaulagiri mountain was worth watching for. We were above the clouds. The clouds were aligned such a way like a path to walk to reach to the Dhaulagiri Mountain. The clouds, mountains and the sunshine were just immensely fantastic. Due to the large number of people there it was very difficult to get the good spot to take your picture with the mountain as your backdrop. With some pictures and jpeg and raw we moved down to Ghorepani.With the fresh breakfast we headed to Chhomrong. It was a long path. Most of the people especially the foreigners take a rest at Tadapani from where you can have the close and the finest view of the Machhapuchhare (Fish tail Moutntain) early in the morning. From Ghorepani there was a one hour of up hill hike. As you move up hill you can have the good view of both Annapurna and Machhapuchhare mountain. This view at your left won't stop following, you feel refreshed, energetic and a smile on you face. Until you reach the Tadapani mostly there are down hill. So this path was an easy than our previous day. Until our launch was ready we again played call-break. The clouds began to cover up the sky, mountain and the hills that made us rethink if we should Chhomrong. We had a small view of Mount Machhapuchhare and I was imagining how its beauty could be in the early morning. It was like right in front of us. Oo yes we should have stayed that night at the Tadapani. After the launch we headed to the Chueley. Since there was a continuous down hill our legs and joints were started to have some pain. Hence in Chueley we found a small green ground which the the compound of the hotel. We took some rest there and even laid on the green grass. We could see the Chhomrong village from here. It was just there but the amount of time it took we were very surprised. From the Chueley the up hill started again. As the clouds began to take over it became quite chilly and gave some sing of rain fall. We marched fast. It looked like an early morning fog. You couldn't see the distance for 5 meter in front of you. I enjoyed that view as well. The tree and houses looked awesome. I wanted to take some snaps but was too lazy because of tiredness. Finally we reached Chhomrong. With some snacks and alcohol, I was feeling relaxed. After regular dinner we slept.
Day 4: Chhomrong - Bamboo - Dobhan - Himalay - Machhapuchharey Base Camp (MPB)
Everyday we had a plan to reach our destination but this day was different than the others. We planned to reach to Deurali that evening. We reached Bamboo early than expected. With some snacks we had we arrived at Dobhan for the lunch. We talked to the hotel owner for some minutes where we had launch. He advised us to go to ABC the same day. We were surprised. He told we could reach the ABC on the same day on 4 hours from here. We were happy to hear that. We made up our mind to reach the ABC on the same day if not MBC at least skipping the Deurali. When we reached Deurali it was around 3:30 PM. We forced each other to reach the MBC. Arriving at the MBC was difficult. It was probably the longest path of our journey which involved both downhill and uphill. We were tired and was filling difficult to carry on. But for the break we reached in front of the huge water fall. We relaxed a little there though it was getting darker. We reached MBC at around 5:30 pm and there was no chance to reach ABC that evening. We thank that guy for the advice for giving us an idea to reach MBC and for us skipping the Deurali. That night instead of having regular dinner we decided to have pizza. Pizza was okay. We didn't found the room though but we got some place at the dinning hall. Sleeping at dinning hall was not bad at all. We didn't slept at the floor first of all. It was small cozy like a bed. They provided us blanket and that was it for the night. Hot water per glass costed Rs. 50 which we knew when we called for the bill the next day.
Day 5: Machhapuchharey Base Camp - Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) - MPB - Himalaya - Dobhan - Bamboo -Chhomrong
We woke up early at 4:00 am. Waking up is an very good idea cause you have the sharing toilet and bathroom. We moved to ABC at around 4:30 am. We reached there before sunrise. It was a beautiful place. You could see the Annapurnna range all around you. You are in the middle of the Annapurna. The 360 degree view of the mountain makes you forget all the hard effort you made in that journey. It is a complete bliss, the silence, the echo and the state of your mind makes you feel you're at the top of the world. We and so did the all other people were busy taking pictures of the mountain and there's with mountain as the backdrop. You can not see the sunrise from there because you are surrounded by the mountain. Its a valley of the mountains. The warmness that you could feel when the sun rays hits the the top of the Annapurna. Everybody was busy clicking and clicking and screaming with excitement. As the sun rose up and take over the Annapurna it feels like where that is a hot volcano. There was service provided by FISHTAIL for the helicopter tour. We stayed there for around 4-5 hours. We even climbed the mountain for 100-200 meter. Then we headed to MBC. We took our stuff from the hotel and moved around 11 am to Chhomrong. We reached Chhomrong ar 6 pm. during this day we walked for 13 hours and thirty minutes.
Day 6: Chhomrong - Ghandruk - Naya Pool - Pokhara (via zeep from Ghandruk)
On this day we planned to stay at Ghandruk but we had to skip it as well because we thought it was not that necessary at all since we had a closer view of the mountains. We had lunch on Ghandruk and wear the Gurrung dress and got some snaps. The lunch we had at Ghandruk was the finest we had on our entire trip. The sukuti (dry meat) tasted very good and the mahee (milk product) was fantastic as well. We took a zeep from there to Pokhara. We stayed at the lake side. After dinner we headed to the restaurant for the chill beer, cocktail and whatever we could find we rejoice and the end the fantastic trip we had. We were lucky to be in happy hour for our cocktails. Some snaks and couple of beers, hukka, the loud live music, the requested songs being played and the party ended with the shots of tequila.
Day 7: Pokhara - Kathmandu (Via Bus)
We headed to Kathmandu from the Hi-ace bus. We departed from Kalanki.
Until the next trip... see you all around.
