Anapurna Hike

Old news... but I never managed to post pictures from the 7 day hike I did with Whitney, Anna, Hayley, Sophie, Hes, Emi, Malaika, Laura and Malin in Nepal.

Here are a couple favorites. We hiked in the Anapurna mountain range- a 4 day hike up to base camp at 4,130 meters and then a 3 day hike out. We did it in two groups- meeting up with eachother at night or on opposite days, leaving messages for each other along the way. The scenery was amazing- the path we were on took us through local villages where we would stay in tea houses at night.
Passing local women with their loads. Photo by Hayley Segal

We carried our own packs the entire 7 days- nothing compared to how much these women carry on their backs for their daily lives!

The hike started with a massive incline up a never ending flight of stone stairs. (litterally- we would be walking up and down these stone stairs for the next 7 days) Through the city of Chomrung alone we hiked over 1,000 stairs!

Hiking up the stairs to Jinua. Photo by Hayley Segal


We met this little girl at the top of the the first flight of stairs, where we were bribeing Anna to continue on the hike.

As we were walking, the Annapurna range continued to open itself up, giving us enitrely different perspectives on the individual peaks that we werent able to see from Pokhara.

Fishtail from Sinuwa


Anapurna 2 view our 2nd morning

I was suprised by how green it was- and just struck by the beuty of the country side, walking among the rice paddies, crossing bridges over the Modi Kola, etc.

Rice fields. Photo by Hayley Segal

Flowers
Flowers 2
The paths were often poorly marked, and we would come to crossroads having no idea where to go. Even though we were in the off season, plenty of hikers wre till going through - and the little kids were often our best source of directions. This little girl stopped playing with her stick long enough to look at us, shout "jinu" wave her hand in one direction, and then promptly went back to playing.

photo by Hayley Segal

One of the highlights of the trip was making it to Jinu on day 3- after a LONG hike on a flight of stairs in the sun. WE met up with the rest of the girls their and stopped long enough to enjoy the natural hotsprings!! (we even stayed there on the way back- just so we could hit the hot springs again)
The Hot springs were amazing! On the 3rd and 4th day of the hike, i think we all started to feel it a bit. 4,130 meters is signigigant, and we struggled with the altitude a little, as well as the strain of walking 7+ hours a day while carrying a 30 pound pack!

Anna and I so excited to finally be at Himalaya! Photo by Anna White

Here Hayley and I stop at MBC- the last stop before making it to Anapurna Base Camp.

photo by Malin Strand

About halfway through day 4 we made it up to base camp in time for an indepth photo shoot.

Me at base camp
Team "Less Extreme"- Anna White, Whitney Hansen , Hayley Segal, Anna Bruno, Malin Strand
All of us- Emi Earle, Hester Hilbink, Malaika Davies, Anna White, Laura Clayton, Whitney Hansesn, Hayley Segal, Sophie Hoskins, Malin Strand, Anna Bruno. Thats right- 10 girls made it to and from ABC by ourselves- in record time, and had a blast!

We stayed at Basecamp for just under 24 hours, enough for a full sunset and sunrise- both of which were incredible. The energy of the place, and the serenity of being up in the mountains was incredible. Anapurna Base Camp is unique in that is completley surrounded, 360 degrees by the Anapurna Mountain range. You are in the ultimate bowl- it was one of the most impressionable plaves i have ever been.

Up at the top of Basecamp were hundreds and hundreds of prayer flags- brought by hikers and locals from allover the world. WE were gutted that we hadn't thought to bring our own, so took hundreds of pictures of them instead. Here are a few of my favorites.

Hayley gets a facefull of prayer flags








Hiking back was just as eventful- we walked out of basecamp to find the fields in flames. IT was intimidating walking through the smoke- especially as we were all wearing highly flamable clothing!
The nice thing about this trek was that it had a lot of options for how you wanted to go. We all started together at Phedi, and the original plan was to all finish together at Naya Pul. After Base camp however, we all ended up splitting off- with Hes and Malaika being ridiculously hardcore and taking a longer route out to Tadopani-(part of the poon hill trek) ironically coming out at the same hotsprings where Anton, Will and I put in above Beni for our Kali Gandaki mission. They had an amazing time, and said the views were spectacular.

Anna, Soph, Laura and Emi ended at Nayapul as well but they ended up taking a slightly different route than Whit, Hayley, Malin and I . Here are the girls having lunch in Chomrong- one of the bigger cities we passed, nestled in a valley with a spectacular view of the mountain range. It was one of our favorite places we stayed.

photo from Anna White

After a bus ride on the roof of a bus- typical Nepali style- we all met back up in Pokhara in time for dinner.

Those 7 days were some of my favorite in Nepal, and they gave me a feel for the country different from my experience on the countrys rivers.

roof riding. Photo by Malin Strand.

for a map of where we were trekking- click here!
http://nikonnut.tripod.com/lightbox/trek-route/trek-map.jpg