The Trek - Annapurna Base Camp (ABC)

Okay... it looks like this entry will be a long one with losts of pictures.  It was a pretty beautiful trek that certainly inspired us to pull out the camera often. It was however, a shorter trek than last year by half, and we only went up to 4300m, instead of 5400... so a little bit easier as well in terms of altitude.  But not easier in terms of ASCENDING and DESCENDING!  Bloody hell, every day we seemed to be climbing just to go back down nearly the same amount.

But to start things off we'll show a picture of the 'packing process' and a bit of the mess we created in our room sorting out the gear we were going to bring.  This was taken the afternoon before we were going to head out.

And the next morning... Jillene at the trail head.  Imagine that, we've got to start with some stone steps climbing up about 600m!

About 45minutes - 1 hour later we're looking down at the valley and road leading back to Pokhara where we had started our trek.  Only about 6 1/2 hours to go on our first day of trekking.

 Even further up, at the crest of another valley we were rewarded already with a great view of the Annapurna mountain range.  Just above my head is Machapuchre Mountian and we were going to be trekking the other side of it, through Machapuchre Base Camp (MBC) and then further past (west) to ABC.  We then had to return back, to a spot further south east than where we started, and all in hopefully 10 days (we ended up doing it in 8)  Just go give you an idea of how far we had to go.  This is me checking the map essentially saying to myself, 'you've got to be kidding me...'

A nice little shot in a treed section of the trail.  Certainly a beautiful trek regardless of the wether or not we had a view of the mountians.

More stone stairs!  Something that would prove to be the bane of our existence... :)

This was a lovely little bridge that you couldn't help but feel safe one.  A great repair job done in Nepali style.  The originial boards to walk on were all rotted and falling away, so they just reinforced it by laying some bambo over top!

Some incredible views, we wokeup to this one after our first night in a tea house.  I'ts Annapurna South, and again the base camp were were heading to was just on the other side.

More bridges...  These 2 (above and below) in a little better shape.

Lunch on day 2, and we were quite impressed how far we'd made it in just a day and a half.  The mountain on the top middle just showing from behind the clouds is Machapuchre  So we've already managed to hike up and over the valley's far enough north to see it from the side.  Now we're just headed up the valley I'm looking at to get on the other side.  Again I'm consulting the map to see how hard of a slog it will be.  Funnily enough, the second day was easily one of the hardest days of trekking we had...

End of day 2, and we're already high enough that in the evenign it's getting cold, as you can see, it was time to break out the yak wool and drink milk tea to stay warm!

Heading up the valley on day 3, getting closer to Machapuchre (upper right) each day.

More trail shots in the trees...

More inspiring bridges to cross...

And we know we're getting high now, as this was our first avalanche area to cross.  I'll let Jillene go first just to make sure it's safe...  :)

Heading up, trying to keep up with the ever so amazing porters that blaze the trails with unbelievably heavy loads.

Start of day 4... our goal is ABC today.

Approaching MBC (the base of Machapuchre) looking back down the valley of which we just climbed.  We're clearly higher up now and in the snow as you can see...

MBC just above past Jillene (see the blue roofs).

Jillene looking back where we came from MBC over the past couple days.  Certainly sharing a sense of accomplishment, but we're not there yet!

 Nice view from MBC, especially as the sun gets higher in the sky to illuminate the mountains...

MBC now behind us (as well as Machapuchre which is on the right ~ top not shown).  We've continued up, we're heading to ABC our ultimate destination and where we'll spend the night.

ABC, just a few hours up/ahead. This was probably my favorite section of the whole trek.  Surrounded by beautiful mountians, and Annapurna South just ahead.

Nearly there...  you can see the rooftops lingering in the distance.

Made it!

A great view of Machapuchre from the other side than what we'd been used to.  And below (ABC)  where we spent the night.  This was where we wanted to get ~ time for a few pictures!

Had to do the 'jumping picture', a tradition started last year with Gunnar and Jo.

And heading back down the next morning... We had a big dump of snow that night, so it was an especially pretty walk down.

So we had 1 1/2 day return trip down the same trail that we came from, back through the 3-4 avalanche zones and finally in the trees where this time we were rewarded with the site of some huge monkeys.  But now we're on the second half of the trek, heading down the long way via the Dueralli pass that was to give us further great views of the Annapurna Mountain Range and a beautiful walk through a Rhododendron forest.  Above was a little bit of a road block along the trail!  :)

 Enroute to Tadopani entering the Rhododendron forest in full bloom.  Only happens 2 weeks out of the year and we lucked out hitting it at the perfect time.  No planning done on our part, just pure luck...

 Sunrise at Tadopani, and the ever present Machapuchre at the top left.

 

 More Rhododendrons, and more stairs!

A veiw from the Deurelli Pass...

Some prayer flags at the top of the Deurelli Pass.

 

Leaving the Rhododendron forest.

 Nothnig like porter donkey carrying a load of chickens... and easy day's work compared to some other loads we've seen the donkeys pack up and down.

Fixing a bent pole that I HAD to slip and destroy on the last day!  :)

We're heading down... and the donkeys are heading up.  Last day of trekking!

 Our chariot that was to return us to Pokhara at the end of the trek... we finished!

First well deserved beer at the end of the trek, enjoyed on our arrival back into Pokhara.  It was a fantastic trek, and our timing with regards to weather, staying in front of (or behind) other trekers, and the blooming Rhododendrons couldn't have been better.  A great way to spend 8 days in Nepal, as we enjoyed every minute of it.  But now it was time to do some Kayaking!  

As usual, blogger won't let us show all new postings. So for pics of Kathmandu...