Manaslu Circuit Trek

 10/31 Happy Halloween!  Day 1

We met our guide Santosh at our hotel very early in the morning. We took a taxi to the local bus station where we boarded one of the classic (colorful and old) Nepali buses. It was a scenic and windy and slow drive. To go something like 150 miles take 6-8 hours, including stops for breakfast and lunch. Going over the pass out of Kathmandu, we saw our first vistas of the snowy peaks. When the "good" road ended and we reached a rougher road, we transferred to another more burly bus. That bus had to change a flat tire, so we had to wait for that. It was a very rough and bumpy road to Soti Khola. Along the way we had to ford some streams as well. At Soti Khola we changed to a 4WD where we squashed 10 passengers and a driver in. The drive from there to Machha Khola was really cool and rough. There were steep drop offs to the glacial river below. And there were so many waterfalls everywhere as well as suspension bridges (foot bridges, not for the vehicle). We arrived to Machha Khola (860m/2850ft in elevation) which overlooks the river. We took a short walk to check out waterfalls and to cross a suspension bridge. 

11/1  Day 2

Early start to the day. During the entire day, we hiked by lots of waterfalls. Early in the day, we visited a little, but nice hot springs where we took a soak. We met Jenny from Alaska who is a seismologist spending about 2 months trekking in Nepal. She now works in Alaska, but she had worked on a project in Nepal at one point. It was really nice walking as we trekked along the raging glacial river, in a gorge, and through villages, seemingly lost in time. We caught a glimpse of a monkey. In the afternoon we arrived to our destination of Jagat (1340m/ 4395ft), which I think means checkpoint in the local language.

After checking in to our tea house, we did a side hike up steep stairs to a cute rock village with waterfalls above and below it. It felt like a village straight out of a disney movie. We met some friendly locals who couldn't speak any English, but we had a good time trying to communicate. To reach the village, we had to go over a suspension bridge that crossed over a super deep gorge with waterfalls below it. It was so high that Elisha was scared, but the kids (and old folks) of the village cross it with no problem, even playing tag across it. We had a dinner of mushroom pizza, potato momos, and apple pie.

11/2 Day 3

Hiked to Deng (1860m/ 6101 ft). There were lots and lots of waterfalls along the way as well as a super high suspension bridge. We're starting to get some snowy mountain views (Sringi Himal). Throughout the day we passed through lots of cool villages. From our teachouse in Deng, we have really nice views of the snowy mountains. We continued to follow the roaring river all day and of course lots of suspension bridge crossings. We had traditional foods for dinner.

11/3 Day 4

Today we hiked to Namrung (2630m/ 8626 ft).  We had nice views of mountains along the way. We continued along the raging river, which is getting smaller as we climb. Again. lots of cool villages to walk through. Most of the villages have buildings made of stone, often with thatched or even rock roofs. Through the village there is usually a very nice and smooth stone path. There are lots of domestic animals such as chickens, ducks, and goats. The villages looks like they could be from the middle ages. Along the way we went through a thick and mossy forest, which was very reminiscent of a New Zealand forest. Near the end of our hiking day we came upon an apple farm where we bought apple danish and fresh squeezed apple juice. Namrung is surprisingly fancy with "German" bakeries, nice accomodation, and real coffee machines.

11/4 Day 5

Hike to Lho (3180m /10,430 ft). It was a shorter day, but a good bit of uphill. There were some nice views of Manaslu and Nieke along the way. Manaslu is the mountain that we are circumnavigating. Manaslu is one of the 8000m peaks at 8163m (26,781ft). It is the 8th highest mountain in the world, and it's name means "mountain of the spirit". When we reached Lho is was clouding up. We dropped our bags off at our teahouse and then hiked up a small hill to a large monastery with nice views towards the mostly cloud-covered Manaslu. But also great views down to the village as well, where the locals were busy harvesting wheat by hand. Saw a cute little weasel. 

Back at the teahouse we did some laundry by hand and spent the afternoon reading from the rooftop deck (where our room also is) in the hot sun (cold when the suns goes behind the clouds). We eventually got a glimpse of the peak of Manaslu and after dinner, by the moonlight we could see the whole mountain as the clouds had dissipated. 

Something different from the last time that I trekked in Nepal is that cell service appears to be ubiquitous so far (it won't be later on, higher up). We've had service basically the whole way and LTE most of the way. Most teahouses have advertised wifi (for a cost usually), but not all have worked. We've been trying to deal with renting a place in CB, so we've needed wifi access). There has also been power at every place in order to charge devices. When I was here last time (2010), maybe a few places had solar power, but it was before phones took off, so there was no real reason to charge anything as one carried enough spare batteries for traditional cameras. And hot showers have been at every place (~$2-3), either solar or gas powered. There were a few hot showers here and there when I was here last, but they felt expensive, so I never indulged. 

We heard there was an earthquake in Western Nepal that claimed greater than 100 lives. Santosh claimed to have felt a small shake at about 2am, but we didn't feel anything.

11/5 Day 6

Trekked from Lho to Sama (3520m/11,546ft). It was a beautifully clear morning, and we woke up to the alpenglow on the HUGE east face of Manaslu. After a chocolate pancake and a swiss rosti with egg, we left Lho. We stopped at the monastery again on our way up as the view were crystal clear. After hiking through a forest, we arrived at Shyaula, which was absolutely breathtaking with 360 degree views of huge mountains all around! It was so stunning. As once German trekker said "Now this is the Himalaya". There were giant mountains wherever you looked. 

Since the weather was so good, we decided to hike up to Pungyan Gompa (a type of holy site). We left our bags at a teahouse and started the steep hike up with amazing mountain views everywhere. We had a fun and challenging crossing of an icey river (ice obscuring the stepping stones). Eventually we made it up to a high, flat area we were could look over the moraine and down to a glacier. And in front of us of course was stunning and towering Manaslu. We continued on to the Gompa, which was right there at the base of Manaslu. The peak of Manaslus rose 14,000 feet straight up, yep, that's right, 14,000!! feet straight up. For comparison, Longs Peak rises 7,000 feet above Estes Park (and yet it's at a far distance, this was craning your neck straight up) or Pikes Peak also rises 7000 feet above Colorado Springs. Incredible! We hiked up beyond the gompa to a big ridge/moraine where we could look right down at the glacier.

On the way back down, we walked past some small lakes, including a very green one. We had a quick lunch at beautiful Shyaula before continuing the trek to Sama. We went through some golden Tamarack forests before coming to the flat plain where the rather large town of Sama sits. It's a town made of stone buildings with a large monastery and some very long mani walls and prayer wheel walls.

11/6 Day 7  Acclimatization day in Sama

We had a big day today! We hiked the very steep trail up to Manaslu Base Camp (~15,900 feet). It was an incredibly beautiful hike. The whole way we had amazing views of Jade Green Biendra Tal (lake). And we were hiking alongside and then above the glacier and glacial ice fall. The last bit of the trail was snow-covered and the whole landscape snowy. 

From the basecamp, you're right up close to Manaslu and amongst her glaciers. We enjoyed watching (and listening to) the avalanches as the sun warmed up the slopes. At the top we hung out for awhile in the sunny but cold weather. We took photos amongst the prayer flags. 

On the way down we detoured to Biendra Lake. The lake has a glacier coming right down into it, but that didn't stop me from jumping in, much to the dismay of Santosh. Most of the people from the area believe you get sick from cold water, including drinking cold water. But Santosh was equally impressed b/c he took lots of photos of me (in my underwear!), haha. In the afternoon we read in bed and maybe felt a small earthquake.

11/7 Day 8

Trek to Samdo (3875m/12,710ft). We started out by first hiking up to Biendra Tal to see the amazing reflection of Manaslu in the lake. It was then a pretty easy hike to Samdo. Samdo is a cool, old stone style village. We explored the village a bit and then hiked up Samdo hill to about 13,400 feet for acclimatization purposes. Nice views from up there of the high mountains. Pretty cold at night.

11/8 Day 9

Trek to Dharamsala (aka Larke Phedi) at 4460m (14,628), but before doing this, we had a big day with a great side trip to the Tibet border. Hiked to Larke Bazaar (an old Tibet trading area) before dropping our big packs at a tea house and heading up the Fukang Valley. It was a beautiful and desolate valley that reminded me of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It was dry but with big glaciers on all the of the peaks coming down into the valley. We saw lots of snow leopard scat on the trail and some blue sheep before we turned sharply up to go to Lajyang Bhanjyang Pass (Rui-la) at an elevation of 4998m (16,393 ft). At the top of the pass was the border with Tibet (China). There was a fence, a marker indicating the border, and a chinese flag, but nothing else. Of course there were great views, especially back towards Nepal and the massive Fukang glacier. On the way back we got really close to a huge herd of blue sheep that also included quite a lot of lambs.

Back in Larke Bazaar we had lunch and decided whether Elisha was feeling good enough to head up to Dharamsala. Some food did her well. There were nice views heading up, including views of Manaslu and Manaslu's big glacier. Once we reached Dharapani, I hiked a bit up above the camp to the Larke glacier moraine. Dharamsala is just a camp for trekkers, not a proper village. It has tents and some basic stone dorms--a cold place. Elisha was dorming with 2 asian women, and I was dorming with 2 Korean gentlemen that we had met earlier in the trek. The fog rolled in at night, and it snowed a bit. Early to bed in my warm sleeping bag.

11/9 Day 10

We were up at 3:45am for a quick porridge breakfast before tackling Larke La (Larky Pass). We really cruised, passing most people who had started well before us. As it slowly became light enough to see a bit as we trekked, we were treated to inspiring views of high mountains, white snow, and stars. The upper part of the passchad quite a lot of snow from previous storms, but we woke up to clear skies and beautiful stars. At the top of the 1st pass (5106m/ 16,757ft) (it was a double pass), we took photos at the pass sign and amongst the prayer flags with our new friends (from Missoula, Montana) Eric and Sarah. 

We then continued on to the 2nd pass (5166m/16,944), which had absolutely amazing views full of glaciers, jade green lakes, and big mountains, including some of the Annapurnas. It was then a very steep descent (but with fantastic views at every step) down to "high camp" where we had a snack of soup surrounded by gorgeous mountains and glaciers. After more descending , we took a side trip to Ponkar Tal (lake) at 3965m (13,0005ft). It was a cool side trip because the lake was a beautiful green backed by big peaks, but also because as we walked high up on a moraine, we could see 3 large glaciers merging. 

We then finished the day by descending down to Bimthang (3590m/11,775ft), which has huge mountain views (including Manaslu) and a glacier running beside it. For sunset we hiked over a moraine to a little lake that had a nice reflection of the mountains. Then it was back to the teahouse for dinner

11/10 Day 11

Long day, mostly downhill to Dharepani (1963m/6438ft). We started the morning with a beautiful sunrise on the mountains around Bimthang. Before breakfast, I hiked down to the little moraine lake to see the sunrise reflection. We had really nice views of Manaslu as we started down, steep down, on this frosty morning. A lot of it was through a beautiful primeval type forest. We had lunch at a really nice teahouse in Gowa. The we made our way down towards Dharapani. Dharapani is on the Annapurna Circuit (so I had been there before). The road now comes up to Dharapani, which it didn't back when I trekked Annapurna in 2010. I think Dharapani might have been a 2 or 3 day trek in from the start back then of Besi Sahar. So more or less, it was the end of our trek, so we celebrated the end of the trek with some affordable beer and snacks.

During the circuit, there were many people doing it, but we seemed to stay and eat with the same people. We especially became friends with Sarah and Erik from Missoula. But also with Alex and ???, two very friendly, positive, and fit people from Spain, who also had great stories of Pakistan. And then a Swiss couple, of which we didn't know their names, but the guy was a crazy ultra runner. We called their guide Nuggs because he always wore a Denver Nuggets ball cap when he wasn't wearing a ski hat.

11/11 Day 12

We shared a jeep with Erik and Sara to Besi Sahar (where the Annapurna circuit used to start and Manaslu used to end before the road was put in. The road was pretty sweet and crazy. I think Elisha was scared. It was a rough narrow road, high up on the side of a very deep and steep gorge with the raging glacial blue river below. At places, the road was super narrow with a >2000 foot drop to the river below. We made a couple of stops to look at a couple beautiful waterfalls, including one that poured onto the road. And we also stopped to look at some beehives situated under overhangs on cliff faces that the locals reach by using rope ladders. They harvest the honey, and the honey has a psychedelic effect. We tried some the night before; it was delicious and very floral. 

After Besi Sahar we changed to a crowded minivan for the very windy and slow road back to Kathmandu. The road is in bad shape and there are so many slo trucks and buses that we were constantly in a state of passing. When we arrived to Kathmandu, 11 hours after we started, we took a taxi back to our guesthouse. We said a sad goodbye to Santosh who had been a GREAT guide. He was so enthusiastic and easy to make laugh. We enjoyed him very much, even though he was a junior guide (@ $25 USD per day)

We took showers and then head out to an Indian dinner to celebrate being back. It was the start of the Tihar festival, so there were parades in the streets and Christmas-style lights hung up. 

You maybe curious what the average day of trekking is like. Well, we'd wake up about 6am-ish and stuff our sleeping bags and pack up our bags. We'd 'make' water using this new filter we were trying called the Grayle (aka the Holy Grail), which filters out protists, viruses, and bacteria as well as other contaminants, including micro plastics. We'd then head to the dining area of the tea house to have breakfast where Santosh would be waiting for us to bring us our breakfast that we'd ordered the night before.. For breakfast we generally chose between porridge, muesli, tibetan bread, pancakes, eggs, or potato. We'd then settle the bill and head out. In the mountains, it's wise to start off early in the morning as weather and clouds can roll in during the afternoon. We'd then hike the trail, stopping here and there for a rest or to take photos or drink some water. When it was near to lunch time, we'd stop and have lunch. We tried to order something that would be quick to prepare, so usually noodles or soup or dal bhat. Then it was back on the trail until we arrived to our final destination where we would set up our sleeping bags and then get some tea and read, or go out for a side hike. It would get dark about 6, and that is when we'd have dinner. Options for dinner included chow mein, momos, sherpa stew, ting momo, spaghetti, Nepali take on pizza, fried rice, potatoes, noodle soup, veg curry, and of course the trekking staple Dhal Bhat. Each guest house would have a different take on some of these things. While trekking, you basically eat vegetarian. Dhal Bhat is a really good go to because it is UNLIMITED! Which is super nice when you're trekking. Dhal Bhat usually consists of a popadam, some pickled vegetables, some potato/veggie curry and then rice and dhal (lentils). It tastes good, but the best is that you really get full after a long day of trekking. You also generally order tea or hot water with your meal. The guesthouses very in style and quality, but generally it's a very small room with 2 small single beds with a generally thin mattress. There is no heat or anything, so inside is only a bit warmer than the outside temperature. Two other things that were different from when I did the Annapurna Circuit, Annapurna Sanctuary and Base Camp and Everest Base Camp treks back in 2010 is that all of the teahouses provided blankets to use as a supplement to your sleeping bag and that almost all the dining rooms had a wood burning stove to heat the dining area, though people were really terrible at keeping doors closed, so it wasn't always as warm and cozy as you might like. At night after dinner we'd read and journal in the warm dining room or back in our sleeping bags until we were tired. Temperature wise: the mornings would be very cold and crisp, but once the sun is out, it feels rather warm since the sun is so strong at the high altitude. And of course it would get chilly again at night.

Here is the website for the tour company that we used and really liked, in case you're interested:

https://www.greenvalleynepaltreks.com/