Hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal

We did a ten-day trek of the Annapurna Circuit. This was a physical and mental challenge and we collectively lost about 15 pounds and learned new coping mechanisms for extreme cold (is figuring out how best to sleep with all your electronic devices, batteries, and liquids in the bag with you a coping mechanism?), high altitude ("divert your mind"), and tests of endurance ("take it slow, and you will make it; take it fast, and you may not"). This post will share a few key parts of our journey.

Rabies

Matt did the Annapurna Circuit 5 years ago. He had lost his job, our wedding was looming; it was the right thing at the right time. He was willing to do it all again with me this time around, and I am so grateful.

After nine months of travel, trodding pre-charted territory appealed to us both. Matt knew where best to stay in Kathmandu to get organized ahead of the trek, what supplies to acquire, how to arrange permits and transport, how much cash to carry, whom to ask for help, which villages to aim to reach each day of the hike, and a bunch of other details I blissfully ignored. He had it all sorted.

So...of course I messed the whole thing up. The backstory is that while frolicking with Paul and Mary on the Mediterranean coast in Turkey I'd gotten scratched by a stray cat. It had one eye and a limp, and the scratch drew the tiniest amount of blood. At the time I'd brushed the incident aside. 

However, the more I read about the risk of rabies, especially upon arrival in Nepal, which has a significant stray animal problem of its own, the more I worried about winning the world's dumbest Darwin award. Because in the survival of the fittest matchup between rabies and any other living thing, rabies wins. Unless of course you match rabies against itself before it's too late. This is called a vaccine, although nobody who lived through COVID needs that explained (I wish).

Thus, an inoculation series of four shots over 14 days, initiated by a doctor I consulted in a health clinic in Kathmandu, is the wrench I threw into Matt's carefully planned comeback sojourn on the Annapurna circuit.

We had to start the trek one day later than planned so I could get dose #2 on the way out of town. Then we had to figure out a spot along the trail where I could get #3 at the appointed time, and finally we had to wrap it all up with #4 in the city at trail's end. Writing it here after the fact it actually doesn't sound all that complicated. It almost sounds like the Circuit is the perfect pastime while working your way through these shots. But at the time it created a whole bunch of unknowns: would I have adverse reactions to the cumulative Rabinex that would impede my high altitude hiking ability? Would the trailside medical center that purported to have a dose on ice be open? Would it be staffed during the window we'd be in that town? Would the doctor be willing to deliver the shot? How much would they charge??

Remember, Matt had done this hike before. He knew a few things about the overall conditions, like: you bed down with all your electronics and your liquids in your sleeping bag to keep them from freezing in your unheated room at night. And: the water in the communal squat toilets is often frozen in the morning; the water in your bottles must be purified before consumption. And: electricity, if available at all, is conserved for only the common room at a guesthouse, where stoves are powered by yak dung. And: jeeps and motorbikes are the only vehicles that can get you in and out in a pinch, after you hike or are carried or are slung over the back of a horse out to the nearest "road"…your only other option for emergency evacuation is a helicopter.

In retrospect, his concerns about the feasibility of my whole rabies-treatment-while-trekking-Annapurna scheme were valid. Still, I was obliviously optimistic that it would all work out. Fortunately, it did.

A few scenes from the Circuit: helicopter landing pad, the chill before the sun strikes you, typical guesthouse bedroom, pony supply train (we saw these guys carry propane tanks!)

Tihar

Our stay in Kathmandu and the first few days of the trek coincided with the Nepali Festival of Lights (Diwali), called Tihar. This festival lasts five days, each honoring a special creature or relationship: the crow, the dog, the cow, the ox, the family.

For us it meant that we got to make our slow way out of Kathmandu towards the Annapurna foothills along a veritable marigold thoroughfare – yellow-orange garlands spilling from truck beds, heaped along the roadside, and looped across all available surfaces, from motorbike handles to tree branches – all for sale to adorn windows, door frames, vehicles, and the animals of Tihar.

It also meant that our first three days of the hike were slightly more expensive than planned due to what we started calling the "Tihar tax" – joyful, dancing and decorated parties in the street collecting donations in exchange for unblocking your way – the most delightful extortion I'll ever experience.

Tilicho Lake side trip

One new thing Matt got to do this time on the Circuit was make the extra loop hike to Tilicho Lake, one of the world's highest altitude lakes.

We hadn't been sure, what with the rabies delay, that we'd be able to fit this extra leg in. There are two people in particular we should thank for helping us pull it off. One is Hupa of the "divert your mind" counsel, another hiking pair's guide who overheard us deliberating about our itinerary way back on day 2 of our trek and volunteered tons of advice. He kept in touch via WhatsApp as we progressed; his approval of our plans gave us confidence that we could keep Tilicho on our shortened itinerary. The other is Suraj, a Nepali hiker who'd completed Tilicho the day before we attempted it. As we warmed ourselves by the guesthouse fire, he wrote out a list of the various landmarks we'd encounter with estimated times for each segment. Like a trail of breadcrumbs, Suraj's notes became the benchmarks that kept us going.

The best part about the Tilicho Lake side trip was getting to hear Nepali hikers yell "I love Nepaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!" while flinging their arms wide open and unfurling the nation's flag when they reached the lake. It was clearly a spiritual experience for many, and it was humbling to witness their exultation.

The other best part was finishing the Tilicho Lake side trip. In the end, we did in one day what most hikers do in two: walk all the way from the village of Shree Kharka past Tilicho Base Camp up to Tilicho Lake, and back down to Shree Kharka again. This was because there is something Matt (and I, by extension) fears more than altitude sickness or cold or exhaustion or running out of daylight: sleeping in a room with a bunch of other people. The base camp at Tilicho Lake is notoriously overcrowded since it's a rather small town for a very, very popular hike. Sure enough, when we passed it on the way up, we saw all the evidence of a night spent cramming extra people into the dining rooms in a giant impromptu sleepover, and we felt vindicated. 

Our feeling of vindication lasted all the way up to the lake and back down again past the base camp. It lasted for an hour or two more, even. By the time, a final hour later, that we made it all the way back to our Shree Kharka guesthouse, all we really felt was our knees.

Still, we staggered back in just as the sun was setting, conquering champions. No one was there to appreciate our feat but the host, Mikey, since everyone else had moved on in their trek to the next stop. But she was proud of us, and we slept in our own showerless, freezing cold room, and that made it all worth it.

Yak Kharka

Feeling like absolute bosses we rewarded ourselves with a mere four hours walk to Yak Kharka village the day after Tilicho.

There our hats were promptly handed to us. At that night's guest house we met a Chinese trekker and a 63-year-old Korean trekker who had done Tilicho Base Camp to the lake and all the way past Shree Kharka to Yak Kharka in one day. The Korean was sharing a bottle of the local spirit, arak, with his guide, the two of them total pros who could drink spirits at high altitude like it was nothing. The Chinese was getting up at 4am the next day to finish the hike in one go (we still had two days and two nights left)! Whatever, we thought, we'll do it our way. And that's because there is something Matt (and I, by extension) fears perhaps more than cold, altitude, exhaustion, running out of daylight, or even sharing a room with a bunch of other people: getting up earlier than 6am and especially getting up early after drinks the night before. 

The Pass

The day you finally make it across the Thorang La Pass, the highest point in the Circuit at 5416 meters (17,769 feet), is significant for a few reasons. One: you do indeed need to get up before 6am to reach the pass before the wind picks up. Most hikers did 3 or 4am; we opted for 5. It really doesn't matter because you probably haven't slept much the night before. Even if you are warm enough at High Camp to relax, which you won't be, the pressure you'll feel rushing in your temples from the high altitude will keep you up worrying about cerebral edema or just thinking all sorts of weird thoughts that crop up when your brain is getting less oxygen than it's used to. 

Two: if you thought it was cold in the night, just wait til you cross the pass and stop to document it with a photo. One woman we'd met was so cold at this point that she didn't dare take her gloves off to operate her phone for the picture.

Three: if you thought the hike uphill to the pass was a challenge, prepare yourself for a deceptively difficult downhill. It goes on for hours. It's steep enough that it was the first place I actually saw someone lose their footing and skid down the path into the hiker below (they were fine). It's also where you might finally have to pull out your microspikes for traction over ice coating sharp ridges.

Four: the most significant thing of all -- you're done! You did it! You enter the town of Muktinath alongside the Hindu and Buddhist temple complex that makes it one of the more famous pilgrimage destinations of Nepal. It's a bizarre yet gratifying experience to see hordes of groomed devotees being carried up on palanquins the same staircase you are descending in your unwashed, dust-encrusted trekking attire, travelers on different journeys coinciding in time and place.

Pokhara

I knew that one of the many fun things about this trek would be meeting other hikers along the way. That's how Matt forged a friendship with Torsten and Regine from Leipzig back in 2018, and I eagerly anticipated racking up my own share of Germans. Huddled close around the guesthouse's stove each night, you'll swap stories of the trail, of each person's homeland and reasons for trekking, of where you started that morning and how far you're aiming to go the next day…and you will resolutely avoid talking about whether or not you're using Diamox against the altitude (it's personal).

Then all will go their separate ways. Some you'll never see again on the trek. Others you'll be delighted to find at your next guesthouse. Still others will become legends of the trail, rumors of their progress and pace trickling across the network of trekkers. But everyone, and I do mean everyone, you will see again, ultimately, in Pokhara. 

The lovely lakeside oasis, Pokhara

That's right – from the Annapurna Circuit all roads lead to Pokhara. "I saw the Danes today" or "spotted the Israeli; seems like he made friends with the Czech" became our entertainment across three days in Pokhara. Our first night in town we got pizza on a balcony overlooking the main street and had a small competition over which of us could recognize the most people from the trek. By the final night it was no longer a game. It had become a serious exercise in tying off loose ends. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we finally ran into Sam the Australian policeman about five minutes before he caught a bus out of town.

Then there were the people we met and actually made friends with. We didn't have to stalk them from the balconies of Pokhara. We exchanged numbers and made plans to meet up the regular way.

Franz and Barbara from Switzerland – two Germans, two mountain bikes, one hell of a story. Franz and Barbara had biked their way through what sounded like almost all of Asia over the months leading up to Annapurna, so I suppose completing the Circuit on a bicycle wasn't all that big of a deal to them, but it sure was impressive to us. They couldn't have been more humble, more friendly, or more fun to swap adventure stories with. We kept saying fond farewells and then running into them again. Finally we made it official by meeting up for pizza in Pokhara.

Dan and Sarai from California – one father, one college-age daughter, two other Americans with whom to celebrate Thanksgiving, which we did post-hike on Friday the 24th with, you guessed it, pizza. These two impressed Matt and me as modeling an ideal parent-child relationship for our times. They were funny, they were loving, they were fun-loving. Their vibe was one to emulate, and we were lucky to land in their company one of our nights in Shree Kharka.

Nicole and Eileen from Canada – two nurses, two treks completed, one stray dog delivered to the animal hospital. Nicole and Eileen wound up in the same jeep we took from Muktinath to Pokhara after the hike. Eight hours of conversation later we all wanted more, or at least we hadn't sent them running in the opposite direction, and we met up for pizza (what else?) a couple nights later. Then we found out we were staying in the same hotel back in Kathmandu, and we spent another eight hours in a jeep together, by choice this time. We shared the same strange experience of leaving a Kathmandu decorated for Tihar and coming back to find its tourist areas converted to Christmas.

From start to finish...

Day 1: Jagat to Dharapani (27,000 steps, 10.2 miles, elevation gain = 290 meters)

Day 2: Dharapani to Chame (28,000 steps, 10.5 miles, elevation gain = 810 meters)

Day 3: Chame to Upper Pisang (23,000 steps, 8.8 miles, elevation gain = 540 meters)

Day 4: Upper Pisang to Manang (30,736 steps, 11.64 miles, elevation gain = 290 meters)

Day 5: Manang to Shree Kharka (14,677 steps, 5.56 miles, elevation gain = 540 meters)

Day 6: Shree Kharka to Tilicho Lake to Shree Kharka (39,093 steps, 14.81 miles, elevation change = 839 meters up, 839 meters down)

Day 7: Shree Kharka to Yak Kharka (16,790 steps, 6.36 miles, elevation loss = 30 meters)

Day 8: Yak Kharka to High Camp (15,684 steps, 5.94 miles, elevation gain = 800 meters)

Day 9: High Camp to Muktinath (31,392 steps, 11.89 miles, elevation change = 566 meters up, 1616 meters down)

Day 10: Muktinath to Kagbeni back to Muktinath (36,478 steps, 13.82 miles, elevation change = 996 meters down, 996 meters back up)

The hike in Nepal instantly became my favorite leg of our entire trip. I owe a huge thank you to Matt for being my guide and partner and for being willing to do this adventure over again with me. Although, looking back at these photos, I don't think it was too much of a burden.