The Story
It began as an idea to do an easy hiking recce over of the course of three to four days for some upcoming treks that Monsieur Puri has planned, but it soon turned into “Let’s get to Base Camp in a day because that would be fun!” kind of challenge.
This is usually how my outings seem to pan out.
The adventure began from Phedi, a small town just a quick taxi drive away from Pokhara (the Byron Bay of Nepal). We ascended with the sun, up the rocky steps, through the dense jungle, and passed a few villages over the next few hours before the first checkpoint. Then it was up and away to Forest Camp, where we experienced some wild jungle single track that was seriously sweet.
Jungle Ridgelines
We ascended higher, along the jungle-clad ridge over the winding roots, occasionally snatching glimpses through the trees of some of the snowcapped giants – Annapurna IV to our left and the mighty Machapuchare to our right, which would disappear for a while behind dense foliage, magically growing in size with each reappearance as we climbed closer.
Middle and High Camp
The scenery began to change from the dark greens of the jungle to the drier, Rhododendron Forests and big berg views as we popped out on top of the ridge at Middle Camp. The stunning Annapurna was directly in our foresight, and a spicy ridgeline that just beckoned to be run! The air was thin up there, especially since starting at 800m+ and moving fast all day. We travelled along the spine of the ridge, passing some Nepalese children blasting Nepali pop music as we moved up.