Amazing Annapurna Circuit (Part 1)

After we arrived in Kathmandu we had one and a half days to prep for the Annapurna Circuit . Our guide, Karsing, met us at the airport, we dropped off our luggage at our hotel in Thamal and we soon had a meeting with Paul, the owner of Discovery World Trekking, to review the final details and packing lists.

Getting Ready

We brought most of our equipment with us, but there were a few more items to purchase. There are many outdoor gear stores in Thamal, so we had plenty of choices. Then our trekking gear had to fit in our day packs or the duffle for the porter. Somehow we made it all fit! The rest we left in our luggage for our return.

Travelling to the Trailhead

The next day we had an adventure getting to the trailhead at Jagat. The roads in Nepal are shockingly bad and it took us 11 hours to go 120 miles. We saw some broken down trucks blocking traffic the other direction and our guide told us they wait until a mechanic can come and fix them. There are no tow trucks to get them out of the way. It was a complete mess.

The last section was a 4WD road that was even in worse condition.

Hiking Day 1: Jagat (4265ft) to Dharapani(6200ft), 10 miles

After all our planning and travel we finally got to go hiking! The first couple days of the trek are at a lower elevation and go through a tropical forest. On the first day it was lightly raining ensuring the water falls were running strong.

Below is a picture of our team in front of our hotel in Jagat: Nabin (porter), Diane, Dave, and Karsing (guide). We were fresh and ready to go!

As we know, all great hikes start off with a swing bridge! And the sights and sounds even at this low altitude were amazing.

After lunch the rain picked up a bit and we used umbrellas since it was warm. We had never hiked with umbrellas before, but we were glad we threw them in at the last minute.

It was a great first day and we were happy to be underway. We also met some other trekkers with Discovery World Trekking from Germany and Switzerland at the tea house that night. It was fun to get to know them as the days progressed.

Hiking Day 2: Dharapani(6200ft) to Chame(8890ft), 9.5 miles

The next day we woke to a heavy rain. We put the umbrellas away and got on our full rain gear. The rivers and waterfalls were running very strong. It was tough going for a couple of fair weather hikers from California.

There are prayer wheels in each town, and we spun them for a great hike and better weather. In the picture above you can see a jeep traversing a landslide area. There are many landslides in these canyons as they are steep and unstable.

The welcome arches into each village were great to get a break from the rain and also a chance to spin a few more prayer wheels.

At lunch we got to get out of the rain and ate in the kitchen of a tea house to keep warm.

After lunch we ran into our biggest challenge of the hike. Water was pouring down the trail in many spots and we had to hike through a rain induced waterfall. We got thoroughly drenched. At this point we were questioning our sanity.

Diane braves the trail with our guide right behind her in this video. Somehow his umbrella held up.

Fortunately at the tea house that evening we were able to put our boots and clothes next to the communal stove and everything was dry by the next morning. And it turned out that was the last storm that affected us on the hike. It was sunny and clear from there on!

A new challenge cropped up over the next couple days, but more about that in part 2.