We have just finished our trek on the Annapurna trail. Although it was hard, it was one of the best experiences I have had on this trip. Here is what happened on the great hike:
Day 1:
On the first day of our trek, we were dropped off by car, which was one of the bumpiest and most sickening rides of my life. We got off right next to the start of the trail. There, we got to meet our amazing guide Padam. Padam is incredibly informative and helpful. He is the kind of person who is funny, yet still is a good teacher. We also met our two sherpas. Those guys are so strong. They carried two duffel bags and one backpack each, and then walked 5 hours, going faster than us.
Then, we preceded to walk to the Sanctuary Lodge where we had lunch, and relaxed after our first day of trekking. The walk to the lodge was a total of two and a half hours. The day ended with me pulling out a tooth that my orthodontist said I needed to pull because, if I didn’t do it, I would cause some serious damage to my mouth. Including the news that if I didn’t pull the tooth, another tooth would grow in, on the other side of my retainer. Not a good situation.
Day 2:
We woke up at six o’clock to begin our second day on the trail. This day was our hardest day, as we climbed 2,000 meters, and we spent 5 hours on the trail. We went through really cool villages built on the hillside. Pretty much every person in those villages had at least 1 water buffalo, 2 cows, a few goats, and 5 chickens. It is kind of crazy to think that you would own all of those animals! Most kids in America just have one easy, fun, pet. These people have 15. This was also our first day of trouble with leeches, and our most exhausting day of them all. We were pretty much walking up stone stairs for 5 hours. I think this day proved that we could pretty much do any hike that we needed to do. Even if your legs feel like jello. My favorite part of this day was the feeling of accomplishment upon completing the hardest day of the trek.
Day 3:
Day three was a day when I woke up at 4:00 to see the sunrise, and Fishtail Mountain, at a towering height of 6,993 meters, which is about 22,942.91 feet. After that, we walked down a really big hill, into a valley, and then right back up another hill to our next lodge. After that whole, tiring day of hiking, I pretty much couldn’t stand up. Did you know the Nepalese only call a mountain a mountain if it has a snow cap, even though some of their “hills” are 9,000 feet above sea level? The real highlight of this day was seeing the incredible snowcap of Fishtail Mountain rising above the clouds.
Day 4:
This day hurt. A lot. To lead it off, no more then twenty minutes in, dad slipped on a slippery stone and fell face first into a patch of stinging nettles. A plant that has white stingers all over the leaves. At the time of the incident, I was running along the trail with Elliot. Then, I heard a yell and turned around to see the flora thrash as dad went down. There was also a worse part. Why was this extra bad? Because stinging nettles burn like fire for a period of twenty-four hours. It was also kind of lucky. Why? Because the stinging nettles saved him from plunging off a cliff. It was also lucky that we had strong sherpas and a great guide, to save dad from falling, pull him out of the stinging nettles, and get him away from the cliff. Right after dad fell, our guide and sherpas rubbed milkweed all over dad’s body. Sadly, it turns out that I am allergic to milkweed. And everybody except Elliot and me, had it on them. Right after everybody washed their hands, and once dad washed his body, I got an asthma attack. On top of all of this trouble, we had a full four hours on the trail. Think about it this way: You have to go down 800 steps, all slippery due to rainfall the previous night, knowing that one misstep could send you plunging to certain death off of a sheer cliff face. But whatever.
Day 5:
On the last day of our trek, and by far the easiest day, we walked to a pickup point that was only one and a half hours away.
I really enjoyed our trek because it was grueling, yet exciting, and, after each day, we had something to be proud of. I also really liked it because we had been spending our time in busy India and Nepal, and it was really nice to have some nature there as well. I think the Annapurna trail will be one of the highlights of the whole trip.
Fanatical Sabbatical 