Photos of our Fabulous Adventure
Today, four of us, Val, Roger, Tammy & I decide to accept Bikesh’s offer of a early morning hike up Sarangot hill. He arrived at 6:00am and off we went leaving the road shortly past our hotel. We stopped in a small shop for bananas & digestive biscuits for a morning snack.
It is beautiful at this time of the morning, many of the Nepalese are up and about and on their way to work. Even still it is relatively quiet and with the low hanging fog/cloud that is prevailing there is a calm mysterious feeling to the air. Perfect temperature for a hike.
The hike starts gradually through small villages, dogs occasionally following us and then turning back home. Before long the trail starts to climb as a narrow path through thick brush and plants. The path ranges from dirt track to stone steps as we pass many small villages along the way. About half way we stumble upon a hornet’s nest and one actually stung Bikesh. He jumped into action and we all moved back, and then up and around as he kept them back with branch switches. Whew, we are in the clear.
On we trudge and the trail steepens and brings us out on to the ridge next to several houses and small villages. We stop at a shop for tea and coffee and a wee break. Bikesh tells us we are barely half way, but we know he is kidding us as we are not too far from the viewpoint. Although we are more than half way, the last bit feels like a grind, actually similar to the Grouse Grind in Vancouver.
Finally after close to a 500m elevation gain we arrive at the viewpoint. Clouds are obscuring the Annapurna mountains but we are patient. One peeks out of the clouds and then disappears as another one shows itself. It is almost as if they are playing hide and seek with us. We stayed for over an hour just watching the clouds and marvelling at the majestic beauty of these beautiful mountains – I think we could have stayed all day.
Eventually it was time to meet up with the rest of the group so we had to leave our spot. Prem had driven the others to a viewpoint further down the hill so we had a bit of downhill to do. The rock stairs were a little tricky but doable. We walked along the pavement stopping and watching dozens of paragliders overhead – this is a perfect jumping off point for them. Within seconds of looking up I heard an ow, ow, ow behind me and it was Tammy. She had twisted her ankle on the uneven edge of the road. We quickly put a tensor around her ankle and called Prem up to get her in the van and we all headed back to the hotel. Thankfully it was just a sprain and she is able to gingerly walk on it, but scary just the same.
Back at the hotel, most of the group head into town to explore and have lunch. Tammy & I stayed and iced her foot and called up room service. Following lunch I relaxed in my room which was lovely.
At 7:00pm we went in to town to the Boomerang Restaurant that the ladies had chosen for our dinner tonight. The food was fantastic and we had a great evening with lots of chatter and laughter. Such a fun group!
Home at 9:30pm, packed up as we head to Tansen tomorrow and fell sound asleep.