Annapurna Circuit II
Poon Hill to Tatopani
We had planned to take a rest day in Ghorepani before the 7 hour trek to Tatopani because we wanted to climb to the top of Poon Hill for sunrise. Because we had to leave before 5AM to make it to the top in time for sunrise, we all went to bed early (8:00PM). Unfortunately, a group of locals decided to have a party next door and stayed up late drinking, singing and laughing. Just as they settled down around 11PM, a dog started barking and continued nonstop for over an hour. He finally stopped at around 12:30AM, just in time for one of the drunken revelers to pay a late night visit to his girlfriend who worked at our guesthouse and was sleeping just down the hall. I had just drifted off to sleep when I heard the load crash of a door slamming open and the sound of someone careening down the hall to the bathroom. Thanks to the cardboard thin walls of our rooms, we got to hear every detail of the violent expulsion of his stomach contents. At first, I thought it might be Claude, who was sleeping in the room next to mine and Alexa’s and was still recovering from his illness, and got up to check. As I stuck my head out into the dark hallway, all I could see was the light of a headlamp zigzagging towards me as its owner lurched from one wall to the other. I quickly jumped back into my room and locked the door just as Claude emerged from his room to check on the situation. Somehow, the guy managed to find his way back to his room and everything went quiet for a few minutes before there were two more loud crashes as he apparently fell out of bed, twice. After Claude bellowed, “Quiet!!” everything went silent. When 4:30AM arrived, we all felt like we had just fallen to sleep but dragged ourselves out of bed anyway for the hour long climb to the top of Poon Hill. To my horror, I discovered that our nauseated friend had chosen the ladies squat toilet to “relieve” himself – and with terrible aim. Squat toilets are bad enough, but puke covered ones are completely unacceptable.
In the end, it was definitely worth getting up early and climbing in the dark – the views were spectacular as we could see the entire Annapurna Range, including Dhaulagiri, and got to witness an incredible sunrise.
Anywhere else in the world, a 3210m (10531ft) peak would be considered a very tall mountain, but in Nepal, they call it a “hill.” It was very cold up there at that hour of the morning and we had to wear our down jackets, hats and gloves for the first time on our trek. The temperature would drop dramatically when clouds scudded across the peak, temporarily obscuring the view and wreathing us in a white mist.
Simon couldn’t believe that we had actually climbed above the clouds and kept exclaiming about it at random intervals. To this day, he continues to tell people how we climbed above the clouds to see the sunrise at Poon Hill.
After our adventures of the previous night, we had no desire to spend another night in Ghorepani and, despite having already hiked two hours, decided to push on to Tatopani, a seven hour hike away. Luckily, it was mostly downhill through beautiful rhododendron forests.
Along the way, we passed through more lovely villages
and orange groves and Hari, our guide bought sweet, juicy mandarin oranges direct from the pickers who were harvesting them. Even, Simon, who normally won’t eat oranges, couldn’t get enough of them. By the time we made it to Tatopani, my knees were aching from going downhill all day and my legs were shaking with every step. We were so glad to see the village that we didn’t even mind the rickety bamboo bridge we had to cross over a raging river to get there.
The lodge we stayed in, Trekkers Lodge, was the nicest yet and we even had ensuite bathrooms with hot water and Western toilets. We spent over an hour soaking our weary bodies in the natural hot springs before enjoying a hearty supper and falling into bed.
Simon was so tired that, halfway through our meal, he climbed into my lap and asked me to put him to bed. It was the end of our biggest trek ever and we had survived. What else did the Himilayas have in store for us?
Tags: Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Poon Hill, Tatopani, Travel
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