Day 2 of the Annapurna trek is in the books. Somehow, I found this one easier, even though we were higher and climbed to almost the same height.
We are now settled into our top floor accommodations in Ghorepani, admiring the 270-degree view out our corner windows and listening to the volleyball and basketball players down below. The 8167-meter peak Dhaulagiri made an early appearance this afternoon, and I’ve been capturing its portrait ever since.
The hike today was better than yesterday. Unlike yesterday’s straight-up rock steps, today’s trail had some slopes instead of steps. As soon as we climbed out of Illari, Marcelo found a white puppy chasing a bug and went to say hello. Soon after, we ducked back down into a jungle-filled gorge. It was cooler in the shade, so I feel I wasn’t sweating as much as yesterday down lower.
The altitude hit me a bit on the final climb into Poon Hill/Ghorepani. Of course, our hotel was across the ridge’s saddle. And our room was 5 floors up.
It goes without saying that our guide Dev and porter Raju have been stellar, attentive and tolerant of their low-land charges. Marcelo apologized to the porter this morning, realizing he was carrying bags we had originally packed for a 12-day EBC trek.
Dev says the plan for tomorrow is to get up at 5 am and climb Poon Hill to the lookout to watch the sunrise. Then after breakfast, we head back over the ridge in a different direction and down toward Tadapani and Chhormrong.
