Day 3: Dharapani

 

Elevation

We climbed from 1300 meters to 1900 meters hiking from Jagat to Dharapani.

We woke up and ordered this spectacular cheesy potatoes for breakfast. It was another beautiful day! Today we spent most of the day trekking in the cliffs along the river. We passed dozens of incredible waterfalls and caught some great views of the white-capped mountains ahead of us.

Manang District

Just before Tal, we entered the Manang District! This is the point at which trekkers must begin considering the altitude while hiking every day. This means that some days we will not be hiking the milage we are capable of hiking in order to allow our bodies to safely adapt to the change in altitude. Increasing altitude too quickly can be extremely dangerous. Neither Marissa or I can afford to be helicopter-ed out of the Himalayas, so we didn't take our chances. Plus, who would want to rush this?! In Tal, we enjoyed local cornbread and the most amazing potato, bean, pumpkin curry on a roof top deck. We also shared a large pot of ginger lemon honey tea- yum!

Today we passed about 50 hikers trekking in the opposite direction. Some had only reached Chame (about two days before Manang), where they were trapped for several days due to the massive amount of snow. They were such downers! I mean, I’d be sad too, if I wasn’t able to complete the circuit. But still, it was frustrating only hearing negative comments from other trekkers. Still, Marissa and I trekked onward and upward through some light rain until we reached Dharapani.

Dharapani

In Dharapani, we met the most amazing woman from London. She made it to Manang before she reluctantly turned around (she actually said she was sobbing the first hour trekking backwards because she wasn’t sticking to her original plan. I feel you girl, Type A problems). Despite not reaching her goal of completing the circuit, she was extremely encouraging. She said it was beautiful beyond words higher up and we should experience as much of it as we can! She said they were trekking through waist-deep snow and were even caught it a small avalanche...yikes! Her positivity is just what we needed after meeting so many discouraged people today. 

Hopefully, the weather will continue to be kind and melt some more of that snow before we get there!