“Burn baby burn.” That is the phrase that was going through my mind for most of today. Not only did we continue following the river up the ravine, which was slowly gaining altitude, but we were also climbing up one side of the mountain that formed the ravine, so it was double trouble. In all, we gained almost 1000m in altitude so today was a lot of up and my glutes got a great work out. Even though we were climbing steadily during the day, however, it was not as bad as yesterday. There were some incredibly steep parts but there were also a lot of areas where the path was relatively level, with only a gradual climb. So overall I feel better about today then yesterday. I also think my body is adjusting to what I am asking it to do.

While walking through the forest was pleasant the path got really steep at times!

The hike itself was beautiful. We were walking through forest during the first half of the day. In the US when you go hiking, especially in the area where I live near Washington, D.C., it is hard to get away from the sound of civilization. At the very least there is airplane noise overhead from time to time. Today, hiking through the forest, it was totally quiet and extremely peaceful. In addition, the clouds had descended into the ravine, hiding the sun, surrounding us with a fine mist, creating a rather intimate and cozy atmosphere as we hiked. The visual restrictions coupled with the quiet of the forest created quite a relaxing morning. The trees and plants were exploding in green and water dripped from the branches due to the rain the previous night. A layer of moss covered almost everything giving it a bit of a haunting but vibrant appearance. Occasionally it was possible to see flashes of red, pink or white color from some rhodendums that were still in bloom. It was extremely pleasant.

The flowers were everywhere. I came at the right time.

As I was walking along I reflected on how trekking like this really strips life down to the most basic and simple elements. Out in nature, away from all distractions of our busy modern lives, the world collapses to the immediate surroundings. The most important and only task of the day was to get to the evening rest stop. Without all of the distractions of life it is more straightforward and it is easy to experience joy, contentment and pleasure from small things. (I think it is possible for the same in normal living but there are a lot of distractions that hamper us from realizing that potential.) For example, for me today:

Happiness is a smooth dirt path that is level.
Happiness is lying in your sleeping bag, all warm and cozy, while listening to the strident cadence of rain hitting the roof, and knowing that you don’t have to be out walking in it.
Happiness is clean socks.
Happiness is having a hot water bottle to put in your sleeping bag before going to bed.
Happiness is sitting by the river and looking to the left past flowering trees to see a HUGE snow capped mountain slowly appearing out of the drifting mist.

In such things there is no room for anger, pain, angst, worry, stress or any of the baggage that comes with engagement in “normal life”. What a great way to unwind!!!

The path today was a veritable highway. All day, on every part of the path, there seemed to be pony pack trains running up and down the valley. Typically they went by in a pack of seven or eight in a string, sometimes with loads headed back home or sometimes unloaded headed down to pick up supplies. They all had bells on their necks and no halters or ropes connecting them to each other. Rather they walked freely down the path (there are not many other places to go) followed by their herder, who encouraged them to keep moving. Watching them you get the sense that they know the path well and are rather bored with the whole thing. We also passed a guy driving an ox down the path as well. It took up rather more room than the ponies and we made sure to step far off the path out of the way as it passed.

There were also a lot of trekkers, porters, and locals moving up and down the trail. We passed two porters who had stopped because one of the poor fellow’s boots had blown out, totally. The soles had separated from the rest of the shoe. Later we saw them again and he was hiking along in flip flops. Amazing! Interestingly enough today I also saw several people who were smoking, both tourist and local. I have no idea what they are thinking! I am using 100% of my lung capacity to handle some of the steep slopes that we have to walk up.

We made it to lunch around noon after four hours of walking. Unlike yesterday, today I was actually hungry. I am experimenting with the menus, most of which are more or less the same thing, and trying different things for each meal. Before the end of my trekking I will probably find my favorites and fall into a rut, but for now it is all new. I had tomato soup (hot liquid is a good thing) and cheese spaghetti. The portions are huge and I have been eating about half and sending the rest back. As we were sitting there eating lunch, the clouds descended and it started to rain. I was happy to be inside and we ended up sitting there for a couple of hours waiting for it to stop. Luckily it did and we continued on. We had two more hours to go until our evening stop, which is around 3200 meters.

Our stop for lunch

As we departed the tea house where we had lunch the terrain changed completely. Before lunch we had been hiking through forest but now we were above the tree line and in a tundra like environment. As the clouds continued to lift the scenery became very dramatic. It was a different kind of beauty than the forest offered. This geography delivered a harsh, striking, barren kind of experience. Waterfalls could be seen throwing water down the steep slopes and the surrounding snow-capped mountains were more visible making a bid for attention. We could see the village that we were stopping at for the evening in the distance and it did not look so far away, but distance is hard to judge next to the huge peaks in the area and it took another hour and a half to finally arrive.

An example of some of the construction going on all over the place.

In order to reach our destination we had to cross what appeared to a huge gouge in the mountain side. This area had blown out and created a large landslide during the 2015 earthquake. Prem told me that many locals and some tourists lost their lives due to the fact that earthquake happened in the middle of the day when people were trekking though. Many were swept away and buried. The scale of the affected area was impressive and a new route was forged through the devastated area. We also passed several buildings that had been totally knocked down. The families abandon them and rebuilt elsewhere. The Langtang Valley was hit hard and is only now recovering- the trekking tourism is helping.

Overall another great day!