Hiking the Poon Hill Trail: Part 1

We did Kathmandu. We did farming. Now it was time for mountain trekking. A trip to Nepal seems almost incomplete without at least one hiking adventure in the Himalayas, and given that Angela and I were not at our best level of fitness, we decided to try the Poon Hill Trail, one of the shorter beginner treks in the area. From Pokhara we took a taxi to the village of Nayapul, and begun our trek without a guide, using only a map and the advice of local villagers to help us find our way. We got lost at first, going the wrong way round the trail, which meant turning back on ourselves and adding two hours of unnecessary hiking to an already long hike!


Things only got more difficult as we moved on. While officially a "beginner" trek, Poon Hill was for us - and plenty others we met along the way - anything but easy. Thousands of stairs, relentlessly rainy weather, bloodsucking ninja-leeches that sneak into your shoes without you noticing...it may not have been Mount Everest but it had plenty of challenges of its own, and our legs were like jelly by the end of it all. "Easy" or not, we were proud of ourselves for finishing it within five days, and for pushing on when the going got tough. The bad weather meant that we weren't rewarded with as many nice views as we were hoping for (disappointing since we'd deliberately waited until the rainy season was supposed to be over), but it was still an incredible adventure, filled with rustic countryside, fascinating rural cultures, and charming alpine villages.

After an hour-long taxi ride from Pokhara we arrived in the small village of Nayapul, where we began our hike through the Annapurna Conservation Area.

Crossing our first river.

Not all the rivers had bridges. It was the end of the rainy season, and there was still a lot of water trickling through the mountain valleys. Sometimes our shoes got soggy.

One perk of travelling during rainy weather is that the waterfalls are flowing copiously.

At one point, this stray dog started walking alongside us. We named him Annapurna, after the surrounding mountains (we also considered "Poon-Dog" but it seemed slightly less elegant, somehow). He acted as our spirit guide, accompanying us along the road for a good twenty or thirty minutes before he left us, having got distracted by a female dog (perhaps Poon-Dog was the right name for him after all.) We also came across these cute Nepali children who would ask us for sweets. Regretfully, we hadn't brought any!

This part of the trail was wide enough for vehicles to follow, though some of them had trouble dealing with the muddy conditions.

Wandering past rice paddy fields with Annapurna/Poon-Dog at our side.

There were hundreds of colourful butterflies fluttering around our feet as we walked.

Further along this path, we reached a small village where we stopped to ask locals the way to Poon Hill. It was at this point that we realised we'd spent the last hour going in completely the wrong direction. We considered pushing on and just doing the hike in reverse order, but thought it better to go back to the start and do it the way we'd originally intended.

Adding to the frustration of having to go back on ourselves, now we had rain to contend with. It would continue, on and off, for the next three or four days.

Eventually we made it to the village of Birethanti, located very close to Nayapul where we'd set off from. After two hours of hiking, we hadn't even properly started!

Trying to keep a brave face despite the rain and the pointless past two hours.

Finally we found the correct path toward Poon Hill. The rain didn't let up, but at least we were making progress.

This was the deepest stream we had to cross. It went right up to our knees, leaving us with very squelchy feet.

Passing through some pretty valleys.

In the early afternoon we stopped at a teahouse for some energy-boosting food and a chance to temporarily dry off.

We refilled our flasks with boiled water, the only safe way of keeping hydrated up in the mountains.

Continuing our trek up into the drizzly mountains. The trail here was relatively flat, with only a few steep uphill sections. Tomorrow it would become much more taxing.

Climbing some stone steps up to the village of Tikhedhunga, where we would rest for the night. This is around the point where my camera stopped working due to overexposure to the elements, so from here on out I'll use pictures we took with Angela's phone. Fortunately, my camera did start working again when we got back to Kathmandu.

Finally at our destination for the night.

We stayed at a guesthouse in Tikhedhunga, taking much-needed hot showers and attempting to dry our clothes (unsuccessfully, since it stayed drizzly all night). It wasn't the cosiest accommodation but we couldn't complain when it cost a mere two dollars for the night.

The next morning we set off bright and early.

Today was dominated by stairs. Many, many stairs. Nicknamed "The 3000 Stairs," they would eventually take us all the way up to Ghorepani village, just near the summit of Poon Hill.

As we forced ourselves up these relentless, infinite steps, we passed local villagers and their horses carrying goods to the mountain villages. With no road access, everything had to be carried by human or animal. This meant that while our accommodation during the hike would be extremely cheap, food and replenishments were a little on the pricey side, by Nepali standards at least.

It took us about two hours to reach the village of Ulleri, where the steps flattened out a little, much to our relief.

After a brief rest we pushed on, continuing to ascend so high that we were on the verge of entering the clouds.

Passing through a pretty mountain village.

Soon we were hiking through a mossy cloud forest. We were exhausted, but we pressed on, hoping we'd reach Ghorepani soon.

At one point, not long after we passed this waterfall, we saw two Chinese hikers standing by the trail, checking beneath their clothes. One of them had a huge leech the size of my finger attached to his wrist, sucking away without abandon. The other man had already pulled a leech off of his armpit area, which was now gushing with blood. They seemed to have everything under control, dressing their wounds with bandages, and giving us encouraging nods and a mention that these leeches were merely "a small problem." Angela, however, was in full freak-out mode, only now realising she had a phobia of the little fuckers (the leeches, I mean, not Chinese people). Our previously sluggish pace was remedied by our horror, which propelled us onward to Ghorepani as fast as our tired legs would carry us. We put our ponchos back on to make it easier to spot any leeches on us - supposedly they can drop down from trees and latch onto you - and avoided brushing against any plants or branches.

Much to our relief, we finally made it to Ghorepani leech-free, and settled down in another two-dollar-a-night guesthouse.

The sky even cleared for us a little.

The next morning we got up at 5 in the morning to watch the sun rise over the mountains. We climbed up yet more steps in the dark, these ones putting us completely out of breath, I guess because of the high altitude. It was a slow climb, but we were rewarded with some splendid morning views of the Himalayas.

Finally reaching the top of Poon Hill. It was pretty chilly up there.

Looking towards Annapurna South, which stands around 7'200 metres high.

We made it!

On our way up we'd repeatedly seen this group of Malaysian tourists, who now seemed very happy to have made it to the summit.

Looking back down at Ghorepani.

We returned to Ghorepani and rested at our guesthouse for a little while. Then it was time to move on, heading west towards the village of Ghandruk. Today we would not ascend as many metres as yesterday. However, there were many uphill-downhill-sections, which kept things challenging.

We passed through rhododendron forests coated in yellow flowers. Pretty though they were, they had an ugly side. As we climbed up, we noticed that the ground was literally crawling with leeches. There were hundreds of them darting across the ground towards our feet. If Angela had seemed scared yesterday, now she was absolutely horrified, and all we could do was push, push, push up the stairs and keep checking our shoes for leeches.

At a rest-stop on top of a crest.

Fortunately, the leeches became less abundant as we went on, though sometimes a tiny one would be flailing around on one of our shoes, so we'd flick it off. We repeatedly checked ourselves every minute or two, sometimes even more frequently when in wet, boggy areas.

Prayer flags in the mist.

Click here to continue the adventure in Part 2!