In this part of our Annapurna Circuit trek, we entered the Annapurna Sanctuary to climb to Poon Hill to see the sunrise over the Annapurna range.
Day 13: Tatopani to Ghorepani (15km - 1600m elevation gain)
It seems that we were not tired of climbing mountains as today we set out to climb 1600 vertical meters over 15km. For those in Calgary, it's approximately similar to climbing from the Sunshine parking lot, to the top of the Continental Divide chair and for those in Quebec, it's like climbing Mont Tremblant twice in 1 day. Overall it wasn't as hard as we expected, but we were definitely happy when we finished.
Day 14: Poon Hill: Ghorepani to Gandruk (21km)
We woke up early to climb 350 meters to the top of Poon Hill to get a great view of the sunrise over the Annapurna Ranges. It seems we weren't the only ones... there was close to 200 tourists all up there waiting for the sunrise with us (we found out later that Poon Hill is a popular 5 days trek from Pokhara). Once we had our heart's content, we made or way back down (and up and down a few other big hills) to reach the village Gandruk.
Day 15: Back to Pokahara (14km)
Today we originally planned to trek to another small village in the Annapurna Sanctuary, but after an hour of going down a bunch of stairs, we changed our minds and opted to go to Pokhara a day early to give us extra time to go the Embassy to extend our Nepal Visas. Guillaume had decided that he wanted to do the Everest Base Camp trek (14 more days of hiking) which was departing Kathmandu the day after we were scheduled to arrive…..some of us have more energy ;). We took the short-cut route down, which meant we got to skip over going up and down a few more hills, and went directly to Pokhara where we enjoyed a big pitcher (or 2) of refreshing Mojitos. On the way down the mountain we also saw two praying mantis with which we took a series of pictures (since they look so cool).
Conclusion
The Annapurna Circuit was definitely worth it, and the team at Global Adventure Trekking was a huge part of the success of this trip. Special thanks to Krishna who went out of his way, even after the trek was over, to help with the lengthy India Visa process, and making our entire stay in Nepal so welcoming and enjoyable. He did such a great job; we definitely give them our highest recommendation. For more information, go to their website: www.GlobalAdventureTrekking.com.
Just a word of warning for anyone thinking of doing the Annapurna Circuit - they are extending the road even further so, unfortunately, much of the culture and the experience of this particular trek may change drastically in the next few years.