The Annapurna Circuit Before the Roads
The Annapurna Circuit was once one of the most celebrated and revered treks in the world – perhaps even the most celebrated. An epic circular route around the Annapurna massif, the journey led long-distance hikers through a serious of roadless valleys filled with atmospheric villages, monasteries, and fascinating Himalayan culture.
When we visited in 2007, construction of a road to Jomsom had just begun, something that would bring great change to the region. The following post, which includes a day-by-day itinerary at the end, was our experience walking the Annapurna Circuit before the roads came…
November 6, 2007 – Trek Begins
Upon arrival in Nepal, the first item on our what-to-do list was hiking the Annapurna Circuit, one of the most popular trekking routes in the world. The epic trail runs for over 200 km (125 miles) around the Annapurna Massif, one of the most stunning regions in the Himalayas.
At the center of the range lies the Annapurna Sanctuary, a natural Himalayan amphitheater which allows visitors to get much closer to the massif’s famous snowy peaks and glaciers. Descriptions of the sanctuary sounded too good to pass up, so we decided to combine the Annapurna Circuit with the Annapurna Sanctuary, adding an extra week to the traditional three-week circuit trek.
The Annapurna region offers an amazing diversity of terrain and culture: lush tropical forests, green terraced foothills, pine-forested gorges, eroded desert scenery, and the high-altitude Thorong La pass – all punctuated by a variety of traditional villages and monasteries along the way.
The lodge-based trek passes three of the ten highest mountains on earth: Dhaulagiri I, Manaslu and Annapurna I, all over 8000 m (26,240 feet) tall as well as a host of other spectacular mountains.
Since we were doing a longer trek and we wanted to maintain a bit of flexibility along the way, we decided to forego the guide and porter and carry our own packs ourselves. Although that decision made the trip a little less comfortable, it gave us the flexibility we wanted to take our time and maintain the spontaneity we love so much.
One negative of not having a guide was that we would not have anybody to hike ahead and book a room for us. Luckily, since we were starting our trek in November – which is late in the season – we were hoping that wouldn’t be such a problem.
Ascending through Jungles and Canyons
Day one of the Annapurna Circuit trek was really about just getting to the starting point from Pokhara. We grabbed a tourist bus which took us back along the road to Kathmandu and then up a side-road to the small town of Besisahar. Stupidly, we suddenly realized we really needed a second adapter to recharge our camera batteries during the trek. Hilariously, we actually managed to find one in the small town’s markets. Apparently, miracles do happen!
From Besisahar, we hired a jeep to carry us up a narrow, bumpy dirt road to Bhulebule. This is where the walking actually began. The narrow foot-path took us through Gurung farmland and strands of tropical jungle. Interestingly, because we had spent time looking for the adapter, we were running a bit late, so we made the decision to overnight in Ngadi rather than hiking on. This lucky decision meant that we would be hiking out of sync with most of the commercial tours doing the circuit. Yay!
From Ngadi, we followed the Marsyangdi River for four days to Chame. During this first stretch, the narrow path gradually climbed through a series of steep river gorges, first through tropical jungles, and later through deciduous and pine forests. The highlights of this stretch included an intimate view of traditional Gurung village life, a beautiful landscape of terraced farms, bird life, and rhesus macaques swinging through the trees.
Perhaps, the most interesting aspect of the first few days was the epicness of trail itself. We found ourselves winding up precipitous cliffs over raging boulder-strewn rivers. We passed through the mists of towering waterfalls and inched across narrow bridges spanning plummeting gorges. The sheer scale of the landscape made us feel tiny, insignificant.
In all honesty, the tropical humidity at the beginning of the trek was NOT fun. At times, sweating our way through patches of Himalayan jungle and slogging up the steep terraced slopes felt more like punishment than an enjoyable experience. Although we occasionally spotted the mountains in the distance, cloud cover from that humidity meant views of the snowy peaks were limited until day 4.
But when the clouds finally cleared, it was quite a blow to the mind! Still at a relatively low elevation, the Himalayas appeared far more massive than they did from the Tibetan side of the mountain chain. Suddenly, it became very clear that sweating our way through the lower elevations was a small price to pay for the grand adventure ahead.
The Annapurna Circuit is not an isolated hiking trail, though. It’s actually a main foot-path into the roadless Nepali interior. Although the trail is narrow and often quite rough, Thomas and I (and other trekkers) were sharing it with large mule caravans carrying supplies to and from remote mountain villages.
In addition to the long-distance caravans, the trail was home to hulking (sometimes intimidating) water buffalo and large herds of goats. (So, what do you do when a 900-pound water buffalo is standing right in the middle of the trail and refuses to budge? In our case, we waited patiently until an 8-year-old Gurung child came by and moved it for us. Ha, ha!) Obviously, the animals made hiking the trail a challenge at moments. But most of the time, walking the path through the outrageously beautiful scenery was pure joy.
In addition to the landscape, the culture offered up surprises at every turn. One of the more bizarre moments came on day five when we rounded a corner to discover a Gurung family strangling a yak to death.
We watched in a mixture of curiosity and dread as they struggled to cut off its air supply with a rope, the whole family joining in to bring it down. Next they slit its throat; blood gushed out onto the ground. Slowly, stunned trekkers started to pile up as they happened upon the slaughter. Gaping at the gruesome scene, we all learned exactly where those yak steaks in the teahouses were coming from.
As for carrying our own packs, which weighed in at about 12 kilos (26 lbs) each, day three was the roughest for both of us. We were seriously questioning whether we could manage the tougher, higher altitudes while carrying our own gear. But something happened on day four, and we were both recharged and ready to go again. Maybe we just felt ridiculous after seeing the locals hauling massive loads of firewood and supplies along the trails.
The trek was also a social experience. We began to encounter the same trekkers over and over during lunch stops, or at night around the communal dinner tables at our guest houses. We started to really look forward to weeks on the trail with our new friends. We were also enjoying life without the cars, mopeds and honking that normally fill the cities of South Asia. It was fantastic to leave the vehicles behind and just walk for hours in the most spectacular landscapes on Earth. However, not everything was positive…
