Snow capped peaks began sparkling with an iridescent glow. The behemoth Himalayan mountains lazily revealed themselves as the sun blinked one eye open. An overwhelming sensation of awe tingled all the way down to my toes at the magnitude of the vista. Annapurna (8,091m), Dhaulagiri (8,167m), Annapurna South (7,219m), and Machapuchare (6,993m), among other giants, dominated the skies, silently overseeing yet another day.
Untouchable perfection is natures way of keeping the human ego in check. Well, nearly untouchable perfection. There have been fewer than 1000 successful assents of Dhaulagiri. Annapurna has a death rate of 32%. Machapuchare, familiarly known as Fish Tail, is believed to be the home of Lord Shiva, and summiting it is strictly prohibited.
I suddenly felt immensely insignificant.
Hundreds of thousands of me have stood right there on Poon Hill, oohing and aaahing while snapping photos in a feeble attempt to bottle the moment. My 30 minutes of ogling is just a blip in time to the 50 million year old mountain range staring back.
I revel in these moments of feeling impossibly small and more or less meaningless. My choices, stresses, anxieties, wins, and failures don’t matter much in the grand scheme of this world. Perhaps some see that revelation as pessimistic and flat out depressing. I beg to differ. Accepting that nothing matters grants permission to truly live.
Jeremy and I just concluded the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures– our first ever group tour.
It was 15 days total, with the meat being 10 days of trekking to and from Annapurna Base Camp. I’ve never done a 2 day trek. Let alone 10. Let alone one going up and down mountains reaching the altitude of 4130m/13550ft.
Ironically, it turned out to be one of the most relaxing trips I’ve ever been on. Something I’ll elaborate on later…
Compiling the entire experience into one blog post is a daunting task. But I want the record to look back on for when I’m old and gray needing “back in my day…” nostalgia. Plus, it might be useful if you’re considering the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures. Or you might at least find it entertaining as you sit on your cozy couch wondering who in the heck would pay to run up and down mountains all day.
You can get the official, in-depth tour description HERE. But let’s dive into my account of it.
Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures: Part 1, Kathmandu
Day 1: Meet the group in Kathmandu. There were 15 travelers in our group with people from Australia, Norway, United States, Estonia, New Zealand and England. Ages ranged from 19-57 years old, with the majority being in their 30s. The main guide for G Adventures tours is called the “CEO”. Ours was Shankar (first man on the left in the picture above). He was the grand organizer and made every part of the journey totally seamless. From getting onto buses, to checking into accommodations, we never had to wait more than 10 minutes, which is something I was extremely impressed by.
Day 2: Walking tour of Durbar Square and momo making demonstration. Day 2 started with meeting a local guide who took us around Durbar Square. The complex dates back to the 4th century, and it’s home to palaces, courtyards, and 50 different Hindu temples. The most fascinating part to me was seeing the Kumari– a living child goddess. It is believed that the Hindu goddess Durga enters the chosen child. People worship her, asking for their prayers to be answered. The Kumari is only allowed to leave the temple 13 times a year, and she makes short appearances out a window each day. Once she gets her first period, the goddess leaves the body and a new Kumari is chosen. Read more HERE and HERE.
After the tour, we headed to a homestay in the city for a momo making demonstration. Momo are a type of dumpling that’ll you’ll find everywhere in the Himalayan countries. They can be filled with anything your heart desires from chicken to potato, but we learned how to make a classic: vegetable momo. Four Nepalese women showed us the 411 on the ingredients with tips on how to make the perfect pleats. Then we tried our hand at pleating our own momo.
Above you can see their momo (pictured left) vs the groups (pictured right.) I don’t think any restaurants are calling us any time soon…
Day 3: Bus ride to Pokhara. We met at 6am to start the journey to Pokhara. The second largest city in Nepal, and the launch point for some of the most popular treks in the country including the Annapurna and Manaslu circuits. The road connecting the two cities isn’t for the faint of heart. It is 198km/123mi long, but it took us nearly 8 hours (including about an hour worth of stops.) The road is windy, riddled with potholes, and more stretches than not were undergoing intense construction.
But what really struck me was the air pollution. In Kathmandu, the sun was almost always muted by an intense smog. The WHO says that the pollution levels are 4.9 times higher than they should be, and that it’s a leading cause of disability and death in Nepal. (You can watch a Youtube video HERE.) I was expecting the smog to lift as we left the city, but no such luck. It consumed the scenery the entire way.
Even though Pokhara is the second largest city in Nepal, it feels significantly smaller than Kathmandu. The downtown area on the lake has trendy cafes, restaurants, bars, and even a “Pokhara Disneyland” with carnival rides that look like they could give you tetanus. We had free time to explore, then had a group dinner at a fusion spot with epic garlic naan.
Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures: Part 2, The Trek
On day 4, we began the main event: trekking to the Annapurna Base Camp. Over the course of the ten days we trekked nearly 80 miles up and down thousands upon thousands of meters.
The full daily rundown is on the G Adventures website, but here’s a brief itinerary with the distance according to my smart devices:
Day 4: Nayapul to Tikhedhunga, 5ish miles. This was the easy day. Apparently, Shankar was eyeing off the group to be sure everyone looked like they were fit enough for the trek. Supposedly we all passed the test!
Day 5: Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani, 7ish miles. Today began with a steep ascent up nearly 3000 stairs. A taste of the journey to come, and a moment of giving myself a pat on the back for refusing to take an elevator for 4 months.
Day 6: Ghorepani to Tadapani with a Sunrise Hike to Poon Hill, 9 miles. The day began with a sunrise hike up to Poon Hill for spectacular views. It was the first true look at the mountains, and it didn’t dissapont. We returned to the tea house for breakfast, then took off towards Tadapani. The first half of the day had incredible weather with clear views. The second half had steep descents through lush forest as clouds started rolling in.
Day 7: Tadapani to Chhomrong. 7.5 miles. An intense fog persisted all day and turned into rain, blocking the apparently beautiful scenery.
Day 8: Chhomrong to Himalaya Hotel, 9.2 miles. A clear morning revealed epic views from the hotel. Blue skies made the uphill slogs a breeze. That and the fact my legs had become well adjusted to the constant up and down.
Day 9: Himalaya Hotel to Annapurna Base Camp, 7.1 miles. The altitude made today the hardest for me, but the adjective “epic” doesn’t even do the scenery justice. We went through a snow-covered valley with mountains beckoning us in the background. Three hours out from basecamp, it started snowing, and clear skies turned to gray.
TIP: In Pokhara, Shankar was monitoring the weather, and determined that we needed cramp ons— spiky devices to put on our shoes for the snow. I can’t imagine how we would have made it without them.
Day 10: Annapurna Base Camp to Bamboo, 11 miles. It snowed all night, and all the mountains at base camp were shrouded with fog. Luckily, it magically cleared up for about 10 minutes. Both of the above photos are of the same thing, but a mere 10 minutes apart. It was a long day of mostly down hill that ended with hail and rain.
Day 11: Bamboo to Jhinudanda, 8.5 miles. Another day of “Nepali flat” with good weather and nice views. We ended in Jhinudanda, which had natural hot springs. The warm water felt magical on my aching muscles.
Day 12: Jhinudanda to Pothana, 10 miles. Today was billed as an “easy day.” While the gradients weren’t too steep, the distance was far and “easy” doesn’t fit the bill. It ended with a party of sorts. We ate a dinner of daal bhat with the porters using traditional Nepalese eating utensils: our hands. Then there was a bon fire outside with plenty of singing and dancing.
Day 13: Pothana to Pokhara, under 4 miles. After a relatively short walk we joined a bus and headed to a hotel in Pokhara. The feeling of checking into a hotel room with a heater, a soft bed, hot water, and toilet you didn’t need to walk outside to get to feel glorious. I can’t recall a shower I’ve enjoyed more in my life.
Day 14: Pokhara to Kathmandu. We hopped in the bus for the 8 hour drive back to Kathmandu with one final group dinner.
Day 15: The end!
The Physical Experience of the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures:
The journey was an epic physical feat.
On the way to base camp, there were a few days of relentless ascents up where each turn revealed yet another incline or more stairs. On the way back, we flew through the descents, with the big kahuna being going down 1800m on day 11. But it’s not as simple as “up on the way there, down on the way back.” The terrain is familiarly called “Nepali Flat”. Which means flat simply doesn’t exist. Rather, you are constantly going up and down and up and down.
To add fuel to the fire, we experienced the infamously ever-changing Nepalese weather. We trekked through sun, fog, hail, rain, and snow. Usually it was a few of the aforementioned conditions in one day.
The matters of altitude stoked the fire a bit more. Annapurna Base camp is 4130m/ 13,550ft, which is modest for Himalayan trekking, but quite high if you live at sea level. I’ll talk more about altitude later on.
The hard work is rewarded with dumbfoundingly beautiful views. The Himalayas have the type of beauty that makes even the best cameras shake in their boots at the prospect of trying to capture the vistas. I’d argue that the hard work enhances the scenery. Trekking up and down for miles upon miles each day, sometimes through harsh conditions, makes you part of the scenery, not just an onlooker. It elicits a deep respect for the mountains, and it puts the power of nature in perspective. For me, this made every vista not just beautiful, but meaningful.
The Mental Experience:
No computer and limited phone access coupled with such an intense focus on my surroundings allowed me to totally switch off from “the real world.” I didn’t think about work. The news hardly crossed my mind. Worries about the future felt frivolous in the midst of another steep staircase to climb. Dramas on tariffs and war seemed too far away to matter with the Himalayas looking over me. We were miles away from roads. Avoiding twisting an ankle was far more pressing then my impending taxes to file.
As mentioned earlier, I can’t recall a more mentally relaxing vacation.
Neuroscience helps explains why. Awe and wonder trigger the release of dopamine and get the insula fired up. The insula is linked body awareness pathways, which, according to neuroscientist Paul Wright, creates a “profound connection between our physical sensations and emotional experiences.” This leads to a whole host of physical and mental benefits. Nothing triggers awe quite like nature (read a nerdy science paper HERE). So it’s no surprise I felt mentally amazing during my 10 days of being more or less off the grid.
My mind had permission to wander as it pleased. I sung to myself, counted my steps on harder parts, and spent a great deal of time transcribing my thoughts into writing. In fact, I wrote the blurb that opened this blog post in my mind. And, of course, I chit chatted with members of the group about topics ranging from movies to religion.
For these reasons, I fear I have caught the trekking bug, and I foresee many more similar experiences to come…
Let’s talk about logistics of the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures.
Where Did We Stay?: A Look Into the Tea Houses
Tea houses are simple accommodations in Nepal that provide trekkers with a place to eat and sleep. The rooms themselves are between $3-$15USD a night with the expectation that you are also eating there. If you bring your own food, those rates will be higher.
The rooms at the tea houses we stayed in usually had 2-3 twin beds, and usually it was two to a room. At the accommodations in and around Annapurna Base Camp, on paper we were meant to sleep hostile style with all the women in one room and all the men in another. But because it was off-season, there were rooms to spare, and Jeremy and I ended up having a private room each night.
TIP: Bring your own pillow case! It’s tough to wash everything in the mountains, and I admittedly questioned how clean the bedding was. I wish I would have brought my own pillow case for hygiene reasons.
While the tea houses have blankets, the rooms have no heat. A sleeping bag was absolutely essential given the sub freezing temperatures at night. Shankar organized sleeping bag rentals in Kathmandu that cost around $2USD a day. But you can also rent them directly from trekking stores for $1 a day.
The common space varied from tea house to tea house. As we got higher and temperatures got colder, there were wood fired space heaters that were a total delight. Everyone piled around tables and played games, enjoying the warmth. In the Annapurna Conversation Area, however, wood fires aren’t allowed.
Managing the cold was the hardest part of the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures for me. My body practically convulsed with shivers at night as my body worked to warm up the sleeping bag. And getting up to go to the bathroom outside was straight up painful. If I were to do it again, I’d get a heavier down jacket and a rubber hot water bottle to fill with boiling water both to hold in the tea houses with no fire and to put in my sleeping bag at night.
All the tea houses had wifi, most charged 200-300NPR for it. Jeremy and I have Google Fi, an international cell phone plan (which is absolutely a game changer I might add.) Service was spotty, but enough to send proof of life home and keep the Wordle streak alive. Many people didn’t buy wifi, and we all would chat, read, or play games instead of being buried in our phones. Turns out human connection is pretty nice!
Bathroom and shower facilities and how to manage personal hygiene.
The tea houses had shared bathroom and shower facilities. Most had both squat toilets and Western style toilets, with the exception of the tea house at Annapurna Base Camp that only had squat toilets. A hot shower ranged from 150-200NPR ($1-$1.50USD). Usually one member of the group would give the shower a whirl and report back on the experience to help everyone else decide if it was worth it. I took three showers in the 10 days. Some people didn’t take any. I don’t believe anyone took more than 4.
TIP: You need your own toilet paper. It gets more expensive as you go further into the mountains, so I recommend getting it in Pokhara or Kathmandu. You also need your own towel. Be sure to get a microfiber one that is light, small, and quick drying.
I quickly learned that embracing the grime is just a part of multi-day trekking. To maintain some semblance of personal hygiene, we packed wet wipes and would take “wet wipe showers” on the nights we didn’t shower. The prospect of wiping myself down with a wet wipe sounded way more appealing than a luke warm shower when it was 32°F outside anyways.
Another thing to embrace is the fact that you will be wearing the same clothes every single day. I invested in merino wool shirts that aren’t suppose to hold odor. However, those anti-odor properties couldn’t quite hold up to the 6-8 hours of trekking a day up and down mountains. But hey, that’s the same for everyone. Learn to embrace it!
TIP: Be sure to wash your clothes at tea houses with fires. We really only “did laundry” once at a tea house where they had buckets. Apart from that, we cleaned some underwear and socks when we took a hot shower to get us through.
But what about going to the bathroom whilst trekking?
There were numerous tea houses dotted along the path where we could use the facilities. If you couldn’t wait, you’d just go in nature.
What Did We Eat?
The diet consisted of a lot of eggs, rice, and dal bhat. For breakfast, I had some version of a “simple breakfast set” each morning which had eggs, toast or gurung bread, and coffee. For lunch and dinner, my go-tos were egg veggie fried rice and dal bhat. I wrote a full post dedicated to the food along the way that you can see below.
What About Water?
Properly hydrating is important for any physical activity, but it’s critical in high altitude conditions. As you climb higher, the body loses more water due to dryer air, an increased need to urinate, and more sweat and rapid breathing due to the body needing to work harder. Being dehydrated coupled with symptoms induced from high altitude conditions is a recipe for feeling horrible and getting serious altitude sickness.
For the first 3 days, Jeremy and I bought bottled water, which I highly regret. Reason 1 being each bottle was 150-200NPR compared to just 40 NPR back in the cities, meaning a lot of unnesary spending. Reason 2 being pollution and garbage is a big issue in Nepal, and buying bottled water just exacerabates the problem.
After 3 days, we switched to using water purification tablets. We used THESE, but everyone in the group had different types of tablets and no one got sick. Once you get into the Annapurna conservation area, no plastic water bottles are even available to purchase. So having the tablets is absolutely essential.
Tip 1: Jeremy and I had water bladders, which I highly highly recommend because it made it super easy to keep the fluid intake up. Each night we’d purify water in our water bottles, then transfer the clean water to our bladders accordingly.
Tip 2: I highly recommend getting electrolyte tablets to aid in staying hydrated. Plus, they help mask the taste of the water purification tablets!
What Did We Bring and How Did We Manage Carrying Everything on the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures?
Before the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek began, I wasn’t sure what the deal was with the porters, so I wanted to be sure everything fit into my 38L Osprey backpack. However, upon joining the G Adventures group, we were each given a duffle bag that the porters would be carrying.
I admittedly felt wary and flat out strange about having a porter. These guys are carrying two big duffle bags plus their own little backpack up and down the same mountains tourists are struggling to navigate with smaller, lighter packs. According to Google, the porters do not always get paid fairly for their work. Something that is unfortunately common in countries with the same socio-economic statistics as Nepal. However, part of the job is learning the paths in the hopes of one day becoming a guide, which is much more lucrative. In fact, Shankar himself was a porter and eventually worked his way up to being a CEO.
G Adventures is all about helping support local communities. I hope that the porters were paid fairly, but everyone also left tips. Shankar recommended $2-$5USD per day.
Taking ethical wariness out of the equation, offloading my allotted 7kg/15lbs (a weight limit that wasn’t actually enforced) made a huge difference. And with the addition of the sleeping bag, there’s no way my 38L pack would have held everything.
Packing Lessons Learned
For the most part, I think I did a pretty darn good job in my packing. You can get my full list HERE. The merino shirts were well worth the investment, my hiking shoes held up extremely well, and the good quality rain jacket turned out to be totally essential. I didn’t wear my shorts or tank top, and I had to pitch the big contact solution because it chemically doesn’t work when it gets too cold.
While I wish I would have brought a pillow case and my aeropress coffee maker, my only real faux pas was bringing extra athletic sneakers. I should have brought slip ons for the evenings instead.
Now let’s talk about altitude.
The Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures is thoughtfully planned to help the body acclimatize to the altitude. Shankar gave us specific guidelines on how much water we should be drinking and he was there to help if anyone showed serious symptoms of altitude sickness. No one did, and he said it’s far more common for the Everest Base Camp trek.
While Shankar was the master organizer, we also picked up a local guide in Pokhara, Raj, who led the way. He set a slow and steady pace, which is important in high altitude trekking for both acclimatization and conserving energy. Over and over we’d have trekkers zoom past us, just for us to pass them again because they got too winded. Which would have admittedly been me had there not be a guide. Raj was a phenomenal guide who set an ideal base and intuitively stopped for breaks at all the right moments.
I certainly felt the effects as we got higher. The pushes up felt more laborious and my appetite totally disappeared. I also had some pretty gnarly stomach cramps and indigestion, which apparently can be attributed to the fact that digestion slows at higher altitudes. I experienced brain fog as well, but only really noticed it the evening that we were at base camp.
For the higher altitude nights, Raj used a device to measure our blood oxygen levels and heart rate. Everyone in the group was above the minimums, and everyone was more or less perfectly fine.
Note that you can buy Diamox, a pill that helps the body acclimatize faster. While we did buy it, we didn’t use it.
Okay… but what about cost?
Jeremy and I paid roughly $1300 USD each for the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures via their website. That price didn’t include food or tips, which added up to somewhere between $400-$500 each. (I wasn’t ultra vigilant with keeping track.)
You can do the same trek for less if you hire a guide and porter in Pokhara. There are all different types of options and packages available, and I’d guess you could do it for the half the cost we did, maybe even less. But if I had the chance to do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing. And that’s saying something coming from a bargain hunter such as myself.
Not only was it fantastic having Shankar and Raj handle every single logistic, but traveling in a group really made the experience. We chatted while trekking, played games at night, and were able to bond on a unique visceral level that comes with enduring a shared physical feat.
Final Thoughts on the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek with G Adventures.
The every allusive “they” say nature rejuvenates. And “they” aren’t wrong. Spending 10 days removed from modern conveniences with hardly any technology brought me an inner-peace I haven’t experienced in some time. Not only was the mental-reset welcomed, but I thoroughly enjoyed the physicality of the experience. Movement, whether it be dance, fitness, hiking, or just getting outside, has always been a huge part of my life. Pushing my body gets my dopamine pumping, and I love that feeling of accomplishing something difficult.
This experience was one for the books and one that will hold a close place in my heart.
Cheers to another epic adventure!
