Nepal Wrap-up

Reflecting back on my time in Nepal, the things I enjoyed or found notable were little things that made each day interesting, rather than huge tourist attractions.  And I’d say that’s fairly typical of Nepal.  There’s not really that much to do, but there are thousands of tourists there doing nothing. We spent a week

Annapurna Picture Post

The Annapurna circuit was one of the most picturesque places I’ve been.  For those of you who want to see every photo of Nepal, here’s a link to the Flickr page. But for everyone else, here’s my 5 favorite pics that didn’t end up in another post:

Annapurna IV – The final days

Our guidebook recommended going from Muktinath to Kagbeni along the recently-constructed road on the first day after the pass.  The road was started, on the western side of the trek, in 2007.  It makes life easier on the locals – children can get to school, medical care is better and faster, there is more industry

Annapurna III – Pass Day

At elevations above 3,000 meters, it is not recommended that you sleep more than 500 meters higher than you did the night before.  Because the mountain trails were fairly steep, that meant we had a series of very short days leading up to Pass Day.  Pass Day had already built up in our minds (and

Annapurna II – Braka (aka Braga) our favorite village

I decided to devote an entire blog post to the tiny village of Braga because it was really a turning point in our trip.  Before Braga, we were in the mindset of trying to get somewhere on a certain schedule.  Braga was an intoxicating, small village that invited us to stay longer – and we

Annapurna – Preparing for the trek

What do you take with you when preparing for 15 days in rugged mountains? 3 distinct climates with days in the upper 80s and nights that are well below freezing?  How about if you have to carry it all on your back for over 100 miles? That’s the conundrum I was faced with when I