Trekking Nepal – Poon Hill Trek, Ulleri to Ghorepani – Day 2

Recounting today’s trek from Ulleri to Ghorepani…

Today may technically have been easier than yesterday but due to my trembling, fatigued, veal-like muscles, it was another difficult walk.  Perhaps I am not a trekker.

We left Ulleri at 7:30 a.m. and ascended a hundred-million-bajillion more stone stairs.  It seems a million lifetimes must have been spent constructing these stairs and the stone walls that flank them.

Beautiful color every step of the way!

The scenery could not be more stunning.  Annapurna South looms large, coming and going from view in the cloudy sky.  We pass waterfalls, tiny villages, and several tea-houses, the families running them somehow eking out a living from the occasional weary trekker who might stop for a snack.

We arrive in Ghorepani (2874 meters/9429 feet) in the early afternoon and the ancient village is abuzz with activity, with trekkers coming from other directions and convening here.  Amazingly, the village has abundant wifi and a German bakery as well as a bookstore selling seedy American paperbacks from the 1970’s.  We are a two-day walk from anywhere.  Some poor sap carried that Joan Collins novel to this village bookstore!

Kaji and I enjoy a chocolate croissant in the bakery while watching exhausted trekkers and donkeys arrive.  I am so happy to be sitting. So, so happy.

Ghorepani is the gathering place for those who want to see the sunrise from Poon Hill, just above the village.  That is the plan for tomorrow.

Photos of the Trek from Ulleri to Ghorepani: