Dhaulagiri Trek

NEPAL - Dhaulagiri – Dhorpatan Trek March 1993

This was my first trip to Nepal and I was excited to go. I chose this trek from the literature because of the elevation. I was not sure what to expect at high elevations and I was not sure of my hiking ability at these elevations being somewhat older. The brochure said this was a moderate hike and I was expected to be in good physical shape and feel comfortable hiking seven to twelve miles per day on a trail while carrying a daypack of about ten pounds and that all Nepal trails involve lots of ups and downs. We were in the same latitude as Miami. Daytime temperatures were in the 70’s and 80’s at the lower elevations, and in the 50’s and 60’s at the highest elevation and some of our low temps at night were in the mid 30’s.

I have just arrived at the airport in Kathmandu from my stay in Thailand. I was met by Peter Owens our Trek Leader and his Sherpas; they greeted me with flower leis and lots of Namastes. From the airport we drove to the Potala Guest House where we will stay for a few days before the start of the trek. We were taken for a tour around the city and then went to dinner, a totally Nepalese dinner with huge portions, which was very good. There are six of us on this trek.

My thoughts: I was not prepared for Katmandu…the poverty and beggars…the tiny shops where people were lucky to also live…the narrow streets and no rhyme or reason for the layout of the city

Potala Guest house)

Next morning we had a wake-up call at 5.l5 a.m. We went to Peter’s room for sweet tea and excellent carrot cake and then proceeded to walk all over Kathmandu. We went to the Swayambhunth (Monkey) Temple where the local people go to worship each morning and we walked up hundreds of steps to get to the top. To-day the Communist are calling a strike – reason? There are lots of demonstrators, yelling and carrying big sticks. Peter manages to avoid all this by taking us into various alleys and shortcuts.

Next morning after sweet tea and brownies we are on our way. We walk a mile to catch a bus that will take us to the town of Pokera. What a drive, it took eight hours to go 120 miles. We dropped down a twisting dirt road from the Kathmandu Valley at 4200 ft to 900 ft then climbed back up to about 3000 ft. The road was a fright and there was a young man, who was the drivers' rear view mirror, he banged on the outside of the bus constantly. We finally figured out he was telling the Driver just how far from the edge of the road he was. I think he was called a 'handy boy'. When we reached Pokera the crew set up the tents in a big field for the night. After a marvelous dinner the porters sang and played on the drums. We all went to bed tired and happy.

Local Transportation and the mountains.

Next morning we were awake at six a.m. The cooks brought us tea in bed and warm water for us to wash. After breakfast we went in a large truck, like a dump truck, to the start of the trail. We went past the start of the Jamsan trek and the Annapurna Sanctuary trek and we had great views of Annapurna South and Mauchapichou.

Below is a Cafe where I ate my first Dallbaht

It is really exciting for me; I have read many stories about these mountains and the entire Himalaya. We arrive about noon and only walk a little way to a shady spot along the river where we rest while the kitchen crew makes our lunch. After lunch we walk another three hours and then make camp in a rice field for the night.

Next day we hike to the town of Beni, this is the last place we can mail letters. Two of our party were sick during the night; hopefully it’s just a bug and nothing serious. We camped at night near a large Hot Springs Pool full of Nepalese ladies. The local children are watching our every move and peer into the tents constantly, they are really curious and are fun.

We are up early the next morning and both Jill and Paul got sick again. The weather is very warm and we have stopped for lunch by a river. Peter has made the decision to go about an hour more today and then camp for the day. He wants Jill and Paul to have a little time to get better. We will do a 2000 ft climb in the morning.

We did our 2000 ft this morning and will do another 1000 ft this afternoon, we have gone through picturesque villages as we climb high. As we look at the mountain above us, there will be another house even higher. All the mountains at our present elevation are terraced and people farm and live right to the tops. We stop for lunch in the village of Takurim and then continue to hike and finally stop for the night just before the town of Muna. We are in a rice field again with a Tea House near by, we could buy bottles of beer at the Tea House. We had a barking dog during the night until our Sirdar, named Jai, hollered for the man to take his dog in.

We were up very early and hiked from 7.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. and now stopped again as Jill is still not able to keep any food down and Peter is hesitant to push her too far. We are at 7200 ft and it is chilly just sitting around. We stay here for the night.

This morning Jill woke up feeling fine and we hiked hard from 7.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. We will make camp here, just under Deorlia Pass at 9500 ft. It is snowing like mad and we are all holed up in our tents. We played cards until dinner time and then went to bed early, there is already four inches of new snow outside our tents,

We were all cold in our sleeping bags during the night; I think I need to buy a better bag. We hike up the remaining elevation to 10,300 ft at Deorilia Pass. Then down 3000 ft on the other side and stopped for lunch. The snow was hard on the porters; they wore tennis shoes or socks and flip-flops. We camped this night in the school yard at the village of Gerchi Kamu. Elevation was 9200 ft I think we totally disrupted the school day.

The cooks used an old building at the school for cooking and all the Porters had a roof over their heads this night. We went into the village and two old ladies with big earrings gave us hot potatoes to eat. Two of the fellows played Frisbee with all the village kids until dinner time, which was fabulous and was followed by singing and dancing until 8 p.m.

Paul gave the school some maps, tooth brushes and berets for the girls; he had brought all this stuff with him.

Next morning…I really love the tea they bring us each morning while we are still in our sleeping bags, and it is usually accompanied with a piece of fruit cake. Then they bring the warm wash water, delightful. I am sleeping really well on this trek and feeling great.

After breakfast we start our three hour climb and then we camp. This was to be the hair washing and clean up day, however then the rain and snow started again and we were all soaked by the time the camp was set up. I used my poncho and will not use it again, it made me wetter, so I gave it to one of the older porters, and he thought it was great. The porters then made a big camp fire and we managed to get our things dry for the next day.

We had a good supper and then the weather started to clear up and we had views of Gurja Himal (Himal means Snowy Mountain). We camped in a meadow called Dalhsingr Karka.

Next morning I woke up really cold and was glad when the kitchen crew called us at 5.45.a.m. there was white frost all over the ground and on the tents. The bowl of wash water beside the toilet tent was frozen solid. Our trek leader Peter is very particular, we must wash our hands in bleach water when exiting from the toilet, and also before we can sit down on the tarp to eat our meals. We eat all our meals outside on a tarp and my backside is sore from sitting on the ground and rocks.

Lunch in the snow

It is now lunch time and we have retraced our steps to another junction and have dropped about 2000 ft as Peter wanted us out of the snow. One of the fellows turned his ankle and thank goodness it is not broken, he thinks it is a sprain. Peter gave him a pain pill and taped the ankle and he is now soaking it in the river. We hope that he can continue as we are still a long way from civilization. We had a terrific lunch, Tubule and French Fries and it is starting to rain again, so we started hiking right away and climbed 1000ft to a great meadow with a stone hut. The trail we are following is hundreds of years old. It is the old trade route from Kathmandu Jamal and is probably 500 years old. Our camp tonight is at Labarum 8500 ft.

It rained during the night and is foggy this morning, we started our climb back up and over Deorilia Pass and every thing is fogged in so we were not able to see any of the big mountains. We stopped for lunch by a slate mine; here men and women are packing out the slate on their backs. We arrive in Tulsan and make camp in a hospital yard. The hospital is closed up, but this did not stop the people from immediately bringing in their sick. One man was carried in a basket on the back of another and one brought in a baby that had a gangrene leg. It was so sad to see these people and not be able to help them. Peter carries an extensive first aid pack but not for treating such as this.

Tulsan is at 6700 ft. and tomorrow our camp is to be at 11,200 ft. We can see the snow on the trail up high. During the night it was thunder and lightening with heavy rain and snow. It continues to rain and snow during the day so we stay here one more night and then the decision will be made which way to go. Next morning it is cold and blue sky with the snow all around us. The decision was made to go the Hi Pass called Jojalla at 11,300 ft. What a miserable hike it was, we climbed in a foot of heavy wet snow. At the top it was still too foggy to see any mountains, next we crossed a flat which had to be couple of miles long in the heavy snow, and finally dropped down about 3000 ft and camped in the snow by a cow shed. The porters were in the shed and we were in our tents. I was very cold and tired, so I went to bed right away. My cook friend, Mani, brought me a water bottle filled with hot water and that put me to sleep nice and warm. Next day we slugged through the snow again and dropped down into the village of Dhorpatan. We followed this valley for miles and then climbed 700 ft to a new valley by the river and lo and behold there was no snow. We camped here and that night I slept well again, I know the trick now, fill my water bottle with hot water.

We are now walking in warm weather and making good time. Again we camped in a school yard with lots of kids looking on. If the weather is good we always have singing and dancing and lots of the local people come to watch.

Next day we are in hot weather again and walked about eight miles before lunch. I am using my umbrella for shade to day. Tonight we all went to bed early, tired from a long day.

Today we had a climb of 3000ft over the mountain and we did see views of all the big mountains and they were marvelous. It was a long hot climb and we are now halfway down the other side and have stopped for lunch. We continued down hill for another couple of hours and then camped in a terrace field right beside the river.

Eleanor washing clothes on her 56th birthday.

We all went in the river to bathe and wash hair and some of our clothes. Tonight is our Porter party and we all eat together and give them their tips. We had a great time dancing and singing until 10 p.m. The cook also made Eleanor a 56^th birthday cake. Next day we hiked uphill all the way to Thomgas. We have lunch here and then get on the bus to Tamsen and arrive there at 6.30 pm. It was another one of those scary roads but the views were spectacular. We camped for the night just outside of the town on a terraced field. This was the end of the trek.

Next morning we were back on the bus and on our way to Chitiwan National Park. A new adventure waits for us. We camped by the river next to the bus, the porters are worried about the big animals coming across the river and into our camp.

Marge and trek leader Peter on the elephant.

We took a small boat across the river and went for an elephant ride in the late afternoon. We sat in a box that held four people on the back of the elephant. The elephant driver sat forward between the ears of the elephant. We saw about six Rhinos, Sloth Bear, Monkeys and small deer. The elephant driver would charge after the Rhinos and you would have all these little saplings hitting you in the face, apparently the elephant did not care if the bushes hit him.

That night we had a great dinner in camp and two big bonfires, the porters are still scared and stayed up most of the night and kept a fire going. They put my tent on the outskirts, bet they thought the Beast would get me first. Next day, we drove back to Kathmandu and the end of my trip. It was a marvelous time and I know I will have to come back again.

(Back to top)