Haggard and Happy

To Lukla, Nepal -- 2860m (9380ft)

We made it! It was a long day, probably 13-15 miles all told, but as expected it was mostly down. What up we did have at the end of the day was pretty manageable, particularly with the turbo boost of extra oxygen.  Finally, I felt like I could actually tromp up the hills without fearing the feeling of suffocation and having to stop to catch my breath.

This morning, in the lodge, I was able to FaceTime my family back in Mountain View just as they were carving into the Thanksgiving turkey.  It was a pretty chaotic phone call with the noise in the lodge, the time delay, and eight people on their end trying to see and ask questions.  Still, it was great to see everyone some 13,000 miles away.  

Leaving Namche

Partly due to the phone call, our 7:30 a.m. start was closer 8:20. Fortunately, we all have good knees for the first section consisting of 3000 ft of steep down.  Kylie opted to put her boots back on, so there was the added stress of her potentially falling.  Luckily, she made it down with only a few little stumbles.  

We were all amazed at the number of sherpas heading up with huge loads.  A dozen boxes of sodas, juices etc adds up really, really fast.  They are totally amazing, though I do wonder what all that weight supported through their head, neck, and spine does in the long term.

Mountain goats

Once at the bottom of the hill, we set our sights on Phakding, the town we’d hiked to after the first day, knowing we’d have five major suspension bridges to cross to get there. How nice it was to be surrounded not only by high, snow covered peaks, but also by trees, bushes, flowers and garden crops again.  Nevertheless, by the time we made it to town at 12:30, both kids were beat and Dex was completely fixated on his dislike for the same old, same old, Himalayan menu.

Fully refueled, at 2:00, we finally headed off again, a little apprehensive that we were only half way. Fortunately, the remaining eight miles passed by with no undue hardship.  The wide paths and relatively level paths of this lower section put us in a good mood so we could enjoy the views and stop to say hi to the dogs and cows along the way.  As an unusual layer of clouds rolled in obscuring the sun, we strolled into Lukla at 4:30.  A Chinese man we had seen up at Base Camp stopped to snap a photo of the kids.  Awesome.  We had done it!  

To celebrate, we chose one of the nicer looking lodges, Buddha Lodge, wedged up against the airport and rounded out the evening with a couple pizzas, some cards, and a chapter in our family book. For the princely sum of $10 a night, we got multiple lights, curtains, industrial carpet, and a tiled bathroom with running water!  I am very grateful we had a chance to enjoy this three week adventure, though, having caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I must say I’m looking a little bit haggard.  I think we’ll all enjoy the relative decadence of Kathmandu for a couple days before the next leg of the journey begins.