Last day of the trek. We thought we would go to Base Camp the next day but poor weather made the trail dangerous so we decided not to. Another short morning of less than four hours walking. A hilarious moment when we had to jump off the trail to let a yak pass- Pasang seemed very concerned so we got the idea that yaks are not to be messed with. We held onto each other on a tiny cliff overhang as the huge beast swung his head and took up the whole trail. A few climbs again this morning as usual and more suspension bridges that i now barely notice how swingy and bouncy they are.
We passed through the village of Shiyo and noticed how different the villages at this height are. Made out of dark heavy stone rather than wood or cement, the villages are bigger and darker looking than previously. Saying that, there was a big brightly painted school in Shiyo. We climbed to the top of a hill and unexpectedly early saw Samagaun (3550 mentres high) on the plain in between mountain peaks ahead. We got into town at around 11am, it did not have as welcoming a vibe as previous villages. There seemed to be a lot of men, not least the hardcore teams of summiters coming back from summiting Manaslu.
We found a hotel and relaxed and waited for the summit team to join us as they came back from Base Camp (Cath’s partner summitted so we’ve essentially trekked to meet them). Samagaun was so damp and cold Cath and I were sat both in my sleeping bag with all our layers on, laughing at how tragically dirty from hiking we were. The summiters made it back in the late afternoon and were very tired. They told us about the trail and we agreed to not go to Base Camp and to get the helicopter back to the real world the next day.
We then waited for two more days to get a helicopter due to bad weather…but that’s another story about being stuck in a strange mountain town that has nothing to do with hiking!
about 7.4km
1Year/52Hikes 2019 