Day 1
Our first day on the Circuit was spent jeeping to Besisahar and then hiking to Ngadi. The jeep ride was uneventful, beyond turning my ass to hamburger thanks to Nepal’s notoriously bad roads. In Besisahar we ran into what would become a common sight on our hike: hordes of Israelis. Apparently their university summer break coincides perfectly with shoulder season on Annapurna, so they descend on the trek in droves for the cheap prices that September offers. From here you can opt to take a bus to Bhulbhule or go for the 1.5 hour hike. We chose the hike to stretch our legs a bit after our jeep ride. About 15 minutes into our walk the rain came, lightly at first but quickly developing into a downpour. The buses going by were full of Israelis radiating pity.
We hit Bhulbhule right on schedule, but decided that getting a head start on the horde behind us would be better than stopping there for the night. The next town, Ngadi, was just an hour-long hike away. At Ngadi we got our first guesthouse experience, and were exposed to what would become our menu for the next 12 days: dal bhat, Tibetan bread, chapattis, and veg curry. At this point Snickers bars also remained relatively inexpensive.
When we settled in for the evening I was surprised by the day’s hiking, mostly because of the scenery. I was expecting sheer cliffs and massive rock faces, but the first day was very green, almost lush. The landscape was covered in ferns and lots of deciduous plants. There were no evergreens to speak of. It felt a lot like Munnar’s tea plantations.
Day 2
Day 2 started out much like day 1: with rain. The morning brought a downpour with it. Jess and I decided to brave the rain, and started out early with the Israelis radiating pity once again. We got our first real ascent of the trek on day 2, with a 420m climb from Ngadi to Bahundanda. Most of it was done on stone stairs akin to the Inca Trail. Not a bad start to the morning.
Following a quick break in Bahundanda we pressed on towards Jagat, our destination for the day. The trail map was a bit deceptive, not really doing justice to the slog on rocky cutbacks that took us to Jagat, but we got there around lunchtime. This method would become our daily routine, and we found it suited us well. We’d usually try to depart by 6-6:30am, and finish around 12 or 1pm. We wouldn’t stop for lunch before stopping for the day. We figured that sitting for 45 minutes to an hour would make our legs tighten up and sap our will to press on. This is how we hiked for the rest of the Circuit, and I highly recommend it if you don’t mind hiking slightly hungry.
After two guesthouses I started to get a picture of costs on the trail, at least during shoulder season (September). Most rooms were free (if you ate at the guesthouse) or 100-200 rupees. Most places were only 100 rupees for two people. They make their money on the food, which was simple and filling but quite pricey. A dal bhat would run 200-300 rupees; curries similar, and extra rice would be 100. Dal bhat was usually the best value, since you would get free refills of dal and rice as long as you could take ‘em.
Day 3
Our first day with no rain! The weather cooperated and we had a beautiful blue sky as company. We were planning on at least Tal for the day, but ended up pushing past it. Our final destination was Karte, which made for about 6 hours of hiking and a gradual ascent of 570m.
The views today were considerably nicer than what we had before. We ended up in slot canyons lined with waterfalls and steeper cliffs, and the trail wound its way along these. The trail was still much greener than I was expecting, but we started to get some peeks at the rockier stuff that awaited us. Following a nice series of cutbacks right before Tal we were greeted with wide-open vistas and excellent photos. Looking back you could see the entire valley we had been in all morning, and looking ahead you could see Tal, which was set in a flat valley with a river and peaks surrounding.
These were the first photos I’d taken where I really felt like I was in the Himalayas. Luckily for me, the vistas only got better from here on out.
