by site editor Rick McCharles

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Another beautiful morning.

Another fantastic breakfast.

Omelette. Toast. Muesli. Corn flakes. And much more.

Alf and I are both coffee addicts. We’d have 2-3 mugs to start each day.

We shared this camp with hundreds of these smelly, entertaining characters.

Climbing over the first ridge we saw our titular destination, Kuari Pass.

On both sides of Kuari we saw no people. The herds were already gone south for the season.

Seasonal herders huts were empty.

This was the biggest waterfall en route.

It dropped hundreds of metres in stages.

I doubt this bridge will EVER be taken out by flood.

I once had a backpack damaged on a pack animal. Straps rubbed a hole in it.

Happily, our mule drivers were very careful. Sleeping mats were wrapped around our gear.

There are butterflies everywhere in the Himalaya.

Alf and I thought we might DASH up to the pass for sunset.

Distances are deceptive. That climb takes 90min!

Instead we used the afternoon for reading and writing. There’s plenty of time for both on a guided trek. I carried two iPods. And began Games of Thrones.

Alpenglow was amazing this evening.

That afternoon I’d tried to get close to an insanely colourful Himalayan Monal.

And we were spied upon by a sentinel on the ridge.

Our cook was sure it was a bharal (Himalayan blue sheep). Our guide wasn’t so sure. Compare with another photo of bharal from nearby Nanda Devi National Park.

Alpine Ibex? Serow? Goral?

Leave a comment if you can identify by that profile.

It was Blue Sheep being pursued by George Schaller and Peter Matthiessen in Nepal 1973. Their adventures documented in one of my favourite books, The Snow Leopard.

BEST of all, just before dark Alf spotted “Baloo“. A Momma Asian black bear and 3 cubs.

That photo was taken at 18 times zoom. The zoom was sufficient, but light was fading fast.

Those are the first bears Alf has seen in the wild. And the first our Guide had seen on this particular trek. A rare sighting.

See all high resolution photos from this day.

day 0 | day 1 | day 2 | day 3 | day 4 | day 5 | day 6