Naya Pul to Ghandruk trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
Nov 2, 2019 – Ghorepani to Dhan Kharka
I set an early alarm. BUT everyone in my lodge had already headed up to Poon Hill before I awoke.
Not having people to follow, I used trusty Maps.me offline to find the trail.
It takes about an hour from Ghorepani (2870m) to climb to the famous Poon Hill viewpoint (3210m).
Though I’d heard plenty of complaints about the crowds, I really enjoyed dawn looking over at Dhalagiri and Annapurna.
An ideal time to use my PeakFinder app: Dhaulagiri I (8167m), Tukuche (6920m), Nilgiri (6940m), Annapurna South, Annapurna I (8091m), Hiunchuli (6441m) and Tarke Kang (formerly known as Glacier Dome; 7193m). And Fishtail, of course.
The Pokhara – Jomson planes zipped past frequently.
One of the last to arrive, I was also one of the last to leave.
My $4 room in Ghorepani had a million dollar view.
After climbing all the way UP to Ghorepani yesterday, I now dropped 900m to the Ghar Khola river. It was fast and enjoyable to descend instead of climbing. The non-motorized trail stays far away from new road building.
And Interesting seeing where the farms were at with winter coming.
Many are trying to encourage farmers to switch to petrotoxin fuels. But everywhere I looked, families and lodges were using free firewood, instead.
Up to Ghorepani the buildings all had blue corrugated iron roofs. Here they have more stone houses, many retaining traditional rock-slab shingles.
After crossing the Ghar Khola it was UP again to Swanta (2270m).
Lonely Planet:
The increasing popularity of Khopra Ridge is evident here with the number of new lodges recently built or under construction.
Swanta is the prettiest village so far. Super clean.
But I carried on up the mountain on a narrow path through bamboo forrest.
I was hungry by the time I reached Evergreen Rest Cottage (2540m) for lunch.
Egg noodle soup is my regular lunch feed.
The restaurant is in an isolated, lovely spot close to waterfall, hydroelectric and lumber cutting yard.
I reached Dhan Kharka (3020m) by about 3:30pm. Happy to stop, I lay down for siesta.
Though Ghoripani had no mobile phone reception for my network, Dhan Kharka did — IF I walked out to a rocky point away from the lodge. I was able to post some things online celebrating my 62nd birthday — November 2nd.
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