Annapurna Base Camp/ Bamboo (2310m/7578ft) 6 – 7 hours hike
From the Annapurna base camp, we retrace our steps to the Bamboo village. Today’s trek is downhill so it shouldn’t be very difficult. Besides, we will always have the company of the extraordinary landscape to cheer us up.
Today was actually a 15 mile day, which was ok. Somehow we still had a positive elevation gain of 1,428 feet, due mostly to about 500 stairs between Bamboo and Sinuwa. There was no where to stay in Bamboo, so we continued to Sinuwa and on to lower Sinuwa. This was day 4 without a shower.
I forgot to say I discovered popcorn at the top and shared some with others as we were warming ourselves over the stove
It was one of the better food options. My evening entertainment was a book of crossword puzzles from 2012 which I found while opening boxes. I kind of got into these puzzles again.
The morning plan was rather unorganized and I wasn't quite sure what was going on for timing. I was awakened for the sunrise, which was a non-event due to the clouds. Even so, I took a bunch of photos. This is probably the closest to getting a photo of the top of Annapurna 1 (to the right under the break in the clouds)
Here are some other shots...
It was odd to see some birds in the area - looked like a sparrow
The main feature of Base Camp was a memorial to those who did not survive the climb up Annapurna. This area was covered by prayer flags and you can see the strong wind we had at the top
The climbers camp further along the Annapurna glacier along the left side
After the non-event of the sunrise, we went back in for breakfast, but not before we saw people ascending from MBC to see the sunrise....
Just as we started out of Base Camp a med-evac helicopter landed
I was so happy to be out of the primitive facilities of base camp that I almost ran down the mountain. We made amazing time.
Here is a shot of the closed trail - the trail closed due to the avalanche which caused the diversion
After we went back across the river, we took off our micro-spikes. This was good because walking along the river rocks in the spikes was rather painful on the feet. Here are some other shots of the descent. Quite honestly, I had forgotten much of this part of the trip from the uphill journey and was amazed with all the work I had done coming up.
We stopped at Dobhan for lunch, at the same Inn where we overnighted. The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny. I had spaghetti with tomato and cheese sauce which had some spices in it and it tasted quite good. I warmed my wet clothing in the sun and took off my shoes. I could have quite easily had a nap.
Here are some more photos as we came into Bamboo, including the nice cat doing its loaf imitation
We were due to sleep in Bamboo tonight, but there was no clean place available, so we continued on to Sinuwa. This added another mile to the day and it meant more stairs - a lot more. On reflection, it was good we continued because it meant we didn't need to do these stairs, plus the "official 1000 stairs" the following day.
In Sinuwa there was still no room, so we continued another half a mile to Lower Sinuwa and I was wondering if we would ever stop for the night....
Once we got to Lower Sinuwa we were able to see the 1000 stairs of tomorrow
and where we were going for the next evening
We arrived at Lower Sinuwa at about 4pm and thankfully found suitable lodging. The dividers between rooms were so flimsy you could see between them, so I slept with headphones in to reduce noise
There were some lovely views and the sky was clear. Unfortunately, there was too much ambient light to see too many starts
Dinner was an unappetizing double decker toasted cheese sandwich and an apple
It was an unrestful night, but every moment of the day I was thankful to be off the mountain....
Where is Buni ????