Our plan was to go to Pokhara and relax there for a week before leaving to New Zealand. Except, we realized that we would get bored. Maybe we’re nomads by nature, so we decided to go for a little 4-day introductory trek in Annapurna region called Poon Hill (or Ghorepani-Poon Hill, or as we marked in the ACAP-form, Ghorepani-Ghandruk circuit). We decided this time to go without a guide since trek was short we knew already a little how tea house treks work. 

A word about the trekking bureaucracy. On Everest our trekking agency handeled all of the official papers for us so on this trek we had figure it out by ourselves. We managed to do it without much of a hassle. For this trek ( and most of the walking treks) we needed trekking permit TIMS and nature park permit ACAP. In Pokhara it was easy to find the permit office and we just needed to fill up few papers with our personal info and our trekking route. We paid 2000 rupees for each of the permits and the whole process took less than an hour. 

We started pretty luxuriously as we took a Jeep ride to Nayapul, from where the trek started. From there we went through Birethanti (where there is a checkpoint for permits) all the way to our first overnight stay village Tikhe Dhunga. The first day was pretty uneventful, the new problem compared to Everest was that it was really hot. We wanted to go to mountains partly to escape the heat of Pokhara, but Tikhe Dhunga was situated only 1540m above sea level, so apparently not high enough.

The second day we started early to avoid the worst heat, since we had to ascent 1,3km to Ghorepani, which sounded a lot. The first ascent to Ulleri (2070m) was all zigzaging stairs, which were not so bad in the morning when you still have strength. But still luckily after Ulleri started what a local guide called “Nepali flat”, meaning only occasional stairs with still ups and downs. We were soaked in sweat after the first ascent, but luckily the rest of the way went in the forest, and in the end was not so bad.

The third day was our absolute favourite for this trek. We woke up at 4.30am, dressed, grabbed the head lights and headed to Poon Hill (3200m), the lookout place for Annapurna range and Dhaulgiri range. We were definitely not alone, it was like a pilgrimage where hundreds were heading to see the sun rise over the mountains.

After we had breakfast in a form of Tibetan bread and started our way to Ghandruk. The way went first again up to Deurali pass (3180m), where we noticed that Poon Hill was totally overrated! We were there almost alone and the vistas were all as beautiful as from Poon Hill. We really enjoyed walking there.

 The way was surprisingly long and by the time we got to Tadapani (half way) we were already tired. So we decided to stop for lunch. And after that we were full of famous Dhal Bat power and had again the strength to continue. Soon after Tadapani we also saw something we hadn’t expected – langurs! They were moving in the trees above us (so no good pics, sorry folks). Otherwise it was just a nice walk in the forest down down to Ghandruk (1940m).

It was raining in the evening, but the morning dawned again with sunshine that accompanied our way down. The forest changed to terrace fields and small villages. At first the trail was nice. It was a small path going down the hill and past the fields. Rest of the way the route went just along the driveway and we had to dodge busses and jeeps that were coming from Ghandruk. We descented about one kilometer, walking total 3 hours (12 km) to Nayapul where we took a taxi back to Pokhara. To be honest, a dodgy little taxi drove us almost more quickly and comfortably than a modern and more expensive Jeep.