Enjoying the memories the 'walks' thread brought up,
My group mate MD and I hop in his car and drive upstate NY for an hour
about 5-7 times a year for day hikes / walks in Harriman National Park.
The rituals of filling the day pack with lunch , smokeables , essentials
leaving the car and getting out there on the trails to
tromp up and down the hills and through the forests till exhausted, sunburnt, windburnt always works wonders - you know , everyone's quiet on the way back home , knackered' but satisfied .
But 2 trips to Himalayas blew out all my systems , being 'out' for weeks at a time .
In '98 I did the Annapurna Circuit 'trek' for around 2 weeks ,
i dunno exactly but more than 100 miles overall.
Hired a great young Sherpa Guide (could speak English) and a porter (jus try it without a porter) from a Kathmandu Co. vetted beforehand and off we went to trail in Dumre .
Carefully crossing landslide areas , trying to getting used to the food.
In the first days along the trail we picked enough ripe green mari j to fill a small pillow sized sack .
At Syange we made after dinner run to nearby hot spring and a group of about 5 of us
(almost all chilled out N Europeans) soaked and passed around joints
('you Americans don't mix tabac in your joints' , 'true, true ... now pass it over ' ) ,
getting ripped under full moon light above the high Himal snow and ice .
3 Scandanavian woman arrived at the edge of the steaming pool ,
we all look up from the fat j , they strip and climb in .
After 2 more days we are getting much higher up all stones and gravel now ,
panting hard , stopping all the time.
20,000 ft. Himal wall always on the left ...
We round a rock corner and suddenly there's the 'stone age' Tibetan style village of Ghyaru .
Just stunned to see it , all the cliches - 'hasn't changed since (fill in the blank) ... century'
Actually being there - amid the ruins of stone houses bursting with snow pack ,
Gyalzen sticking his head around a corner as an arrow whizzed by
(village archers practicing in warm afternoon light) ,
sitting up on the roof of the house we stayed in and smoking gazing at the rock and ice of the Annapurna's towering above (talk about 'ripped backsides'), a few big black birds cruising by at eye level ,
prayer flags flapping in the night ...
Fantastic (and a big grubby, natch') . About halfway through at that point .
in 2000 I went back and did the trek to Everest Base Camp . also excellent
Glad I went then
My group mate MD and I hop in his car and drive upstate NY for an hour
about 5-7 times a year for day hikes / walks in Harriman National Park.
The rituals of filling the day pack with lunch , smokeables , essentials
leaving the car and getting out there on the trails to
tromp up and down the hills and through the forests till exhausted, sunburnt, windburnt always works wonders - you know , everyone's quiet on the way back home , knackered' but satisfied .
But 2 trips to Himalayas blew out all my systems , being 'out' for weeks at a time .
In '98 I did the Annapurna Circuit 'trek' for around 2 weeks ,
i dunno exactly but more than 100 miles overall.
Hired a great young Sherpa Guide (could speak English) and a porter (jus try it without a porter) from a Kathmandu Co. vetted beforehand and off we went to trail in Dumre .
Carefully crossing landslide areas , trying to getting used to the food.
In the first days along the trail we picked enough ripe green mari j to fill a small pillow sized sack .
At Syange we made after dinner run to nearby hot spring and a group of about 5 of us
(almost all chilled out N Europeans) soaked and passed around joints
('you Americans don't mix tabac in your joints' , 'true, true ... now pass it over ' ) ,
getting ripped under full moon light above the high Himal snow and ice .
3 Scandanavian woman arrived at the edge of the steaming pool ,
we all look up from the fat j , they strip and climb in .
After 2 more days we are getting much higher up all stones and gravel now ,
panting hard , stopping all the time.
20,000 ft. Himal wall always on the left ...
We round a rock corner and suddenly there's the 'stone age' Tibetan style village of Ghyaru .
Just stunned to see it , all the cliches - 'hasn't changed since (fill in the blank) ... century'
Actually being there - amid the ruins of stone houses bursting with snow pack ,
Gyalzen sticking his head around a corner as an arrow whizzed by
(village archers practicing in warm afternoon light) ,
sitting up on the roof of the house we stayed in and smoking gazing at the rock and ice of the Annapurna's towering above (talk about 'ripped backsides'), a few big black birds cruising by at eye level ,
prayer flags flapping in the night ...
Fantastic (and a big grubby, natch') . About halfway through at that point .
in 2000 I went back and did the trek to Everest Base Camp . also excellent
Glad I went then