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Day 6 - Part 2
Wednesday, 05 May 2010
After a 3 1/2 hour hike up and a 2 hour hike down the Renjo Pass, our lunch was well appreciated. We packed our bags and headed to our next destination. Most trekkers hire guides, to show them the way through the mountains. They also hire porters to carry their heavy stuff. Reuben and I decided to go solo. We didn’t have huge packs but we brought: sleeping bags, warm clothes, toiletries, cards, travel scrabble, tempur-pedic pillows, a yoga mat, a water filter & metal bottles, socks, hankies and snacks.
It was supposedly a 2 hour hike across a glacier to the town of Thaknak. No problem, right? We took out our trusty map and walked down past two lakes until we reached the correct trail. At that point we needed to put on our rain gear as it was beginning to snow. Once we crested the moraine, the landscape changed dramatically. It looked like we were on the moon. We made our way across gray, thick sand, up and over multiple rocks, and around pools of chilly glacier water. The path felt a little strange, as it was difficult. Most of the people on these trails wouldn’t deal well with scrambling over slippery rocks, especially if they had hired a few yaks. We saw a rock that had a painted on advertisement for the Friendship Lodge. That seemed like a good sign so we continued on. We stopped at a water crossing that was about 7 feet wide. Reuben picked up a few rocks and plunged them into the river and we hopped across. The snow continued to come down. We came to another crossing. This time it was about 25 feet across and the water current was quiet fast. Looking up and down river there were no other crossings in sight. The only option was to take off our clothes, carry our packs over our head and wade across. With icy chunks in the water, snow coming down and a fast current, I don’t think so!! We decided to go back to the main trail. I was tired from the Renjo Pass. It was very frustrating to turn around, but it was the smart thing to do.
Once we got back to the main trail, we could have taken the “walk of shame” back to Gokyo and stayed another night. Instead we decided to go south. We walked down, down, down searching for another trail to lead us across the glacier. Looking at our map, we saw a small river crossing near a guest house in a place called Na. The crossing was easy and the guest house had a fire on. We had a decision to make though. If we stayed down, I knew that I would lack any motivation to go up the Chola Pass. It was about 5pm. There was just enough daylight to make it to Thaknak. We hiked up some steep, off-trail pastures and hillsides until we found the main trail on the other side of the valley. I was moving slow!!! We got to Thaknak as the sun was setting and some kind Nepali guides showed us to the infamous Friendship Lodge. We had made it. The food was delicious and the beds were cozy. After talking to some locals we realized that the correct trail across the glacier changes every year. Currently, the trail left right out of Goyko. I contemplated hiring a guide for the rest of the journey. I would not have gotten up to the top of the Renjo Pass that morning if those two men would not have walked by. Plus, a guide certainly would have lead us the right way across the glacier. It had been a difficult day, but by far the most fun and rewarding. We would continue on our own. I slept amazingly well.
Posted: 05.05.2010
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