Khopra Ridge to Paudwar

Day 8: 15 Oct (Khopra Ridge to Paudwar)

Morning Farewell

Today is the day of descent and we are leaving this tea house. So we packed everything, watched the sunrise & had breakfast.

PC was the first to be ready this day.

Group Photos at Khopra Ridge

Took photos on a small hill next to the tea house with the banner ‘Khopra Ridge Done!’. We took photos in Roaming Souls t-shirt, I took photo in Method 3 t-shirt. Lots of photos.

Lost but Found - Gorge Gorge Viewpoint

Started hiking at 10:00 am. George and a few of us were in the front. We kept following the trail and reached a dead end. We thought we lost our way.

But actually it was the Gorge Gorge viewpoint that was in the itinerary. It was the deepest gorge in the world with Mt. Dhaulagiri at the peak and Kali Gandaki river at the bottom - almost 7000 m (23,000 ft).

It is the longest river of Nepal - starting from Mustang.

Letters to Our Future Selves

Praveen did an activity there. He gave each of us a beautiful card of Mt. Everest and asked us to write a letter to our future self.

We all found a place near each other & wrote. As a preamble, he said when he saw me talking to Liza on a video call this morning, he felt very emotional & how much impact the people in our life has on us. That was sweet.

We took a lot of photos and continued the hike.

The Long Descent

It was a continuous descent - steps, steps & steps.

George started teaching everyone how to climb down without hurting the knees - basically use the power of hamstrings of the back leg instead of falling thus thrust on the knees.

Sheep Dog Encounter

We saw a stretch where there were sheep dogs. No sheep were to be seen, but the dogs were there. So we walked by them carefully. Asmer stayed close to the dogs and patted them while we walked by quietly.

Beautiful Views Down

It was a beautiful view down. We would stop in between & admire the views. Boni set the pace for us and we kept going. George also walked in front.

Lunch at Lareni Pun

We stopped for lunch at Lareni Pun (2650 m / 8700 ft)

Fun Incident - Jacket Rescue

Tinku’s jacket’s string was stuck in her backpack’s zipper & she couldn’t take it out. George, Roshini & Deepu started an attempt to untangle it. How many engineers are needed to… finally they did it & Tinku was happy!

Racing Against Darkness

After lunch, we continued hiking down. Boni led the way & he was almost running because none of us wanted to walk in the dark.

Finally we reached the tea house at 6pm - just before it got dark. This was Dhaulagiri tea house in Paudwar village.

Cozy but Tiny Room

Was a good place, but the double room we got was tiny - just enough space for the bed & then a table. We managed to fit our luggage & kit bag.

Final Debrief

We had dinner together - laughed & talked a lot.

After dinner, Praveen did a final debrief - reflecting on how the whole trek was. Everyone shared highlights and learnings. It was really nice & sweet to hear everyone’s stories.

Tomorrow’s Plan

He gave us an option to take a Bolero to Tatopani instead of walking in the morning. We all happily agreed.

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Tomorrow: Bolero ride to Tatopani, hot springs, and the bus journey back to Pokhara!