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maggie and i arrived in pokkhora on may 1st and had just enough time to buy a map and some trail mix before hitting the annapurna trail on the morning of may 3rd.  the annapurna trail is a fairly popular trekking route surrounding the annapurna mountain range in mid-western nepal.  our trek began in Besishahar and took us in a big ~300km circle, counterclockwise, to Beni.  95% of the trek is through the Annapurna Conservation Area in which there are no roads or motor-vehicles and electricity is sparse.  it took us a total of 17 days.  the trek follows the course of one river from Besishahar up to its source in the mountains at the Thorong-La pass (5417m/17,768ft) -which is the high point- and then back down along the course of another river on the other side.  sorry for the disorganization of the following account, but it's the best i can do at the moment:

it was just incredible. the first few days involved slow and relatively easy climbing through lush green hills and valleys. for almost the whole trek you're following a river up to it's source in the mountains (and then another river back down the other side) and here at the beginning the river was large and turquoise blue. there were wildflowers everywhere and rainbow-colored butterflies the size of small birds.  the trail here was fairly wide and covered with nettles and cannabis, which grows wild all over thes mountains.  we were walking only a couple of hours per day. definately the easiest part, objectively, but getting used to walking for hours every day with a big pack on your back was not at all easy. (my pack was ~11kg/25lbs).  these early days were perhaps the most difficult part psychologically... especially day 3. day 2 (my birthday!!!) had involved our first real climb and we finished the afternoon in the rain.  we were so worn out that getting back on the trail in the morning was less than easy.  my big mistake was footwear: i wore my old sneakers which proved to be grossly insufficient. i had an average of about 1.2 blisters per toe by the end of the trek. by the fourth day we started getting glimpses of snow capped mountains way off in the distance. very exciting. the tea-houses (guesthouses) at this point were probably the most minimal. in some of the bigger villages the you could get solar-heated water and relative luxury (very relative) but the towns at the beginning and end of the trek were poorest and the accomodation was extremely spartan. by days 4-5 we were getting into a good routine. on the trail by 7AM and usually finished by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. the landscape was getting dryer and dryer. walking through pine forrests and valleys full of tundra. approaching 3000m (~10,000 ft). on day 7 we reached Manang (3,500m/11,500ft) which is one of the largest cities on the trail. there is a small airport a few hours' walk away so it is well supplied. it is in the middle of a large valley at the foot of some spectacularly large mountains. looking out of our hotel room window we could see the peaks of Mt. Gangapurna (7454m/24,449ft) and Annapurna II (7939m/26,039ft, #15th highest in the world) and IV (7525m/24,682ft) larger than life. watching the sunrise was just spectacular. the sun hits the peaks of these mountains nearly an hour before it hits the ground and the colors look like fire running down the mountain. i have some amazing pics. Manang is really a spectacular place. we spent an extra day there for acclimatization as the days following involved steep climbs. on our "rest" day maggie rested and i took a morning hike up to a gompa (temple) at ~4000m to get a panoramic view of the mountains surrounding the valley and see Gangapurna's enourmous glacier & lake up close. wonderful. neither one of us had any alititude sickness which was lucky.

from Manang we decided to do a 3 day detour to lake Tilicho which is apparently the world's highest lake. it's off the main Annapurna trail, which is desireable as the development (especially around Manang) is considerable (VERY relatively speaking: remember there are no roads here so EVERYTHING that exists is carried in on foot or by donkey. that's quite limiting.) anyway, the trail to Tilicho lake is also a bit more difficult than the regular trail. we made a grueling 7 hour hike to Tilicho base camp which is at ~4,200m/13,700ft and goes past some spectacular scenery. at this point there were huge snowy mountains staring us in the face the whole way. you feel like you're walking right into the heart of the himilayas and you are. the base camp hotel was extremely spartan. no electricity or anything. consider what it means that EVERYTHING at the hotel is carried in via a steep 7 hour climb from the nearest village. a large section of the trail was over huge scree slopes (enourmous mounds of broken rock/gravel falling off the mountains) that were quite challenging: the trail, when it existed, was a few inches wide and had a 1000 meter drop down into a river on the side. often the trail would get swallowed up by falling scree for a few meters and you would have to run as the scree slid into oblivion below your feet to keep "afloat". not too difficult, normally, but we were seriously beginning to feel the altitude at this point and after exerting yourself for a few seconds you had to stop and catch your breath.  on the way there we saw a huge avelanche from a distance on one of the slopes ahead. exciting! very happy to finally make it to base camp. it was difficult to sleep. you kept waking up gasping for air. i was wishing for more hemoglobin. next day we set off for the lake at sunrise. it took us about 5 hours to make the climb up to ~5,100m/16,700ft where the lake is. at this altitude you just have to go impossibly slowly. the trail here was quite steep and the last 2-3 hours were simply zig-zagging straight up to the lake. you have to take tiny little baby steps very slowly, with one breath per step, to maintain your pace at this altitude. this, for me, was perhaps the most difficult day, psychologically. it was easier for maggie, but i kept on trying to go a little faster and then burning out and needing to rest. it was just 5 straight hours of climbing with no flats or descents. as we began to hit snow, though, i started getting more and more encouraged and feeling better. finally you're surrounded by snow (walking through it) and you have these HUGE snowy mountains all around you and you look back and you can see dozens of snowy peaks looming out of the clouds and it feels like you're on the top of the world. it's just amazing. we finally reached the lake which turned out to be completely frozen over. a huge ice lake. we were absolutely the only people that day which made it quite special. we just sat there breathing and listening to the glaciers creak and moan as they melted slowly. up here was one of the few times we needed our fleeces, coats, gloves, and hats. the sun was warm but the wind was pure ice. this area was perhaps the most amazing place i've ever been. it might as well've been the moon. we made it back to base camp around lunchtime and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing in the sun. that evening we saw our first Yaks close up which was very exciting. they're so beautiful and weird.

the next day we decided to bypass Manang and head for the next town up, Yak Karka, as a "shortcut". it turned out to be extremely difficult and involve a 9 hour hike which took us up over 4,500m mountains again, down through valleys, and then back up to 4000m where we gratefully slept. this was another killer day. Manang is basically the last real village on this side of the pass and all the settlements between here and the pass are basically just trekkers hotels. next day we made it to Thorong La High-Camp which is at 4,800m/15,700ft and involved a steep steep climb in preparation for the pass. compared to other trekkers we were doing quite well, though, because we'd had a few days of practice at these altitudes at the lake. the rule is slowly slowly. impossibly slowly! thank god for snickers and trail mix. the landscape at this point was pure desert. there was almost NO vegetation anywhere and it felt quite a bit like hiking on the moon. it was still quite beautiful, but very strange and surreal. Yaks were common on distant slopes. what are they doing up there?? next morning we head for the pass. this is literally the high-point of the circuit. Thorong La pass is at 5,417m (17,768ft) and is considered the highest mountain pass in the world. the climb to the pass, though, turns out to be more gradual and easier than the climb to the lake. or maybe we'd just had more practice. at this point i'd learned how to put myself into a trance and just climb slowly and steadily without thinking of anything but my breathing. it's the only way. the pass itself turned out to be a bit anti-climactic. it's very high and very beautiful, but the views are actually quite inferior to those we saw at the lake. we were feeling very happy to've seen the lake at this point. i was thinking it had been a hard climb, but then we had to go down. after the pass you need to descend over 2000 meters before you reach Muktinath, the next settlement. it involved about 4 hours of nonstop, unforgiving descent, which was absolutely killer on the knees and toes. by the time we reached Muktinath, though, things were beginning to get green again which was quite a relief. in Muktinath, which is in Mustang which is an old Tibetan kingdom and part of the tibetan plateau we had amazing views of Mt. Dulighuri which is ~8,200m/26,900ft... the highest mountain in the region (#7 in the world) and only a few hundred meters shorter than Everest. very dramatic. the next few days were through more of Mustang which, although the cities are well irrigated, is very dry and harsh. we spent ~6 hours walking through a sand-storm on one day (maggie was nearly blown away... she was not happy) and spent days walking through valleys that looked more like Mars than the himilalayas. still very striking and beautiful though. as we passed the 2-week mark things started to get lush and green (and hot!) again and we started realizing we were close to home... which was very bad, psychologically. as soon as we realized it was almost over, we began to want it be over and lost all of our drive. we put in a few greuling 10 hour days (with dysfunctional knees and bloody feet) and finally made it to Beni on day 17. we had to stay there an extra day due to a general strike in all of nepal and then finally took a bus back to Pokkhorra 19 days after we left.