Poon Hill Trek Day 3 - Ghorepani to Poon Hill to Tadapani

The day started with the alarm going off at 4:45 am. The plan was to be at the summit of Poon Hill for sunrise at 6:21 am. It was from this point that we would get a great (and hopefully) clear view of the Annapurna side of the Himalayas. 

It was very cold, like around 35 degrees, and we did not have winter coats with us. We made up for that by putting on all our clothes at one time. Then we topped that with headlamps and hiked on. 

It was very steep. It was hard to see. There were lots of other people on the trail coming up for sunrise, and Lucy was not happy at all. Ethan ended up carrying her for the last 20 minutes. This part was probably the hardest section of the entire trail for us, made harder because we were so busy trying to get all our clothes on that I don’t think anyone drank any water. I didn’t. We will be more careful next time.

But. It. Was. Worth. It! 

From this point on, we were shadowed by Annapurna for the rest of the day. We returned to “Excellent View Guest House” to get warmed up and for breakfast. 

Lucy played with her friend one last time before we headed on for another 6 hours of hiking.

Some have said that day two was the hardest because of how much elevation you gain, but I think day three is the hardest because it just keeps going up and then down and them up again. And these were steep ups and steep downs, like 1500 feet at a time. It was rough and for me, going down was harder than going up. 

But, such a beautiful hike. 

We also didn’t realize we were going to summit again. So, after descending for 2000 feet, we climbed back up to over 10,000 feet. 

After that, the hike continued for hours, over ridges, through forests, near herds of yaks, past monkeys in the trees and then many, thousands more stone steps. 

We stopped for lunch and had some dal bhat. Other hikers come by to tell the kids that they saw them at the summit of Poon Hill at sunrise and were proud of them. So were we!

After lunch it was a bit easier going for a while. We stopped to admire a view that Ethan said included where we stayed in the village of Ulleri two days prior. He then pointed out the village we were going to stay in that night which was one hillside over. That meant another steep down, following by one last big uphill. 

Lucy chatting the entire way, including this final push to the top.

We made it to Tadapani completely exhausted, except for Lucy who was chatting with Ethan the whole time. We changed our clothes and rested in the dining hall by playing cards and reading books by the wood fire. 

The hardest part of the trek was over. Today, my Fitbit said were did over 32,000 steps. Yes, it felt like it. The next two days were all downhill and much shorter hikes.