Groundless Ground: Reed-decks and Loose Gravel
July Inner Wisdom Field Guide
In Nepal, there is a popular trekking route, the Annapurna Circuit, that runs from Besisahar, a town between Pokhara and Kathmandu, climbs to the high Mustang valley, passes over the Thorung La Pass, and ends in Pokhara—a route that circles the Annapurna massif. Now there is a road along this path but when I walked it, in 1984, there weren’t any roads. You walked a trail that meandered through lush foothills, waded across rivers, spanned suspension bridges, climbed steep cliffs, wandered over plateaus dotted with grazing yaks, slogged over a snow-covered pass at 17,769 feet elevation, and then descended into rice-terraced valleys. The trek took me 25 days.
When I hiked the route, the main mode of transportation was by foot. Sometimes, you would see a donkey caravan and when you got high enough, there was a small runway that was mainly used for the plane that delivered mail and evacuated injured tourists. But mostly you walked.
The walk was arduous and I wasn’t prepared well. My backpack was too heavy and my shoes weren’t great. I quickly got dysentery which made walking even harder.