Day 13 - Marpha (2700m) to Dana (1446m)

Toby Diary

As predicted the wind died down last night and by morning we were back to sunny and bright as usual. However we need to reach the big bend in the river before midday when the wind would be stormy again.  After a short walk on the west bank we were down on the river bed again – at least a half mile wide at points. The path goes across the bed to the other bank diagonally with temporary wooden crossing of the various river parts.  Once on the other side we were walking parallel with a horse pack trail with Dhaulagiri in the background and villages like Tukudu in the foreground.  There were some good photo opportunities. Having crossed the main stream again at one point we headed over towards the main bend in the river and it should not have been too surprising that another crossing would be necessary to get to the high ground on the inside of the main bend. However, no bridge of any sort meant wading it! Lots of trekkers taking boots on and off and the locals having a good laugh.   Thorpey decides to use his placky bags as wellies which almost works until they leak.  More wandering up and down on the east bank being held up by the mule train.  After a proper crossing, and as the valley returns, we head for Kalopani and lunch. Good mountain views and lunch keeps us going as it has been a long morning.  Another police check point at Kalopani and on to the long second phase of the day.  Kalopani is well above the river on the west bank, as while we were contouring the river valley has turned in to a deep gorge and dropped a great distance.  Consequently, we find ourselves having to deal with very steep paths occasionally interrupted by huge landslides into the river.

The Gorge continues to deepen and the going continues to get harder until we get to Ghasa where it levels out a bit (river continues to drop).  We meet Yoko (Japanese lone trekker) at the bottom end of the village who is wisely electing to go no further today. It is gone 4pm and we are on to Dana which involves crossing the Gorge below Ghasa, after a nasty descent, and then tracking down the valley on the east bank for ‘a while’.  The east bank path is horrendously rocky and we spend a large amount of time following a dusty mule trail which slows us up. Also, it seems to go on forever and is extremely precipitous.  The sky also decides to cloud over adding to the sense of gloom. At the end before re-crossing to the west bank the path drops several hundred metres in knee and foot punishing style.  It is now getting dark and by the time we get to where I try to get a picture of the waterfall the auto on the camera takes 4 seconds.  Dana can’t be that far.......can it?  It gets darker and darker.  Jules, who has been ahead all day – ever the team player – now has his head torch on. Thorpey’s temper is running thin as he is nervous about twisting his ankle in the dark.  By the time we hit the ‘Annapurna Lodge’ at the top end of Dana it is completely dark and we have been walking for 10 hours at fast pace – completely ‘cream crackered’.   The Lodge is of the low grade but homely and cheap variety which is good.  A beer is well deserved – in fact several – and sleep is sound.  The Landlord looks a bit dodgy but his wife is an excellent, if plain, cook – particularly the Tibetan corn bread – actually bread – not the usual thin patties or cakes.

Mark Diary

We left the luxury of the Marpha hotel in the morning, a luxury for which we paid; the bill for two rooms, dinner and breakfast for four came to £25 or almost twice the ‘normal’ cost.  We walked through the village and back to the deep ravine of the Kali Gandaki valley.  The wind was gentler than yesterday although we were advised that by 11am it would have picked up to the same ferocious strength and again blowing up sand and making walking uncomfortable.  So we had about three hours to reach the point at which the river valley gently turned towards the east and therefore would provide us with some protection.  At only eight kilometres distant this should be easy. 

We walked south on the right hand side of the river bank, cutting off the corners of the meandering, pebbled river bed by walking directly across it.  As we descended along the river bed the pines that had been around the valley edges were replaced by grasses and other vegetation and the bed itself widened although the river itself still only occupied a tiny part of the valley at this time of the year.  After two hours the river bed had widened dramatically and we crossed the valley to the other side, over the various small rivulets that made up the Kali Gandaki using makeshift bridges of planks or simply walking through the more shallow parts.  No doubt all these would be swept away as the river filled during the rainy season.  We continued now on the other side of the valley which swung to our right about half a mile ahead.  The far valley side rose up as a green forest and to our right the huge Dhaulagiri dwarfed all below while on the river bank itself stood frail wooden shacks surrounded by horses. 

We returned to the far bank where the path was more obvious, although to reach it we had to wade the stream, and we continued along this side to Kalopani where we lunched.   We visited a police check point and followed the path steeply down in a narrow valley where a mud slide had blocked the path.  We criss-crossed the river and were held up by a donkey train for a while on the path before we began a knee jerking descent to a river valley floor some 1000 feet below.  By now it was getting dark.  Yet again we crossed the river and walked along the mud track on the other side, past a waterfall and continued on the path, now stumbling along in the dark.  We are getting frustrated and tired and it is hard to see the path and when we eventually reach Dana we get ourselves booked into the first place we reach, having once again crossed the river to reach the village which runs along the river bank.  It was basic but good; after the long day anywhere would be good!  In the darkness of the lodge’s main room by candlelight we have two beers, some Tibetan corn bread to die for - soft and sweet and golden on the crust - and then, on a full stomach, head to bed.