Day 17: Samagaun to Samdo
Length: 7.73km
ElevationL 600m
The morning was once again lovely. A nice cool temperature, good sun, and great visibility. We left Samagaun to head up the valley more to SAmdo, which was promised as a stopover place on our way to Larke pass.
The morning started out with a wonderful surprise. Scoots! She had made her way to Samagoan at somepoint, and was out saying hi. She began whining and jumping around in excitement at seeing us again. So we hiked as a fivesome again, with a couple other hikers asking us about our history with Scoots.
Our time together didn’t last long though, as we had an actual river crossing to do. We didn’t want to abandon Scoots far from her home again, so we gave her goodbye pets, and went stonehopping actoss multiple creeks.
There was normally a bridge at this location, and a beautiful ake an hour upstream or so, but an avalanche 5 days prior displaced the entire lake, causing a massive flood, and wiping out the bridge that we were supposed to be crossing. Us two weeks ago may have wanted to make the detour to see a dried out mountain lake, but at this point we are chronically exhausted, and just wanted to push on.
The rest of the valley was beautiful as always. Manaslu peak disappeared behind close,r lower mountains. It was a straight, wide pathed gentle uphill which made the walking easy. We made it to Samdo with plenty of time to spare.
Samdo is really just a place with hotels. I ended up on the roof of ours after exploring a few hallways. Some very nice views for sure.
We spent the afternoon in the dining room playing cards, reading, and just generally passing time. At this point we are both ready to leave the valley. Go somewhere with indoor heating, a warm shower, and laundry access. The repetitiveness of the days is starting to add up.
2025 Graham speaking now: I think its really interesting how from my description a near year ago, this was just a ‘blah’ day. But look at the photos! I think they are just stunning. It just goes to show how mental state and familiarity can influence your memories. We had seen so many mountains and yaks, the beauty of the range didn’t really register anymore. We were so chronically exhausted, Cam especially, that it didn’t matter to some degree as well. The lack of protein probably didn’t help either. Apart from lentils, the only other protein throughout the whole hike we had were two eggs each.
Day 18: General Wander from Sambdo
Length 8.9km
Elevation: 600m
Today was supposed to be an acclimatization hike, as we prepare for the +5000m Larkye pass. The original itinerary had us walking to the desolate Nepal-Tibet border at Raili. The border crossing is closed now as a relic from the pandemic, and China seems slow to reopen. But this was a historic trading route, used for at least hundreds of years before.
We headed that direction anywhay, first passing by Larke Bazar. As the name would suggest, this is where all the Tibetan and Nepali traders would meet back in the day and exchange goods. Now it is just one hotel.
We passed another herd of yaks on our way. There were a few calves goofing around, and they were quite fun to watch. We had no general end location, wo we did not mind spending time watching the wildlife.
The wildlife was abundant today as well. We had a tense faceoff with another group of yaks. Shubus likes egging them on then running away. There was a herd of Blue Sheep (similar to Bighorn Sheep) that galloped across our path. But the most common animal today was the marmot.
These marmots were everywhere. Their burrows everywhere. And they are fat dudes too. They waddle around like they own the joint, and then as soon as any non-marmot gets remotely close, they dash back to their hole to hide. We witnessed a few fighting each other, but mostly we just got into staring contests with them.
As it was a slow day, we took lots of breaks. One was in a nice field with some big rocks. Shubus wanted a personal photoshoot, so him and Hari went off. Cam and I almost went to sleep. We then hear Hari and Shubus giggling like schoolboys. They were taking pictures while using us as props! Some good fun in the wild.
The scenery today was very bleak. Gone are the fields of juniper. In are the fields of patchy grass and small shrubs. We could not see much for great peaks, instead rocky ones with little bits of snow. It is a desolate landscape as you surpass 4000m in elevation. One nice to witness but not to stay.
The afternoon was simple, hanging out in the dining room reading and playing cards. It started to snow in the evening, a heavy wet snow that melted on impact. We were excited to see it, cause it meant tomorrow would be beautiful. No fog.
We head out for the final stretch tomorrow. One more easier day, then the behemoths start.
Day 19: Samdo to Dharamsala
Length: 6.16km
Elevation: 710m
As imagined, the morning was cold. Fresh snow covered the town of Samdo, the surrounding pastureland, and the mountains beyond that. The sun hadn’t quite peaked out yet, creating a fill view of white, everywhere we looked. We headed out an hour later. The sun and clear sky started melting all of the snow around.
It melts slow this high up. We started on the path to Larke Bazar that we were on yesterday, but didn’t veer off at all. Just powered through the valley towards Dharamsala.
The mountains with the fresh snow were stunning. We walked paralell to the back side of Nike [Nigh-kay], with its multiple sharp jagged peaks perfectly outlined by the fresh snow. The front faces Samagaun, where we were a couple days prior. We contemplated which faces were skiable (the obvious answer being none of them), and how much more skill we would have needed.
The first rest stop resembled that of a bus stop. Theres nowhere else to go on this path except Dharamsala. Many other hikers are with us now, its impossible to have a full view without them. About 60 start Manaslu every day, and I would imagine the same number will cover the pass with us.
Its was just serene mountains, and freshly fallen snow on juniper the whole way up. A strong sun too.
Dharamsala wasn’t much more than a couple of mobile units and tents. It only exists to serve hikers about to make the pass. A kitchen runs out of a stone hut. But the view of the valley was fantastic from the top. Larke pass is hidden by a glacier, so we are not able to see it yet. It will be an early morning and a long day tomorrow.
We had a wonderful afternoon laying in the grass through. The resident husky type dog sat down with us why we laid on a rock, taking in the mountains. Hari was even so sweet to get us a mattress and pillows to lie on in the outdoors. Eventually it got too cold as some clouds moved in, and we retied to the dining hall.
We had a nice dinner chat with Curtis, a dude from Ottawa looking for meaning, and a 81 year old Scottish Bhuddist monk, whos name we never got. He had quite the tales to him. He’s been a monk living in Bangkok for the last 52 years. The conversation throughout relayed about internal drive and community. The dichotomy between Curtis and the monk was quite something to witness. They had made friends on the trail, and this evening appeared to be the climax of the relationship.
Curtis had envisioned a plan of ‘breaking’ himself to find inner peace. To reach the lowest of lows. After that all of his problems would be solved. The low point appeared to be two days prior, on his day trip to Manaslu base camp (4800m), where he got so altitude sick he had to crawl back to Samagaun. That low didn’t solve the problem, whatever it may have been, so he was anticipating Larke pass (5100m) to be even worse.
The monk was trying his best to explain inner peace. Its not exactly one trek in the mountains to solve job dissatisfaction, the feeling of lostness, and all sorts of directionless soul issues. But he was tremendously suffering from elevation, so his points were succinct and wise, as there was not much energy for anything else. We tried explaining to Curtis that our near 10 months abroad at this time had only made us more confused about life direction, but he didn’t like that. We all parted ways for the evening, each with different goals in mind. Curtis to find the answers to personal fulfillment, the monk to just make it over the pass alive, and for us to have a lovely day in the mountains.
