Annapurna trek

Alright... Finally finished the arduous task of sorting through lots of lots of trekking photos!

The trek took us from little villages in a tropical climate, to barren, desert-like mountains high in the Himalayas. We started at 800 meters (2600 feet) and reached our highest point at 3900 meters (13000 feet), which is over 2000 feet above the height of Mt. Baker.

Tropical valleys, waterfalls, and terraced hills dominated the lower portion of the trek... notice the pack-mule train going down the trail in the first photo. Those things got to be a bit annoying, since you would pass hundreds of them in a single day.




The upper part of the trek took us into the Mustang region of Nepal (pronounced moo-stang)... It's an arid, desert region on the border of Tibet. Our furthest point (before having to cross a 5400 meter pass) was the ancient pilgrimage city of Muktinath.



Kali Gandaki river valley, on the way to Kagbeni:


Tibetan-style villages on the way north:



Prayer flags flying in the wind around a small shrine, on the way up to Poon Hill:


On the way to Muktinath... The scenery dramatically changed, once we got above the snow line. In the first photo, you can see the walled fortress-city of Jarkot behind me:





A stone gompa, with Mani stones in front:


Dal bhat! A traditional Nepalese staple -- basically lentils and rice... it's actually pretty tasty:


More mountain scenery from the Mustang region: