Annapurna Circuit Trek Day 2 Chame to Upper Pisang

In Annapurna Circuit Trek Day 2 Chame to Upper Pisang, we start trekking the Annapurna trail today, Hooray!  This is a great day.  I felt ecstatic to be hiking the Annapurna trail.  The weather wasn’t the best for photos, but it was great for walking and being outdoors.  I could feel the crispness of the air on my cheeks and smell the pine trees in my breath.  The ground was solid, and the trail was wide.  I was set to go.  Come with me as I trek to Upper-Pisang.

If you missed day 1 of the trek you can check it out here. You can move ahead to day 3 of the trek here.

Waking up in Chame

I woke up in Chame with a huge morning stretch.  Golly, it feels good!  I went outside and “crunch.”  Guess what I stepped in.  Snow!  It snowed last night while I was sleeping.  Awe, it was so beautiful.  It felt like Christmas, but it was April. I hurried outside to look around.  The mountains and trees were covered with snow.

“Hello!” “Hello!”  I turned around to find the owner of the tea house trying to get my attention.  He thought I was leaving.  We started talking.  He sounded like Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith Show.  He said, “You have to pay before you leave.”  My reply was “Barney!  Is that you?”  My western humor left the man noticeably confused.  “Yes, It’s you.  Good to see you old pal!”  I gave him a hug.

He really thought I was leaving.  I explained I was only looking around.  Finally I told him I was going to pack my gear, eat breakfast, then pay my bill.  This made him very happy.  “Ok. You pay.”  “Yes Barney, I will pay my bill.”

I finished looking around then went to pack my gear.  I went to the dining hall and ordered a pancake.  After 30 minutes of waiting a flat piece of semi cooked wheat dough was placed in front of me.  I already knew it tasted disgusting.  Read this blog post on what to expect before coming to Nepal.  It tasted like somebody dropped it in sand, then flash cooked it on both sides, and then stuck it in the snow to cool.

Fast forward 30 minutes.

Trekking to Upper Pisang

So, there I was walking in between two supermodels.  We met 5 minutes earlier, when I threw a snowball at them.  The snowball missed them, and they laughed at me for how terribly I throw.  I got kind of board talking with them so, took a 20 min rest while they walked ahead.

It was nice to hang back and watch the snow melt off of the trees.  I listened to the river in the background.  It reminded me of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.  After enough time had passed, I started walking again.  I crossed the Marshyangdi river and continued up the road.  While I trekked, I had to be cautious of snow clump falling from the trees.  However, there were times when i thew caution into the wind.

Because the weather was still cloudy, I didn’t have the best mountain views.  However, I still enjoyed the scenery on the trek.  I crossed the Marshyangdi river again, then ascended into a beautiful pine forest.  As a result of the snow melting off the branches, I got soaked walking through the forest.  In addition, I was stuck behind a group of extremely slow trekkers.

Tip:  If you walk slow please move over so people can pass.  Be nice.  You might have to share a tea house with them.

After about an hour of walking through the dripping forest,  I came to a road.  The road was nice, because there weren’t any trees dropping slosh on my head.   In addition, the road led to a restaurant, where my guide and I ate lunch.  At the restaurant, we had great views of Annapurna 2, and Pangri Danda.  The other mountains were covered in clouds.

The View from Upper-Pisang

After lunch we kept right on the trail and hiked up to Upper-Pisang.  Upper-Pisang is just below Pisang Peak and is an excellent place to acclimate.  The view is also phenomenal when the clouds aren’t obstructing them.  In addition, the hike up the mountain to Upper-Pisang is fairly easy.

My guide and I trekked a little further past Upper-Pisang to Gharu.  We didn’t stay in Upper-Pisang because it is fairly dilapidated.  However, it is a beautiful old village.  The thing I like most about the views from Gharu, is you can see the entire Annapurna Massif from here.

My guide and I stayed in a small tea house next to a stupa.  The woman who ran the tea house was very nice, and cooks amazing traditional Nepali/ Tibetan meals.

Youtube video

This video does not contain a lot of information about Upper Pisang, but it is informative and entertaining.