3/17 On to Manang

I fell asleep early, but couldn’t stay asleep. Perhaps I wasn’t as acclimatized to the ever increasing altitude as I thought. Breakfast was also a bit late, so we didn’t hit the trail until 8:15 am. Unfortunately, fifteen minutes made a big difference. A few huge, slow moving groups were in front of us, and with the trail narrowed by snow, it took almost two miles to get by them and into the open.

Just before we got to Manang, we got to see the vultures of Nepal up close. With about a two-meter / six-foot wingspan, they are imposing birds. We stopped in Manang, which is one of the more elaborate towns on the mountain. The bakeries were as good as you will find this high up and the guest houses were comfortable and clean. For this reason most people stay there for a day of acclimatization. However, at only 3,500m / 11,500’, I felt it was too low to acclimatize. Due to our slow rise in altitude, later would be better. I think since it’s the last real town on this side of the pass, people wanted to enjoy it. I certainly did.

 

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