Hike Nepal 2024 – 27th May & How We Made a 4hr Hike in 8hrs

We. Sure. Did. What should have taken 4hrs – at our pace, confirmed and doubled checked by almost 20 of us with Binod – took 8hrs… Let me explain!

Firstly, we took a leisurely start to the day. Where we had been waking at 5am – ish to get packed and organised, before breakfast around 6.30am and departure at 730am; today we didn’t breakfast until 7.30am. I had time for a real, brewed coffee before breakfast even started cooking!

At 10am, we stopped half way. But it was waaayyyy to early for breakfast, so we just had tea. Tea took an hour to come, but we had free wifi and plenty of time, so we didn’t worry too much! Then we were on our way again.

We pulled in to an awesome little guesthouse around 11.30 and decided it was time for lunch. However lunch had to be harvested from the garden farm first (thank goodness no-one ordered chicken or mutton!), and while we waited we were entertained by a self-professed, Bob-Marley styled, holy man, who couldn’t make his own singing bowl sing. He could, however, hold a rhythm on the drum, and perform a headstand on uneven cement. So those that were cornered outside by his antics gave up their small denominations to send him on his way.

Oh, there was a puppy too! That definitely kept us entertained!

After almost 3hrs we were finally eating! It was amazing and delicious but we were also getting tired. When we hit the trails again after lunch we knew we were close to civilization (or a road) because the path was PAVED. We followed a literal footpath for the remaining few kilometres down to another crystal clear river, where we promptly got distracted and wanted to get in.

Even then, we were only a half-hour from the town we were staying in, but what we forgot to factor was that Binod always books the hotel  or guesthouse at the furthest edge of the town, and this town was a big one. So we followed the river for a bit, climbed another hill over the other side, then had another kilometre or two of road trudging through town to get to our hotel!

And that, my friends, is how you turn a 4hr hike in to an 8hr one!

I want to say though, that the hotel was very nice, even if it didn’t have enough rooms, and we had to share three to a room, and Maia and I were upstairs with the family that owned the joint! It was clean, the sheets were fresh, most people had a hot shower, and I’m not opposed to showering under a bidet when I am hot and sweaty (which i was)… true story.

 

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A post shared by Clare Hozack (@hozackc)

Terry (Tezz)

Terry was a participant on our ill-fated Everest trip (you can read about it here), and was one of the people who turned back with me, one day short of achieving base camp. She wanted to do it again, and do it better this time. She wanted to compare herself to how she was before, last time she was here; she was unconfident, scared, had less ability, and more uncertainty. In other words, she was a timid person for whom undertaking Everest had an extreme-anxiety provoking effect. It was important to Tezz to do it better, because she wanted to show her kids that she could do hard things (beyond planning dinner every night of 32 years).

This time, she packed lighter and stressed-less. She had the confidence to know she’d find her way if she got lost. She didn’t care if she was slow or last. She sat right down in to the Nepal experience and loved every minute. Terry is proud of herself. She feels like she has achieved what she set out to do. She was comfortable being last, and with being uncomfortable. Terry wants you to know that she may be quiet, but she is strong. She reminds me of the quote from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream – “Though she be but little, she is fierce”!