THE TRIP (Trekking in Nepal- Post 1)

(This will be the first of several posts on my trip trekking in Nepal.  Some of the pictures were taken by David Hough)

I was asked the other night by a friend, “How was the trip?”  After a moment of considering to which trip he was referring (we have been traveling a lot) I replied, “Oh, you mean THE trip... trekking in Nepal.”  It has now been a month since I returned from ‘The Trip’ which probably does deserve to be preceded by a definite article since it took me away from my family longer and farther than ever before.  The infamy of this trip was enhanced that much more after my safe return to my family when over 40 people died in a massive blizzard that struck the same area where I had been with my brother... just two weeks earlier.  And yet, for all the sacrifice and risk, Sarah and I wouldn't change a thing.  I connected with my brother and his family as well as with God in ways I never could have hadn't I left to visit my brother in Nepal.

The story of the Nepal trip really began two years ago, shortly after my brother, Dave, had arrived in Nepal with his family.   Dave told me over Skype that, ‘Of all the things in the world he could wish for... (I knew that whatever was about to follow would be hard to refuse) he would choose to go trekking in the Himalayas with his only brother.’  ‘Whoa.  Yeah… ok.  So how am I going to break this to my wife?’ I was thinking.  But later when I casually mentioned my brother’s life-wish to her over chocolate and a foot massage she amazed me by saying, “Oh, you've got to go.  When else will you get a chance to do this and besides it will mean so much to your brother.”  So that’s where ‘the trip’ began, it started with my brother but without my wife, it never would have happened. 

A couple years and a really long flight later I found myself in Tansen, Nepal where Dave and Hannah have been serving as medical and legal missionaries for the last two and a half years.  Dave had planned a trek that would take us around Mount Manaslu which at 8,156 meters high is the eighth highest mountain in the world (Gulp! And I get winded hiking in the Bristol Hills)!  For two weeks we would hike 130 miles and climb 35,000 feet along the Budhi Gandaki river to the Manaslu base camp at 4,800 meters and ultimately over Larke La pass at 5,100 meters.  We would sleep and eat at tea houses thus making it possible for Dave and I to carry less (about 30 pounds) as we circumvented Mount Manaslu.  

But to get to the trail head we would need transportation; public transportation to be specific.  The bus rides were completely brutal on backpacks as well as backs not to mention overcrowded, overheated and undersized (apparently the Nepalis didn't have 6'+ Americans in mind when they spaced the seats).  Yeah, not our favorite part of the adventure... though the bus rides were definitely unforgettable.  At one point, because my new pack had gotten torn on the roof of a previous bus I insisted we put our bags inside.  The attendant said we could put them in the trunk. It wasn't until later when I went to get something out of my bag that I realized two live goats had also been riding in the trunk with our backpacks!  I was glad they had at least faced the goats away from our bags... I think.

Our muddy road snaked along a cliff's edge with a raging river hundreds of feet below.  Dave and I rocked along with our knees in our chest while dozens of day old chicks in cardboard boxes clamored in the luggage racks above our heads.  When a particularly rough bump knocked one of the boxes to the floor several men scrambled to gather up handfuls of the dazed chicks.   Everybody unloaded at one point when our bus got stuck in the mud and another time when an overturned trailer blocked our way.  Nobody seemed the least inconvenienced as we unloaded tons of bags of rice and worked together to set the heavy trailer upright.

Finally we arrived at the trail head and stood staring up the winding river valley which snaked it's way up into the shrouded Himalayan Mountains.  Rice fields terraced thousands of feet down the mountain sides.  Dozens of waterfalls roared in the distance, each one also cascading thousands of feet down to the raging river valley below where we stood.  The weather was hot and muggy- Dave and I were already drenched in sweat and we hadn't even begun our trek.  With our boots on the trail it was hard to believe that in just over a week we would need the winter gear in our packs.