Namche to Dole

I woke up very early to get another try at seeing Everest.  I walked up the view point on clear skies and sure enough, there was now a nice view (on hazy skies) of Everest (the round bump to the left).

After having breakfast, we headed on the trail to Dole. This is a long day which also marks the departure from comfortable accommodations to more "basic" one (from this point on, no more electricity, except for solar panels, or running water). 

The most outstanding feature of this segment of the trail was the abundance of wildflowers, specially Rhododendrons.  Following is a selection of some of the flowers we saw.

We also saw pheasants, mountain goats, and the elusive musk deer.  But they were too far to get good pictures.

The weather started very nice, warm and sunny.  However, as we got to our lunch spot, clouds started to gather.  From our lunch spot, at 3975m, we could see KangTega (6783m) and Thamserku (6618m).  Lunch was simple, fried rice with vegetables and a cup of Hot Lemon (hot water with lemon powder).  During lunch, I got to talk to the owner of the lodge (who spoke good English) and he introduced me to his two sons.

The youngest one was just under a year old and he was carrying him around on a modified backpack.  The oldest one was eating Nak (female Yak) cheese and playing with a stuffed sheep.

 

 

 

 

After the lunch stop, we started a long downhill towards the Dudh Kosi where we said good bye to the Everest Base Camp group (Intrepid organizes two trips in the area, one that goes directly to Everest bast camp, and another, the one I took, that detours to Gokyo before heading to Everest base camp.  The first few days of the trip has the same itinerary, so we got to interact a lot with the other group.

From the bank of the Dudh Kosi, we started a long uphill to Dole.  The trail in this area is amazing, with long staircases built into cliffs (there were handrails in some parts).  As we were going uphill, it started to rain.  The rain quickly changed to snow and it started accumulating.  After an hour of snow, the weather started becoming better and we ended with blue skies!  It shows how fast the weather can change in the mountain.  The trail then eases off and drops to Dole, a beautiful village with a few lodges.  We stayed in a simple lodge with no electricity and with the bathroom being just a hole on the ground.

But what makes this place special, it's the views of the mountains. The picture to the left is the view just outside my room at sunset.