10.53 miDistance
3,169 ftElevation gain
1,615 ftElevation loss
6 h 0 mTime
Today we would be heading back towards Manang, and then taking a sharp left away from the valley that Manang resided in as we would be turning torwards Thorong La Pass, and the climax of our trek together.
We left Shree Kharka and bid farewell to the sand-colored valley walls. Small scraggly bushes now dominated the landscape around us as we retraced our steps. At an outlook point overlooking Manang we stopped and posed for pictures, saying goodbye to the first half of this circuit, and then turned to the left and continued our hike upwards and onto another valley.
Upon entering this new valley we could see the entire trail laid out before us, twisting and bending and winding its way over the terrain. On we marched, heads down, focused on closing the distance between us and our place for the night at Thoron Phedi. We stopped for lunch at a place that had teepees available for sleeping in, and enjoyed some food and sodas.
It was still going to take us another 3-4 hours before we would be able to see the refuge for the night. Up and down the rocks we went, over rivers, through small thinly wooded forests, climbing ever higher. Today we would technically be losing more elevation than we would be gaining, but it was still a challenge to gain any altitude.
At long last we arrived, nearly 7 hours after starting the days hike. These were some of the hardest mattresses I have ever slept on, but this place had the best veggie burger that I have ever had. Tomorrow wouldn't be as early of a day as yesterday was, so we had a chance to catch up on some sleep before making the pass.
