Bushwalk Australia

Over Christmas myself and 4 others did the Annapurna Circuit. It was incredibly beautiful, freezing cold, and pretty quiet due to doing it off peak. We started in Besisahar and finished up the trail 18 days later in Tatopani. We took our time and spend three nights in Manang to aid our acclimatisation and I think that definitely helped as we all made it over the pass at 5416 metres! I've included our itinerary below but if you would like the detailed report with plenty of photos then here is the link! Happy to answer any questions as well as I know planning a journey this long can be a little overwhelming


Day 1 Besisahar to Ngadi
Day 2 Ngadi to Ghermu
Day 3 Ghermu to Chamje
Day 4 Chamje to Dharapani
Day 5 Dharapani to Chame
Day 6 Chame to Upper Pisang
Day 7 Upper Pisang to Ngawal
Day 8 Ngawal to Manang
Day 9 Rest Day
Day 10 Rest Day
Day 11 Manang to Yak Kharka
Day 12 Yak Kharka to Throng Phedi
Day 13 Throng Phedi to Muktinath
Day 14 Muktinath to Kagbeni
Day 15 Kagbeni to Marpha
Day 16 Marpha to Kalopani
Day 17 Kalopani to Dana
Day 18 Dana to Tatopani

Sounds like a wonderful trip. Brings back some memories of my hike 21 years ago- I think I did about 25 days around the Annapurna Circuit and into the Santuary.
Glad you could get away from the roads- I had heard they had put roads thru and was wondering what it would be like now.
Tea houses and food sound a bit fancier.
Loved my couple of months in Nepal
Cheers
Lizzy

Lovely report CHW!
Can you give the dates precisely,
I am wondering about snowfall in January?

Also your commentary on the roads would be appreciated,
Did you have any days that were entirely road walking?
Were there many half days on roads?
What sections would you avoid for this reason??
Thanks
John

johnrs wrote:Lovely report CHW!
Can you give the dates precisely,
I am wondering about snowfall in January?

Also your commentary on the roads would be appreciated,
Did you have any days that were entirely road walking?
Were there many half days on roads?
What sections would you avoid for this reason??
Thanks
John

Hey John, We did it from about the 14th Dec til 31st Dec. Snowfall at this time can be an issue as it is so cold, but in saying that December and January are the dry season so snowfall is quite rare. From memory Chamje to Dharapani was a fair bit of road walking, but this section wasn't busy, with only the occasional jeep. Kagbeni to Marpha we walked along the riverbed and road. This was probably the most annoying section of road walking as it was pretty busy with buses coming from Jomson and Muktinath. In saying that though the riverbed had some spectacular geology so I wouldn't miss it. The road was very dusty and windy from Jomson to Marpha so this is maybe a very short section you could give a miss.

Apart from that, I wouldn't avoid anything else. The road walking can easily be avoided by following the red/white markers or the alternative blue/white markers. In saying that I did do it in the off season. In peak there would be 10 times as many jeeps on the road and I'm sure that would be annoying and dusty.

Lizzy wrote:Sounds like a wonderful trip. Brings back some memories of my hike 21 years ago- I think I did about 25 days around the Annapurna Circuit and into the Santuary.
Glad you could get away from the roads- I had heard they had put roads thru and was wondering what it would be like now.
Tea houses and food sound a bit fancier.
Loved my couple of months in Nepal
Cheers
Lizzy

Thanks Lizzy, I can only imagine how different it would be back then. Glad you enjoyed the read

That's such a great report with a lot of good insights and tips.

Looking forward to doing that walk in the next year, maybe with my teenage kids so, from reading your account, we want be going in winter. Too cold for an old man and a bunch of kids who whinge about even packing a dishwasher.