This morning, we had breakfast and hit the path by 8:30. I was feeling the aftereffects of the lake climb, not so much in my muscles, but just a general lethargy. We had a decent uphill climb this morning, followed by a descent down to the river, only to cross the river and have to do the uphill climb over again…and this was supposed to be a shortcut. I just wasn’t feeling it today!
By the time we reached Yakharka, I was feeling spent and could’ve easily stopped here for the night, but we were only 3 hours away from Throng Phedi (the start of The Pass) and it seemed pointless to break it down over another two days.
We stopped for a very long lunch and then prepared for part 2 of the trek. We almost lost Lucy, who was beginning to get a headache and was visibly losing steam, but she was a trooper and stuck with us for the rest of the afternoon’s trek.
It was only a 40-minute trek to Letdar and then two additional hours to Throng Phedi. We arrived just as the sun was setting, and Lucy went to bed immediately. Emily and I joined the throngs of other people in the dining hall and filled our bellies with Dhal Bhat.
I couldn’t believe we’d be making the trek over the pass in less than 12 hours, and after two pretty strenuous days. I thought about the additional 1,000 meters we had left to climb and it made me nervous to think about how tough the lake climb was and that on this part of the trek I would be lugging my pack. I wondered how much the extra elevation would affect me. Still, these are the moments when adrenaline and excitement prevail, and when all else fails, you just put one foot in front of the other!
We wrapped up at the dining hall, and took some hot water, honey and garlic cloves back to the room for Lucy. Apparently garlic is great for altitude sickness and we had all been chomping on full cloves over the past few days. She barely stirred, so we left her to sleep, hoping that she would be feeling better by the morning so the three of us could trek the pass together.
