Nepal (Part 3)

Continuation of our trip from Manang (12000') to the Pass (18000')

Sarah relaxing in the typical teahouse room.

Neat timber bridge. I'd like to inspect this.

Mountain sheep, as the locals call them. See all the ones to the left trying to get to the best grass?

Tibetan Momos. Lets just say that instead of a mix of vegetables as they typically have. These were all garlic! Needless to say, they were the last Momos of the trip. For a while, our guide was calling me Momo Man.

Upper M. Khola river.

Our first Yaks of the trip.

I'd like a Fungi pizza please. Extra Fungi.

Neat intricate, very old, rock Buddhist carving into slate.

Awesome view of Gangapurna out of our room.

Yup, blisters. Sarah's feet were in rough shape the entire way.

Me relaxing in Manang. Our main drink was hot water as we were both nursing headcolds & coughs at this point. Believe it or not, I have all of my clothes on inside my sleeping bag. Pretty cold.

Our view on top of the Hundred Rupee Llama cave. (13500')

Curious Yak.

Taking in the view.

Gangapurna massif with stallion in forefront.

Sarah making a high crossing.

Upper M. Khola Valley.

View from Thorong La Base Camp

It's cold. Night before summit ascent.

Ready for the 2:45 am wake up.

We made it! 4000 foot ascent. Elevation 17800'

Sarah looking cold but happy on top!

Quite cold and windy on top!

View looking down, we've only got 6000' foot descent to finish for the day!

Nepal (Part 2)

A continuation of our nepal trip from the lower elevations rice & bananas to the pine & fir forests.

Tiny goats greeted us upon arrival to a small village.

Our view from our teahouse. Honestly, felt a bit like Hawaii

Mule pack string crossing the M. Kola River. The suspension bridges were largely designed & built by European Firms.

Chicken Man! How would you like to carry this stinky chickens for days?

The transition zone between temperature lowlands and moderate fir & pine.

Sarah assisted by our trusty Nepali guide Shree.

Sarah conquers her fear of trail bridges. Let's just say I learned not to jump on the bridges while she was still on, can you say doghouse?? :)

Maoists were present many places in Nepal. The circular marking with scythe and hammer is their symbol.

Making a pass on the Buddhist prayer wheels. As we traversed into higher country, Buddhism became the dominant religion.

View of Manaslu from our hotel room. Our first 8000 meter peak!

Yup, this stuff was nasty as you can tell by me facial expression. Local homebrew 'Millet Beer' should not be consumed...under any circumstances...ever....

The impressive Manaslu massif.

Sarah excited about the squat toilets. About 90% of toilets on this trip were good ol' squatters, the others consisted primarily of non-flushing 'European' toilets.

Awesome rock massif behind this small town.

Awe inspiring views of Gangapurna.

Small town of upper Pisang.

Nepal (Part 1)

Well, the trip of a lifetime was indeed a trip of a lifetime. Sarah's trip o' a lifetime was doing the Annapurna Circuit in Himalayan Nepal. 140 miles of trail, 32000 feet of elevation gain and 32000 feet of loss. High point of 17,800 feet and low of 3,000. All in a ll, a pretty amazing trip!

We departed to nepal on a 48 journey to actually get there from Helena to Salt Lake to LA to Hong Kong to Dhaka to Kathmandu. We arrived in Kathmandu bleary eyed and exhausted. The next day we rested and ended up going on a tour around Kathmandu. We saw all sorts of sight, Buddhist Temples, Hindu Shrines, etc, and of course some monkeys:

Our nepalese guide was, other than leading us into a den of touts(where we purchased a homemade Tibetan thankpa), a rather nice bloke. This was a cool shot from Kathmandu looking at this Buddhist temple:

The following day we departed on a long, arduous, terrifying bus ride to the beginning point of our trek. Let's just say if I hadn't of been infatuated with our drivers mole and his awesome horn, I may have vomited out of sheer fright.

Vehicles here share a narrow strip of pavement and play chicken to see who gets it the longest. I would fail miserably every time if i was driving.

As our eight hour trip neared its end, we found ourselves in farms of millet and corn, with a raging river nearby. This looks like Africa:

We spent the night at a rustic guesthouse, and I was nearly concussed by hitting my head on frame of the mens outhouse. It literally knocked me to the ground, where I had a large nodule on my head for a few days, of which I tried to nurse sympathy out of Sarah to no avail. Did I mention we stayed in a town called Buhbuble (means penis in Hindi). Heh.

The views in the morning were awesome, this of Manaslu, our first 8000 meter peak!

Sarah's first trail bridge, one of many. Let's just say she conquered her fears on this trip!

Our hotel had awesome views and a tree of life just down the trail!

The hotel also had awesome views of this poster in our room! Our room was covered in similar, awesome posters!

The next morning we got to visit the local school, where signed their log book, talked with some kids and gave a donation.

Then we continued up the trail, seeing these cool waterfalls along the way:

Our Travels (The American Southwest)

Hi all, me again. This is a continuation of the previous post. This chronicles our adventures through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona on a bridge inspection trip that Sarah was able to tag along for (and get paid!).

Our first Armadilla! That's right, pretty awesome! Hey was a quick little guy, quite scampery. - Canadian, Texas


Not gonna lie, the Ford testers messed up the headrests in this vehicle.


Was Ryan a beaver in a past life? - Red River, New Mexico


Great colors outside of Red River, New Mexico.


Trusty ol' Explorer. A bit more trusty than my ol' 94 Eggsploder I drove in High School. We forded the stream about 10 times on this road.


Sarah chillaxin' in at on of the nicest places we stayed at. Jemez Springs, New Mexico


Small froglet just across the border into Arizona.


A rather large Saguaro Catcus outside of Globe, Arizona. Sarah wouldn't let me strap it to the top of the Explorer. :(


Sarah enjoying a beverage at Bisbee Brewering- Bisbee, Arizona