Poon hill Trek

If you are planning to escape from the city crowd in a low budget, Poon Hill might be one of the best destination for you. If you can walk fast enough, the trek can be completed in 2 nights and 3 days. In my case though, it took 3 days and 4 nights as my team decided to observe the places thoroughly and enjoy. Trek to Poon Hill is short and comfortable. There are rest points almost everywhere on the way and water taps are readily available.

Read my travel story here if you are bored now, or else, come back when you are bored 😛
Day 1 : Me and four of my friends, started our journey from Pokhara Bus Park. We took a bus from Pokhara to Nayapul which took almost 2 hours . It was nearly 11 in the morning when we reached Nayapul which is situated at a height of 2070 meters. The famous Annapurna Base Camp trek and Poon hill trek both start from here. After having some breakfast, we started our hike from Nayapul.

House under the fall. Taken on the way to Ulleri from Nayapul.

While walking, we met many children asking for chocolates and they were happy to get one.

Local children asking for some chocolates.

We walked dirt road for almost 4-5 hours, in between we took some snack breaks and finally reached to our destination Ulleri at around 6pm. Our Guests house in Ulleri was nice and people were very friendly. It was freezing cold, so we warmed ourselves and enjoyed a very tasty dinner.

Day 2 : Next day, we started our journey at around 8:30 am. Our plan was to reach Ghorepani by evening. We started to hike without any rush. Compared to the 1st day, our journey was a little easier. Probably because of the warm up walks we did earlier in the morning around the village haha ;). But eventually it got tougher as we had a long uphill walk through staired paths. We passed by very beautiful villages, waterfalls, cute children, lots of ponies and much more.

Beautiful landscape on the way to Ghorepani.

Had some time to take long exposure of waterfall as well :D — Had some time to take long exposure of waterfall as well 😀

We continued our journey one step at a time and finally reached Ghorepani (2875 m ) at around 4 pm. We checked in our hotel rooms. Ghorepani is the gathering place for all travellers who want to see the sun rise from Poon Hill, which is just above the village . Earlier that day climate was very hazy and it was raining as well but later it became sunnier.

Ghorepani finally! My friends are never late to pose for photos ;) — Ghorepani finally! My friends are never late to pose for photos 😉

Since we were staying at lower Ghorepani, we decided to take a walk to Upper Ghorepani in the evening to see the views and take some photos there. Upper Ghorepani is only 10 minutes away from lower Ghorepani. Lots of big and fancy hotels are located there. We went to the top and got a glimpse of Annapurna south (7,219 m). Sun was about to set, so we prepared ourselves for photos but then weather disturbed us again. We couldn’t get clear view of the sunset. But that was enough to give us a peace of mind, 2 days of walking was totally worth it. We couldn’t wait to climb Poon hill and see a much better view. After having a hot cup of tea in upper Ghorepani, we returned to our hotel. After having dinner, we slept praying for good weather condition for tomorrow, hoping to see beautiful mountains.

Glimpse of Mt. Annapurna south from Upper Ghorepani

Books and Movies store at local shop in Upper Ghorepani

Day 3 : Next day we woke up at 4:30 am, got ready and started our walk at 5am. It was almost stairways everywhere which made our walking a little bit difficult but nothing could stop us from reaching the top. Soon we met a lot of travellers hurrying up to reach the top for the sunrise. We could see clouds clearing up and some mountains which motivated us to climb those stairs one after another. After one hour of continuous walking, we made it to the top. That panoramic view of mountains almost made me cry, trust me!

We climbed the hill tower to get a better view. Weather was not very clear, but we managed to see all the mountain ranges. I felt very lucky to witness some of the highest mountains in the world standing proud and tall in front of me. Some of the mountain ranges that can be seen from Poon hill are, Mt. Dhaulagiri (8177m) , Tukuche Peak ( 6920m) , Dhampus Peak (6012m ), Mt Nilgiri (7061m), Mt Annapurna (8091m), Annapurna south (7219m), Mt. Hiunchuli (6441m) , Mt Gangapurna (7455m) and Mt. Macchapuchre (6997m). I felt so alive to see these ranges from top. It really felt like heaven. After taking some photos we returned to our hotel, had our lunch and resumed our journey.

Glimpse of Mt. Dhaulagiri from Poon Hill

Sign Board showing Different mountain ranges which are visible from Poon hill. This was the best guide for us

Nothing's more awesome than a cup of tea in front of the Himalayas. — Nothing’s more awesome than a cup of tea in front of the Himalayas.

Five of us. All thanks to the unknown photographer who took this picture. This is the only photo of us posing together :D — Five of us. All thanks to the unknown photographer who took this picture. This is the only photo of us posing together 😀

Lower Ghorepani view on the way back from Poon hill

Our final destination was Ghandruk village. We had to rush because many people told us that we can’t make it to Ghandruk and were told to stay at “Tadapani” but we decided to walk.

“Deurali of stones” This is made to wish prosperity of the family members.

Waterfall and “Pani ghatta” on the way to Ghandruk

Later in the evening, when we were crossing dark forest we were hit by heavy rain. Since we had plastics to protect us from rain we didn’t stop. Every step was slippery and hard, but finally we managed to reach Ghandruk. It was almost dark, so we stopped by a hotel and ordered hot noodle soup. After finishing our meal, we started hiking again so that we could reach Ghandruk village and spend the night at a local Home stay.

Mt. Macchapuchre and Ghandruk village in one frame

It was still raining and road was slippery, we took every step very carefully. As it was raining, we had leeches all over our body. We didn’t care because we had to make it to Hotel in Ghandruk and it was already 7:30PM. Finally, we managed to reach one hotel and we checked in there. We were heavily sucked up by leech. One of my friend Gaurav, had 7 leeches in one leg and 5 in other. We managed to remove all leeches and got changed. It was quite adventurous , I must say 😛 We went to the dining hall and had the best dinner of our journey.

Day 4 : Early morning when I woke up, I saw sun rays passing through my door, I got out of my bed, opened the door and OMG !!!! the Mountains were just in front of me. I called all of my friends and we were ecstatic to see the clear view of mountains from our room. We were already refreshed. We came down the “aangan” (courtyard), took some photos and had our breakfast in front of mountains. Some of the mountain ranges that can be seen from Ghandruk village are Annapurna south (7219m), Mt. Hiunchuli (6441m) , Mt Gangapurna (7455m) Mt. Macchapuchre (6997m).

Close-up View of Mt. Macchapuchre from Ghandruk

Mt. Annapurna South upclose from Ghandruk

In frame, Ghandruk Village and Mt Gangapurna

After that, we roamed around Ghandruk village for a while and took some photos. We walked nearly for an hour to reach the bus station later. We took a jeep from Ghandruk to Nayapul and came back to Pokhara. And this is how we ended our journey