The trail is not overly difficult.there is only one 9,000
foot pass.and the inns along the way rank among Nepal.s best. .Roughing it.
takes on a new meaning when lodges offer menus with everything from spring
rolls to rice pudding, and private rooms with soft mattresses and often
electricity. Friendly people, diverse topography, spectacular scenery and apple
pie, too.little wonder that Pokhara-Muktinath trek has become the most popular
route in Nepal.
The trail begins in Pokhara, a pleasant lakeside town easily
reached by bus or flights from Kathmandu. The first
portion passes through lush green hill country typical of the heartland of Nepal.
Tidy thatched-roofedvillages set among
terraced fields make an attractive picture, but the trekker will probably be
more spellbound at the sight of Himalayan peaks floating like a blue and white
mirage beyond the valley.
Ridgetop towns like Kabre and Chandrakot boast spectacular
views. On the second day the traveller attacks the notorious steps ascending to
the 9,600 foot GhorepaniPass.A slow and steady pace through lush oak forests populated by birds and monkeys
gets you to the top. Your reward: matchless views of Machhapuchhre, Dhaulagiri,
and the four summits of the Annapurna Massif. Many trekkers with limited time
are content to end their trip here, but those who continue enteran increasingly fascinating world.
After a descent through fields of yellow wildflowers framing
an unforgettable view of Dhaulagiri, one reaches Tatopani.
This prosperous village marks the trail.s junction with the KaliGandakiRiverwhich sweeps down from Tibet,
carving a path through the massive HimalayanRange. This trail at one time
served as a major trade route linking Indiaand Tibet. Yak
caravans loaded with salt descended from the Tibetan Plateau, while mule trains
carrying grain headed upriver from Nepal.s hills, meeting midway to barter
their precious commodities.
The Thak Khola region you enter afterTatopani was the center of this vital and
ancient tradition of trade. It is also the homeland of one of Nepal.s most
successful ethnic groups, the Thakalis, who used their strategic position on
the trade route to great advantage. The substantial profit they earned as
middlemen is revealed in the elaborate houses of Dana, the winter tax
collection post a few kilometers past Tatopani. Today most of the houses are
tended bycaretakers, as many Thakalis
have left their homeland to pursue business opportunities elsewhere.
New roads supplying cheap Indian salt to the formerly
isolated hills combined with Chinese restrictions on Tibetan trade have almost
ended the old salt trade, but remaining residents have found a new source of
income in trekkers. Stay in one of the traditional flat- roofed stone houses a
night to experience typical Thakalihospitality.and good cooking.
The country changes rapidly in the day.s walk from Dana to
Tukche, over a dramatic trail at places cut into the cliffs overhanging the
raging river. You are entering the deepest river gorge in the world, flanked on
the left by four-mile-high Dhaulagiri, on the right by a
whole collection of peaks, including the Nilgiri Himal, the Annapurnas and
beautiful Singu Chuli, or FlutedPeak.
The high mountains prevent most rainfall from reaching the gorge; as a result,
vegetation becomes increasingly scarce as you proceed north. The culture and
people change too. Prayer flags and stone chortens mark the entrances to
Tibetan- influenced Buddhist villages clustered around monasteries several
centuries old. By the time you reach the cobbled streets of Marpha, you.ve
entered another world, one reminiscent of the Tibetan Plateau. Climatic
conditions are ideal for trekking in the summer monsoon season, though a
powerful wind roars up the valley regularly every afternoon, a wind which may
virtually propel you up to Jomsom.
Headquarters of the Mustang District, Jomsom is an important
government center. The location ofa
landing strip allows impatient trekkers to fly out to Pokhara in a fraction of
the time it took to walk in. There.s no reason, though, to treat Jomsom as the
end of the trip. From here the trail continues up the valley into the
restricted Mustang region, until 1951 a separate principality culturally
similar to Tibet.
Foreign trekkers are not allowed to enter Mustang unless they travel in groups
with special permits, but any trekker canproceed as far north as the old fortress town of Kagbeni,
where the bells of mule caravans still jingle through narrow streets of mud-
walled houses. Kagbeni is a green oasis set against the raw color of Mustang.s
hills, which fade into the distance in a sea of red, orange, pink and mauve.
.It is fascinatingly ugly country, the more fascinating for being so little
known,. wrote British mountaineer H.W. Tilman in the 1930s. Fascinating it is,
but there is a weird sort of beauty in the stark, windswept landscape which
defies his judgement.
From Kagbeni another trail turns east and heads steeply up
into a secluded 12,000-foot-high valley dotted with Tibetan villages and the
ruins of fortresses, and guarded at its far end by two towering snow peaks. In
the clear thin air everything sparkles as if newly washed, and fields of pink
buckwheat and yellow mustard splash the landscape with color. In the heart of
this sunny, magical valley lies Muktinath, one of the most sacred pilgrimage
places in all of Nepal.
Here the natural element, are displayed in miraculous form.flickering blue
flames of natural methane gas burn on water, earth and stone in an offering
said to have been first lighted by Brahma, the Hindu Creator. This natural
wonder must have awed man from the beginning, for Muktinath.s sanctity goes far
back into antiquity. The Indian epic Mahabharat, more than 2,000 years old,
mentions it, calling the place Shaligram.
Both Hindus and Buddhists come on pilgrimage to this site of
natural power. Some journey on foot all the way from India;
others fly into Jomsom and rent ponies to carry them up to the shrine. Along
the way they search for, or buy, the glossy black fossils called shaligramthat are found in abundance here. On the
outside they look like small rounded rocks, but split open they reveal the
imprint of ammonites formed 140 million years ago. Because of its wheel-like
shape, the shaligram is associated with the Hindu god Vishnu.
Muktinath means .Place of Salvation,. and those who bathe in
the icy waters of its sacred spring are said to be assured of gaining spiritual
liberation. The holy water spurts out of a rock near a small Vishnu temple and
is channelled through 108 spouts shaped like boars. heads. Pilgrims of both
Hindu and Buddhist religions revere Muktinath, with the religious tolerance so
typical of Nepal.
Inside the Hindu temple, the image of Vishnu is also worshipped by Buddhists,
who call it the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The Buddhists have their own set of
legends about Muktinath. The footprints of the great tantric magician
Padmasambava are said to be embedded in a rock here, and the poplar grove
surrounding the temple sprang up when the eighty four siddha, or holy men, cast
down their pilgrim staffs as they returned to Tibet.
From here the pilgrim or trekker can return to Jomsom, or cross the 17,650 foot
Thorung La pass into the Manang valley, following the classic trekking route
called the Annapurna Circuit. Although the pass is more easily approached from
the eastern side, ponies may be rented from the villages near Muktinath to
carry trekkers over safely. Those who return to Jomsom can opt for a flight out
to Pokhara, then Kathmandu, or can retrace their steps
down through greener and greener country back to Pokhara. Although this is a
return trip the diversity along the way guarantees it won.t be boring. Far from
being impatient, I found my feet dragging as I neared Pokhara, almost dreading
the return to civilization after two weeks in one of Nepal.s most beautiful and
intriguing regions.
