The unforgettable 5-day Poon Hill Trek (3,210 m): Battling the 3,000+ stairs, experiencing the magical sunrise over the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges, staying in tea houses, and relaxing post-trek in beautiful Pokhara.
Part 1: Pokhara Rest and Gearing Up
Pokhara has been our gentle reset button: a lakeside town (hello, Lake Fewa) tucked under the Annapurnas, where the air is calmer, the coffee is slower, and everyone casually admits, “I could never live in Kathmandu.” We’ve spent a week here catching our breath and reliving a five-day trek to Poon Hill that left our legs jelly and our hearts very full.
Our Kathmandu hostel lined everything up: Subarna (our guide) and Indra (our porter and certified stair-crushing superhero). We hadn’t planned on a porter, but, surprise, one appeared the day before we left. Reader, we did not protest. Poon Hill can be four to seven days; we chose five—long enough to feel earned, short enough to still like each other.
Part 2: The Ascent to Ghorepani
Day 1: Find the Stairs, Find Your Pace. We took a taxi to the trailhead (about 1,100 m), then went straight into “Nepali flat”, which is to say 2,000 mismatched stone steps that are neither flat nor friendly. We pushed on toward Landruk. When Machapuchare’s shark-fin silhouette (fishtail!) finally popped into full view, we called it: tea house, warm food, and a surprisingly plush foam mattress. Rooms are concrete, unheated, and somehow colder than outside.
Day 2: Down, Up, Repeat (Ghandruk → Tadapani). Breakfast was simple fuel for a morning descent to 1,250 m, followed by (of course) more climbing. We stared at a skyline that makes you whisper: Annapurna South (8,091 m) showboating while Machapuchare (6,993 m) preened from the side. We kept going and stopped in Tadapani. Sun dipped, peaks glowed orange, and everyone went quiet for a minute.
Day 3: Forests, Ridges, and the Long Push to Ghorepani. This was six hours of rollers through rhododendron forest, cresting at Deurali—the balcony seat for Annapurna I, II, III and Dhaulagiri (8,167 m). We pushed on to Ghorepani (just under 2,900 m) and checked into another "Hungry Eye." Below the lodge: a schoolyard court where a basketball rim framed the Himalayas.
Part 3: Sunrise at Poon Hill and the Great Descent
Day 4: Poon Hill at Dawn. Alarms at 5:00 a.m., headlamps on, 45 minutes of puffing up to Poon Hill (3,210 m). The sunrise plays the same trick every time: black turns blue, then the peaks blush orange as if someone’s slowly raising a dimmer switch. Dhaulagiri, Nilgiri, Annapurna I, II, III—roll call answered. We stayed an hour, grinning and taking all the photos we promised we wouldn’t take.
Back at the lodge for breakfast, then the knee-testing descent toward Tikhedhunga. There’s a notorious stair section—local legend says “3,000+ steps.” By evening, we were in a lively tea house with our new Singaporean friends. The guides produced Nepali rum; there was dancing. My quads filed a complaint and then forgave me.
Day 5: Out Through Villages and Terraces. Mostly downhill to the final checkpoint, past terrace farms, buffalo traffic jams, and kids who can sprint uphill in flip-flops. Taxi from Nayapul jolted us home—40 km of “bonus massage” road—where showers felt like medical treatment. We tipped well. I taught them “pole pole” (Swahili: slowly, slowly); they taught me “dheere, dheere” (Nepali: slowly, slowly), “chito, chito” (fast!), and “jom jom” (let’s go!).
Part 4: Pokhara Days and Reflections
Rest day adventures: Devi’s Fall and the Gupteshwar Mahadev Cave. While we were squinting at the disappearing river, a school group swarmed us for photos. It started with two shy teens and ended with the entire class, principal included. We did an all-staff shot, group shots, cave shots—20 minutes of laughing.
We also visited a Tibetan community to watch weaving. I fell for a hand-knotted carpet the size of our living room. We walked away. Then we walked back. It’s now being custom-made (four weavers, over a month of work) and shipped in three months. Officially excited.
Five days of stone steps, starry nights, and a sunrise that painted the world—Poon Hill wasn’t just a trek, it was a reset. Pokhara has a way of pulling the noise out of your head and replacing it with prayer flags and lake ripples. We’ll carry that quiet with us into the glorious chaos of India.
