Annapurna Circuit Trek: Day 16 (Poon Hill)

One reason for yesterday's disappointment over the haze and consequent lack of view is that a 45 minute walk away from Ghorepani is Poon Hill, which is supposed to offer a spectacular panorama of the Himalayan peaks. It's a hugely popular spot to watch the sunrise and it is for this reason that so many people trek here from Pokhara (the short way round).

The night before, the haze was so bad that we weren't even sure it would be worth waking up and making the hike up there but thankfully we did.

We headed out at about 4:15am, the only light coming from a couple of somewhat feeble torches. We could smell the pine forest we were walking through but couldn't see it. By 5am we were at the lookout spot, the first people up there. It was only just beginning to get light. Whilst the haze prevented us seeing the whole range, the peaks we could see were spectacularly silhouetted. The light changed rapidly. Here's the pixelated progression:




For the first half hour we had the place to ourselves, and more fool the people who only turned up to watch the moment the sun popped over the horizon because, as you can see from the above photos, the mountains were far more spectacular earlier on. In fact, that first half hour was utterly magical and far more impressive, enjoyable and even moving than I had anticipated. I was so absorbed in watching the mountains and the light that I barely even noticed the two hundred or so extra people who had piled in around us the actual moment of sunrise approached. I've generally been pretty disappointed by noted sunrise beauty spots so perhaps my expectations were pretty low but even if they had been way higher, I'd still have found it wonderful.

I took this photo as we made our way back down. It's one of my favourite from the trek: