Day 10: Tilicho Tal Base Camp to Letdar
Approximate Trekking Time: 5 ½ – 6 ½ hours
Distance: 17.7k / 11 miles
Overnight Elevation: 4200m/13,780ft.
I woke up a lot last night, headlamp lights shining through our windows from trekkers en route to the squatter – the altitude sending them to the bathroom more often than they would like during the cold dark night – squatting next to the water bucket, trying not to touch a thing, lose their balance, or pee on their shoes or pant legs – or maybe that’s just me.
While our original plan had been that we would head back to Manang from the Tilicho Tal Base Camp, and then on to Letdar the next day, we heard several travelers mentioning that they were going to take another alternate trail that led directly toward Yak Kharka, a short cut option to avoid returning all the way to Manang. The alternate trail diverged from the trail that returned to Manang via Khangshar just beyond Shree Kharka, making its way around the mountain and through a valley to rejoin the Annapurna Circuit trail farther north of Manang.
We set out around 7am, retracing the route to Tilicho Tal through the rocky scree slopes. We quickly determined that this route had a lot more downhill (which was now UPHILL) than we remembered from the way out. We climbed through the landslide prone area, past the rock formations and up the stairs worn into the hard-packed sand, eventually making it to the switchbacks down to the suspension bridge and beyond to Shree Kharka.
Not far past Shree Kharka, we continued along the well-marked alternative trail toward Yak Kharka. It was nice to hike along a new section of trail rather than return via the same route we had come, and the trail was very nice, to boot. The first section of the trail was fairly level trekking through pines, brush, and wildflowers, eventually climbing through Old Khangshar, which had been mostly abandoned for the new settlement at the base of the hillside.
Beyond Old Khangshar, the trail continued to follow the mountainside, eventually climbing to a viewpoint along a spur at the south/east edge of the slope, marked by a rock cairn and prayer flags, before descending northward down the other side of the mountain through a partially shaded trail of steep switchbacks. This downhill section of the trail was beautiful, canopied with groves of birch and other trees with fiery yellow, orange, and red leaves. Sun filtered through the tree branches, splashing across the trail of burnt orange leaves that had already fallen from their branches and now crunched under our shoes.
Eventually, all of this downhill lead to a suspension bridge across the Jarsang/Thorung Khola, across from which enterprising individuals had set up a small restaurant and snack stall, obviously knowing that I was ready for a Snickers and willing to pay whatever it cost. I bought my most expensive Snickers along the circuit here: 170 NRs. I cringe when I think that I could have bought a good chunk of yak cheese for that same price, but didn’t think about it at the time. I ate my expensive Snickers and we trekked on.
From the restaurant, the trail climbed back upward and out of the valley, eventually climbing through rocky boulders to a flattened grass meadow of short bushes and rocks, across from which we climbed a short steep trail to rejoin the main circuit trail from Manang.
The main trail was busy with far more trekkers and porters than we had seen along the trails en route to Manang. Now that high season was upon us, more and more people had joined the trail. And, with roads as far as Manang, people are able to skip earlier sections of the circuit and join the trail further up the route.
From the point we joined the main trail, the walk into Yak Kharka was fairly easy, and if we’d have known better, we should have stopped here for the night rather than continuing on to Letdar. The hike thus far had already been quite tiring and Yak Kharka has a better overall ambiance as well as better facilities as far as the number of lodges, shower availability, and Wi-Fi access.
However, not knowing better, our goal for the day was Letdar, just another hour past Yak Kharka. This last hour was slow and crushing for me. The climb from Yak Kharka to Letdar was mostly gradual, though somehow seemed very difficult. Much of the hike was through a large open boulder-strewn meadow. Looking at the surrounding slopes, it was easy to see where the rocks had come from and I could pick out the next hundred boulders, hanging precipitously from the slopes, that would find their way to the pasture in due time. I was exhausted during this last hour, though did buy a VERY tasty apple at a hut along this section that was considerably mood lifting.
Picking our way past the rocks, the ground finally leveled and Letdar (4200m/13,780ft.) came into a view, a simple set of lodges just beyond a small suspension bridge. We found a room at the very first lodge, where the rooms were connected though designed to look like individual little cottages, situated around two edges of a large empty rectangular courtyard. Each room had its own bathroom with small squatter toilet. Nothing fancy, but this was very convenient for late night bathroom trips.
This was the only place we stayed that we didn’t manage to write down/remember the name of the lodge, but it was the first lodge upon the entrance to Letdar, just below the Snowland Lodge. No showers were available here, though you could purchase a bucket of hot water (while we never did this, we later heard from another trekker that they rather enjoyed their bathing experience with the steaming hot bucket of water). I believe Wi-Fi was available for a cost.
Letdar is fairly grim, as the village/lodging settings go, and as mentioned before, if we did it over again we’d opt to stop earlier in Yak Kharka and continue to Thorung Pedi from there.
