October 3 - Hard Day To Namche!

Words cannot describe what we have seen so far in 3 days of trekking! The Himalayas are spectacular beyond belief. We have never seen mountains so huge, not the Sierra, not the Andes.

The trek began with a one hour flight to Lukla and a landing on an airstrip only half the length of a standard size. The slope was at 25 degrees! We trekked 3 miles the first day to Phakding and spent the night in a field adjacent to a hotel. The next day, Wayne was feeling the effects of the trots and it was a hard day's walk to Namche Bazaar. Helen has been thoroughly healthy so far and sends her love to all!

The bridges across the river were wild. One was perched 200 feet above the raging river. Scary. We have been in this village almost 24 hours now and Wayne is feeling fine after a dose of Cipro. On the way up the trail, we had a great view of Mt. Everest about 20 miles away! Spectacular! Would love to enclose a picture with this but we are so far away from civilization and the download times are long. This will be our last posting until we return here some 12 days from now.

The crew is excellent - compatible and laughing all the time. The altitude and steepness of the trails is formidable and we are only at 11,300 feet. On Oct. 5 we will go to at least 12,000 feet. On Oct. 10 we will summit Kala Patar at 18,200 feet and only 6 miles as the crow flies from the summit of Mt. Everest. We will get up at 2 Am to complete this day hike.

The scenery has been awesome beyond description. There is no way to explain fully what we are seeing. These are truly magnificent mountains. Our Nepal Zero-Seven trek continues.......