The picture-perfect panorama of the snowy mountains wasn't so perfect in the early morning light. Glare from the sun resulted in hazy views, reducing the bright white peaks to various shades of grey. But the skies were clear and I was keen to set out on our first day of hiking.

 

Following the sign to Pikey Peak out of town, we wandered along a wide dirt road into nothingness. Sometimes the surface was composed of sharp, jagged rocks, at other times dusty soil. Jeeps, motorcycles and tractors passed us sporadically, as did two German hikers, their guide and porter, plus the occasional local Nepali.

 

With the minimal difference in altitudes between our start and end points, I expected a fairly flat hike. I shouldn't have been so naive. Down, down, down we went for the first 5-6 km, stopping at the bottom in the tiny village of Sigane for a tea break. Then it was up, up, up, all the way to Jhapre. It wasn't the most strenuous trek, but even at this elevation we felt the lack of oxygen in the air. I'm used to powering up inclines back home, but all I could manage today was a slow trod.

 

At least we had the scenery to distract us. The mountains eventually became clear and as beautiful as they were yesterday, while the the valleys on the other side extended out towards the horizon. Villages and rice terraces dotted the landscape, and steep, winding roads crisscrossed the slopes. Clouds started to come over by late morning; well before we reached Jhapre, the views had been completely obscured.

 

At various points our road forked into two, forcing us to make educated guesses as to which way to go (our phone map and physical map were of no help). Twice we were incredibly lucky that either the German's porter or guide was just ahead of us and showed us the correct route. Without their assistance, I'm positive we would have ended up several kilometres from where we were supposed to be. During the second half of the hike signposts appeared, which was a relief as we lost sight of the German crew completely.