I thought my trip was over this morning. Packing my duffle in the room, I simply turned and felt something seize in my back. Not to belabor the story, I sat down for about ten minutes, tried to relax, took a couple of alleves, and shuffled into breakfast. someone helped me on with my pack, I started hiking because there was nothing else to do, and I hoped for the best. Over the course of the day it would act up occasionally but generally got a little better. Dodged a bullet.

We crossed Thukla pass, a windy, desolate place where we saw all the memorials (stone chortens) to climbers who had died in tihe mountains. There were hundreds of them. It was sobering.  There were a couple of particularly large ones, including the one for Scott Fischer.

Thukla Pass

Chortens along the ridge line to fallen climbers

We had two choices today…take a harder hike or an easier one. I took the harder one because it gave more insurance against altitude sickness. But no guarantees.

We walked a mile or so up the trail then turned right, crossed the river, and headed straight up a slope that was literally about 45 degrees. The slope was covered with a reddish brown low-growing bush that smelled like incense or perfume. It turned out that’s what they make one kind of incense from. It was soothing. Like Dorothy and her friends walking through the field of poppies on the way to the Emerald City except that it didn’t make us fall asleep.

A couple of thousand vertical feet later were were on a plateau area behind our friend, Ama Dablam. There were amazing turquoise lakes at the base of the mountain. We tried to get some air for the camera but couldn’t get the timing right!

Back at the tea house, we compare notes on our different hikes.