Poon Hill trek Day 1: Naya Pul to Ulleri

This 5 day 51 km circular trek is very popular as it is not as demanding and long as many other treks in the Annapurnas, but still has magnificent views. 

Day 1: Twelve kilometres; 1000m up and 169m down.

We hired a car and driver to take us and the two porters, Yogen and Udim. We had hired them to carry most of our luggage to the start of the trail head in Naya Pul. It was a bumpy one hour ride to get there, but with some amazing views of the Pokhara Valley. When we stopped at a corner store, we thought it was break time, but it turned out that we were in Naya Pul.

Then we started hiking up along the river, through small villages,

and along the rice fields. It was dry, but the trails was muddy after all the rain, the air was humid and the vegetation buzzed with the sounds of insects. The landscape was beautiful with low hanging clouds, and now and then sunshine on the mountains and the rice fields.

We shared the trail with many other tourists, locals, and horses and donkeys. We had a good lunch and rest at restaurant Green Land in Birethani along the Modi Khola river.

The local people were drying beans outside, 

and this pretty little girl was curious about us.

When we reached Tikhedungha, Yogen asked us if we were sure we wanted to do the long and steep climb up to Ulleri now or wait till tomorrow morning. We decided to the get the 550m climb over just 1.9 km over with, so up, up, up it went.

We got caught in a shower, which was welcomed as it gave us an excuse for a rest and a cup of tea. 5,979 steps and 2 hours later we finally reached Ulleri. I was very proud of my sister Tine from Denmark (far right picture below) as she found this part very hard, but never complained.

We started the day way down in the valley on this photo above. We stayed at the Good View Hotel where the rooms were very primitive ($3 a night!), the solar shower luke warm, the bed not the most comfortable, and the food so-so. We were in bed by 8 pm as we were quite tired. It was cold at 2020m when the sun went down. As the rooms had no insulation and no heating, sleep in a warm bed covered my thick blankets was our best option!