Hike two, ANNAPURNA SANCTUARY or ABC HIKE

Tiered rice paddy's, partly harvested and laid out to dry. 

A stone roof. Tiles range from 1 inch  to 3 inches thick. I saw tiles that were 2 foot square and 2-3 inch thick.
I saw these roofs in many places and each time I wondered at the size of framing required to support them. 

I was too tired and cold at this point to explain to the hiker taking the photo how to focus the camera. 

I'm inside the horse shoe, surrounded on three side by the Annapurna Mountains. 

These are ABC buildings. To my left, right, and behind are the Annapurna mountains. 

For some hundreds (or thousands?) of dollars you can be flown in and out.
Somehow that seems like cheating. Although I considered paying to fly out. 

That wisp of snow blowing over the peak of the mountain was continuous. 

This is the last cluster of lodges before the ABC base camp, I'm on my way back down.
This is one of the few photos in which you get a sense of scale.  

This hillside towers perhaps 2000 feel over my head, but the scale does not show in the photo. 

Climbing out of the valley floor. 

This is another nest of lodges along the trail. The proprietors and staff all leave for the winter.   

This horse has his own mountain monogram. 

A plate saying who built this monster bridge. 

Everything is hauled in and out from the lodges by men. Many of them are carrying
60 to 80 lbs and a lot of them are wearing flip-flops and sneakers. We saw one guy who
we think was carrying a washing machine up the mountain. 

I am interested, although never learned, how these terraces are owned, kept
track of, and transferred from from generation to generation.

The hike comes over the hill on he left, amid the buildings, and runs down hill on stone stairs for,
I think, 3 miles, to the bottom of the valley, where it goes back up.  

These pack horses are avoiding the bridges and stairs, at least for a time,
by crossing what must be during the rainy season a torrential river. 

I saw these stacks of wood and hay often in Nepal.
They are artistic and practical all at once. 

The entrance to one of the small collection of buildings
that are lodges and restaurants. 

Someone is weaving bamboo into walls and roof material for a hut. 

These were not used to shelter hikers, perhaps they are for animals or crops. 

That small collection of blue roofed buildings on the trail ahead was where we spent the night. 

Steve, Dave--both Brit's--and Chubbie their guide. I hiked with Steve and Chubbie from about half way
up the trail to the top while Dave was sick as a dog for several days and sat in a horrible 
room--cold, barren, smelly, with absolutely nothing to do. We picked Dave up and hiked out together,
rented a jeep back to Pokhara where we spent some days hanging out, including a 17 mile 
bike ride around the lake, and some short hikes.

This and the following photograph are Snow Leopards sent to me by a
Nepalese farmer I meet. He said he had taken them on his cell phone a couple
of weeks before I met him. I have cleaned them up a bit and cropped them.