Day 7: Ice lakes from Braga

10.10.08

Ice Lakes from Braga
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It's a rest day, but I really want to go check out the ice lakes. I'll head up there after breakfast (6:30am) and rest in the afternoon.

I started at 7:10 and was up at the 2nd lake by 9:45am (2hr 35mins; 3500m to ~4600m, I think). It felt good. I soaked in the views of Annapurna, plotted routes that people might take when climbing the giant - the mountain looked friendly and climbable on such a beautiful day, though appearance can be deceptive, in reality it is a long ways to the top. After 30mins I started down.

The Swiss couple who started a little behind me were just getting to the first lake, said I must've been going fast as they couldn't catch me :-) .. I guess I was. I met quite a few other tourists on my way down and was glad to have started early to have enjoyed the beauty of this place in solitude. In my hurry to get down, I somehow lost the trail, found a little dog as a companion and followed him down - which then got me off the path a 2nd time and we (dog and I) ended up coming down what looked like a goat path on the mountain side; very dusty and a little sketchy but fun!

In Braga, we also met Misha + Rita's friend Ben from Holland. He's an interesting character. He spends 9 or 10 months of the year travelling in Nepal, India, Myanmar, SE Asia. The other two months he's back home in Holland. When he's travelling, he rents out his apartment and evidently that's enough to continue his journeys.