Today's hike was a merciless uphill climb. As if to make up for our 4900 foot descent yesterday, today we climbed 5400 feet, back upto 9300 feet, and stayed at the pass just above Ghorapani (horsewater).

From Tatopani we climbed up a steep stair-stepped hill to a small pass. Along the way we parted from the Khali Gandaki river for the first time since Kagbeni (4 days ago). We now followed the valley of the Ghora Khola, which would be our guide for most of the rest of theday. From this small pass we could see all the way up the valley tothe pass to the right at which we would spend the evening.

Although continuously uphill, the rest of the walk was not as steep as this initial staircase. We wound our way up the valley, passing all the same changes in vegetation that we saw yesterday, except in reverse order.

The most novel aspect of today's hike was the appearance of the seemingly endless lines of horses carrying loads up the steep hill. Simultaneously, there was a decrease in the number of porters (those smaller load-bearing mammals, pound-for-pound much more efficient than horses, being able to carry more than their own weight). My theory is that the short-haul up and down the steep hills here is more efficient and faster by horse (being accomplished in half a day) but that trips longer than a day are usually assigned to porters. Anyway, these horses definitely add an interesting twist to the day's walk. Many of them are bearing loads of concrete (unmixed) which project nicely out from their sides. They would typically pass in groups of from ten to fifty, basically forcing us from the trail until they had passed, and stirring up great clouds of dust. It can get quite exciting if you are on a particular narrow stretch of trail when one of these horse trains approaches. It's amazing how quickly you can move if you need to. At first we would move off the trail completely to let them pass, but there were so many trains that eventually we learned to share the trail with them, at least in the wider sections. Generally they try fairly hard not to run into you, but in case two pull side by side or one is a little careless, it is necessary to keep alert. Brad was whacked by cement bags a couple of times.

We reached the pass after eight long hours of walking (although others we talked to made it in five hours). We checked into a hotel at 4:00 and then immediately started up Poon Hill to catch the "spectacular sunset" from there.

Poon Hill is just a hill, but is fairly unique because it has a good view in all directions. It is a "mere" hill at 10,400 feet, so we charged up this extra 1000 feet (without our packs) to take pictures. It took me almost an hour and I must have looked as tired as I felt, because people kept offering me encouragement. From the top we were able to see more peaks at the same time than at any other point during the trip, although none of them were particularly close. To the northwest were the pair Dhaulagiri and Tukche peak. Because of their exposure, they were not well lit as the sun went down. Due north were the Nilgiris, and to the northeast, with best exposure tothe setting sun, was the triad of Baraha Shikar, Annapurna South, and Machhapuchhre. Annapurna South was the closest to us, and except for from Tatopani, this was our best view of it.

We took pictures for the better part of an hour, and then fled down the hill after the aplen glow had faded but before complete darkness had arrived. It was much faster going downhill and we only had to resort to flashlights a few times.

At our hotel we had a quick dinner with the French couple from Chamje, and then both of us fell asleep immediately, sleeping for 10 or 11 hours. Fortunately I was dehydrated enough that I didn't haveto get up during the night to go to the bathroom.