Day 30 -- October 27 => Chumoa to Lukla

We had a fairly long day on the trail back to Lukla so it was a 6 am start to the day. Skies were clear but due to surrounding hills, we still had not felt the sun's warmth as we left Chumoa at 7:30 am. An uphill start to the morning which helped us to get into the morning sun. A number of up and downs as we crossed the Dudh Kosi twice, passing Benkar (2905m/9530') and Gumila. We stopped in Phakding (2652m/8700') around 9:30 am for a rest break. Sarah provided us some butterscotch "chunks". They were actually butterscotch chips which had partially melted and re-solidified.

Artist working on a new stupa

As we approached our lunch stop, we came across an artist who was busy working on a new stupa. He was currently carving a design into the wet cement. We arrived at our lunch stop at 11:20 am, a few steps beyond the wooden bridge over the Kusum Khola.

Kusum Kangguru (6389m/20,961')

As we left the lunch stop at 12:30 pm, I took one final photo of the trekking peak, Kusum Kangguru. After more than three weeks of almost daily views, this final view truly marked the end of our high altitude segment of the trek.

On the way back to Lukla

The final segment of the trail to Lukla was mostly uphill. We reached the outskirts of Lukla at 2:15 pm, passing a soldier beside the trail. Another 15 minutes brought us to our final campsite of the trek, at Himalaya Lodge overlooking the airport. There were several armed soldiers outside the airport fencing. Chris was sitting on the lodge's terrace having a beer with two women from New Zealand. He had rocketed ahead of us about an hour earlier to try and arrange flight arrangements for Jagat and Baboram back to Kathmandu.

Airplane wing at Lukla airport

Sarah and I went down to find the trail we had come in on from Surkya on Oct 9. On the way, we passed a large group of Nepalese playing and watching a volleyball game.

Abandoned porter shoe near Lukla

On the first week of our trek, we had seen many abandoned shoes on the trails. Once we got above Lukla though, we rarely saw any more of these abandoned shoes.

Dinner was held in the flight crew dining room in the lodge. It was quite a dinner with spicy chicken soup, chicken and rice, followed up with chocolate cake. Chris left shortly after to make his famous "Yak Soup". He returned with a large pot of his "Yak Soup" and he then presented the group tips to the remaining staff. I had two cups of "Yak Soup" -- it tasted pretty good and perhaps had some rum in it.

There was a dusk to dawn curfew in Lukla and we were cautioned to again point our headlamps to the ground when we were outside our tents.

Day 29 - Kyangsuma to Chumoa

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Created: March 30, 2003.