Date: 2018-10-27
To: PembaÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs House
Miles today: 1.0
Weather: clear sky

We¢ve been without internet for a couple days, hence the delay.Scout: Pemba has told us that today will be a hard day. But you know what our response is to that. Come on, say it out loud with me. ¢But it¢s not Cho La Pass.¢ We descend 2,800 blessed feet today. We woke at 15,600 feet, sleeping higher than any of the 350 million sleeping in the contiguous 48 states. Tonight we will sleep at 12,800 feet. I¢ve seen many of our national parks, I¢ve walked from Mexico to Canada twice and once from Maine to Georgia, but seldom have I had the pleasure of walking a more gorgeous river valley. The Dudkhosi River Valley has no car overlooks, no tour buses. To get here you are probably six days from the nearest roadhead and most accessed the valley by hiking three or four days after landing at the most dangerous airport in the world. In other words, Yosemite it ain¢t. For twelve miles we hike clinging to a path high along its side. They aren¢t the sheer sides like the Grand Canyon, but when we drop 1,000 feet to cross the river, that¢s a just a little fraction of the height of 5-,6-, 7,000-foot mountains that define its sides. The river flows strong like the upper Colorado in the northern half of the eponymous state. It¢s so cold that center-river boulders the size of a garage are covered with ice despite the rushing water. Streams that feed it are marked by their white frozen paths that sluice down two, three or more thousand feet on its sides. And the valley is crowned by snow-covered mountains, the biggest is the world.  It¢s enough to make you gasp, except the sneaky, 1,000 climb that breaks up the general descent, does it¢s own good job of that.  We end 8 hours of hiking at Pemba¢s house. We are sleeping there. After the big 2015 earthqake, Pemba rebuilt his house and added an upper floor that could be used as a guest house. Tonight, we are guests in our lead guide¢s home. Tonight, we are down at 12,800 feet. For the last time, yesterday, we took the high-altitude diamox, No more tingling fingers. No more getting up four or more times a night. And even though the high today did not reach 32 degrees, it feels warmer. Frodo: My entry below was actually written several days ago, just before my iPad died and wouldn¢t revive until it got to a lower elevation., So bear that in mind. At this point it doesn¢t really make sense to put it in where it belongs. On a side note, we¢re still petty sick, spend a lot of our time feeling exhausted, ad are enjoying the thicker air.Frodo¢s old post: My husband is a saint. He's on this trip at my behest, it's been tougher than either of us expected, he has a cold, and yet I haven't heard him complain at all, except for the tiny bit that crept into his journal entry yesterday. I'm the one who chose this trip, saw the "very strenuous" designation, and didn't bat an eye. He's the one who has been cheerful and helpful and with a very positive attitude. I'm pretty darn lucky.By the way, in my defense regarding Scout's difficulty finding my note two days ago:  it was REALLY cold and I did wait a half hour for them to go 'a little further'. I also left the note right next to the rock where I told them, 'This is where I will wait.' Okay, I'm going to go back to the metaphor of the weak link. Pemba in his wisdom came to me yesterday morning and told me that, because I am so sick, Jomba would carry my daypack for me. Ouch! I've always been a very competent hiker and have definitely carried my weight, but I had to admit he was right. I did do okay today and was not the last hiker for the second half of the day's hike, but I probably would have struggled more if I had had to carry my pack. Same drill for today. This is not easy to admit for me. I guess age and Parkinson's have taken more of a toll than I like to admit. And I am still quite sick, blowing my nose frequently as well as sneezing and now coughing. That seems to sap some of my energy.Today, while the rest of the group trekked off to see Everest Base Camp, I stayed here at Snowland Lodge, where we will all sleep tonight. I am trying to conserve my energy for a big day tomorrow. We will leave Gorak Shep early to climb Kala Patar (a dark peak rising 1300' above town) for our best view of Everest. I have assured Pemba that I'm okay with getting halfway up Kala Patar, since I don't want to slow down the group. Because then we will pass back through Gorak Shep, back through Lobuche, and on to Dzonglha for the night. It will be a long day for all of us. But we'll be sleeping almost a thousand feet lower, and I think my body will appreciate access to a bit more oxygen.