Hiking the Dhampus Trek
We traipsed up stone steps and trundled through goat filled paths. We traversed the trail and traveled alongside the Himalayas. We triumphantly trotted our way through the Dhampus trek in Nepal!
This trail is part of the larger Annapurna Circuit, and despite the internet saying it is suitable for the elderly and young children, I personally found “easy” to still have its fair share of thigh-burning moments. Perhaps the baseline for hiking in Nepal is relatively skewed with Everest here? In any case, if you are looking for a stress-free, moderate-ish hike, without doing the whole Annapurna, then a trek to Australian Camp may be up your alley.
hike snapshot
length:
2 days
Elevation Gain:
~2100 ft.
Distance:
5 miles (Phedi - Australia Camp miles) + 13 miles (Australia Camp - Pokhara); 18 miles total
Getting to the Trailhead
We found an overzealous taxi driver ready to take us to the start of our journey in Phedi, just northwest of Pokhara. He eagerly utilized visual aids to indicate we were going a very, very long ways away and that such a journey required very, very much money. For the curious, when a Nepali says “a very, very long ways” this equates to roughly 10 miles. A little map pointing here and a bit of haggling there, and we were on our way! (At a rate of “very much money” not “very, very much,” I might add.)
Phedi > Dhapmpus Village
2 miles | 2 hours
It was rare to spy another hiker on the trail, though what it lacked in human life it easily made up for in goats. Many, many goats. There were also little red and white markings along the way to keep us in the right direction, although I think it would take an extreme amount of talent to get lost on this trail. Getting from the trailhead to Dhampus Village took about 2 hours.
Consistent with most places in Nepal, Dhampus doesn’t have a whole lot going on, but the view of the Himalayas is stellar. There is, I may add, a little restaurant that is cashing in on the prime real estate of their backyard and for a small fee (“small” meaning 50 NPR, or $0.46 cents) you can access their mountainous viewpoint at the top of a hill.
Bonus points if it’s a clear day, as it was for us. Double bonus points if you have matching “yak yak yak” shirts to have a photoshoot in. If there’s also a cute dog, then you’ve basically hit the trifecta.
Dhampus Village > Australian Camp
3 miles | 3 hours
A few more hours of hiking and we would arrive at Australian Camp, a quaint and peaceful place to stay the night Along the way, we walked through small villages and spied a great many water buffalo living their quaint little water buffalo lives. There were also goats. There are always goats. All the while, we had the snowcapped peaks the Himalayas in the distance to keep us company, which were completely showing off their impressiveness as we waltzed on by. Eventually, we reached a sign that said that indicated that Australian Camp was close.
Australian Camp
First and foremost, approaching Australian Camp felt like entering the Shire, and let me tell you, nothing gets me so giddy as feeling like I’m living in a real-life version of the Lord of the Rings.
Secondly, what a gem Australian Camp is! Before arriving, I imagined we’d stay in a remote hut or shabby tent, so finding a comfy bed, lukewarm shower and stunning views of the mountains was an absolute treat. There was even WiFi, though we opted not to use it.
The “camp” part of the name is also very appropriate since it felt like a flashback to a miniature version of childhood summers past. Dishes were washed by hand, guys were playing soccer, small yoga sessions were going on, people could be found reading or eating under little huts, and there was a big swing to enjoy. My main form of entertainment was watching random animals come and go, namely Duffy, the floofster dog I fell in love with. I even had hot chocolate when it got chilly at night and what’s more camp-like than that?
Australian Camp > Kande
1 mile | 1 hour
Alas, night turned into day and it was time to leave our lovely little camp and make our way back. After a breakfast of bad coffee and delicious apple and banana pancakes, we set off into the great Nepali unknown. By “unknown” I mean we were going on a well-groomed trail straight to Kande, a village an hour’s walk away.
From there we took a bus to a city that started with an “N” that I couldn’t pronounce then and definitely can’t recall now. It was a bumpy ride and also a ride bumpin’ Snoop Dogg, which made for a solid 30 minutes of entertainment. There’s nothing quite like sitting alongside only non-English speaking Nepalese people in a bus that feels like it will fall off the mountain at any given moment with Wiz Khalifia and Snoop Dogg belting “Young, Wild and Free” on full blast.
Mystery City > SARANGKOT
5 miles? | many hours
Before leaving Australian Camp, we’d asked a guide what the walk to Sarangkot would be like. Using hand motions he said, “A little up, a little down, mostly flat, a little more up, a little down.” This description turned out to be remarkably accurate. The ups and downs were, in fact, many but little and overall it was mostly flat.
It wasn’t exactly peaceful though with the construction going on, but we talked to some of the locals on the way and even donated a few rupees to a group of boys who had written a letter in English stating that they wanted to start a football club but desperately needed our help, aka money. We acquiesced and even signed their letter; I wrote my name right under some Santiago from Spain, who donated more than us and made the boys want more money. Curse you, Santiago, for setting the bar so high.
We walked on.
No more donations or letters came our way, but we did have to be careful of the mini-bandits on the loose in the form of vicious tiny children who need to add a little finesse to their sales pitch. At first, they look so innocent saying, “chocolates?” and then they up their demands, completely straight-faced, to the more aggressive “give me money!” When they receive neither they take to following very closely behind you visually searching your bag for candy and money.
One child was very adamant that we were withholding precious chocolates and kept pointing at the semi-visible item in our bag. No little one, what you are pointing is not chocolate, it is a spoon. He thought we were pulling a fast one on him, so I pulled it out to show him and he put his hand out and said, “mine” to which I said, “no, my spoon” and he said, “no, mine, give.” This went on until I realized how absurd it was that I was arguing with a 6-year-old in the middle of the Nepalese mountains over a spoon and a lack of chocolate. Needless to say, we held on to our phones and cameras. And spoons.
SARANGKOT: THE LAND OF NOTHINGNESS
We had planned to stay the night here and see sunrise in the morning, but after arriving at 2pm and seeing all of Sarangkot within a minute and a half, we opted against it. Instead of staying in the super compelling city (with “city” being a generous title), we made our way back to Lakeside, Pokhara.
TO POKHARA, VIA 200 MILLION STEPS
7-ish miles | A long, sad time
It wouldn’t have been so bad if we had spread out the walking over 2 days, which we had planned, but since we went straight from Australian Camp to Lakeside we ended up walking 13 miles downhill, on stone steps, in one go. Our calves yelled at us for a solid 4 days afterwards.
POKHARA, AT LAST
What a sight this place was after so many stairs, what a lovely, lovely sight! We returned to our hostel and they looked at our wary and exhausted faces as we stumbled into the lobby “You’re back early,” they said. We explained that there was nothing in Sarangkot, to which he concisely said, “No, not really.” Luckily there was a room available that night and it was marvelous stay indeed.
We ended the day with a gorgeous sunset over Phewa Lake with coffee shakes at our go-to Nepal restaurant, OR2K, where a live band played “Summer of ’69” and Maroon 5 songs that did the actual band a favor. Ah, bliss.
