December 26th we woke up and prepared to hike to Tengboche. We would be hiking 6.2 miles. Our starting elevation was 11,154 ft and the ending elevation would be 12,664 ft. What these numbers don't tell you is how many times we would go up and down and how many steps would be involved. This was one of my favorite days on the trail. We saw so many views of Everest and Ama Dablam. The weather was clear with amazing blue skies and the scenery beautiful. It was cold if we were not moving but so pretty.
We hiked straight up a million (lots of) stairs to get out of Namche. It was right as school was starting so we see lots of kids and families on the path.
Once we climbed to the top of Namche we had a very pleasant almost flat walk along the side of the mountain. We were wrapping around a mountain. Heading straight for those beautiful mountains.
Another nice thing was that there were a lot less animals after Namche. They don't let mule trains past Namche so that made it a less traveled trail.
It was such a nice day.
We were loving the views
There were a few Stupa's on the way as well.
It was so pleasant. After we hiked along the nice path for a while we took some steps and dropped down to the river. It was a long steep downhill, only a little depressing knowing in a few days we would have to come back up them. At the bottom we took a bathroom break and a team picture.
I was very happy to try out my solar panel. I can report that it worked great!
We crossed a couple more bridges along our journey!
They are always fun.
We also saw our first yak trains.
The highlight was getting to the monestary at Tengboche. The views from this little spot were breathtaking.
The clouds over the tall mountains are so crazy.
We reseted here for a while but we had to descend into the valley to get to our tea house.
Our little group is still surviving!!!!
I took a jumping picture because it is so exciting to look at Mt. Everest all day long!
We also got to tour the monestary. It was pretty cool. You can't take pictures but you can walk through it. The painting on the walls are so intricate. And every wall and ceiling are painted. It would have taken a really long time to paint. The area we toured was where the monks sleep. It did not look very comfortable and it was freezing.
After the tour we had to hike down to our tea house. The way was steep and it started to get very very cold. We were excited to get into the tea house hoping for some warmth. When we arrived we unpacked our little room.
Then I used dry shampoo for the first time ever. My hair was so gross. It helped some!
Much better once my hat was on
Then we headed to the common room.
It was not a warm room. They finally lit a fire but our tea house was crowded and so there was not much room close the fire. We were sharing it with a very large group (12) from Germany, Some solo hikers from Holland and some people from Dubai. Before dinner we got to watch a gorgeous sunset over Everest. It was pretty cold so I didn't watch it for long. I ended up retiring early because of the cold. The next morning the tea house was freezing. The windows were all frozen.
This was also the first night that we had frozen bathrooms. You heard that right FROZEN bathrooms. That meant flushing with water out of a bucket, until that water froze and then there was no flushing. Not my favorite thing but it was a thing. The amazing thing is that it somehow works and we all survived. I was warm in my sleeping bag but from here on out the tea houses were all so very cold. That was hard.
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