Trekking into the mountains of Nepal there are two main elements vying for position to be seen: The spectacular mountains and the thick, rolling clouds. It’s true that during the “clear” seasons the clouds do pull back in the night and the horizon opens up for a full view of the mountains. Still hiking groups start early in the day if they want to get a clear view from the hilltops. In the early afternoon the clouds still creep up the river valleys and start to blot out the sunlight and blanket the hillsides. One day while we were lodging in Khumjung with Pema we got a late start for a day hike above the village for a clear view to Lukla (we were getting homesick already). To our amazement by 11 a.m. we noticed the clouds were already gathering and soon we were completely fogged in. We were unhappy and so were the people in Lukla because the clouds must have kept all the flight grounded for that day.

On the subject of wildlife in the Khumbu I mentioned a few posts back that I didn’t notice that many creatures along the trails other than the ravens. In a sense though I could count all the dogs running loose as wild creatures. They’re not savage beasts running in packs snatching children away, but they do wander the land without a home to go to. As you enter the Sagarmatha National Park a sign in English warns of the dangerous consequences of offering morsels to the stray dogs and it urges the Park’s guests to resist the temptation to befriend them. The dogs will continue to pester hikers and ultimately, if the animals become diseased or just rude, they’ll pose a health risk. It basically sets a bad habit for the dogs to linger around hikers and to stare them down with their cute but hungry eyes edging in for a handout. It’s a different situation in Kathmandu where there must be thousands of filthy stray dogs in the streets, but in the mountains they seem like benign stewards of the trails.