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About Poonhill Trekking in Nepal
Starting Poonhill trekking tour from the height of 1200 meters or 3936 feet at Pokhara all the way to the 3210 meter 10529 feet at Poonhill, is a beautiful short hike in Annapurna Himalaya range. Lots of stairs on the Poonhill trail and passing with many tea houses with multiple brake for catching our breath walking on those stone stairs was not just an adventure but an easy way to know about the life and culture of Poonhill trek.
With these uphill stone stairs & hardship on the poonhill trek, if you just turn back and see behind how long did you walked so far, will easily help you to forget all those pain. Moreover those beautiful mountains on the sight are stunning.
As Poonhill trek is the busy during this autumn season for the trekking in these mountains, long line of people walking on the trail is tiresome sometime and interesting in many ways. When you are stopping to catch the breath, you feel happy to see different faces from all over the word in Poonhill trek trail. But when you have no way to walk uphill and get stocked in the trekkers traffic jam is another crazy experience and an easy excuse to control your breath.
Hardest section of Poonhill trek towards Ulleri
So called 4000 steps are not that easy as you think but not that hard as well. Not hard in the sense you have all well maintained stones steps all the way up to Ulleri. Once you get to the top of these stairs at the place called Ulleri you can assume you have done half of the entire uphill part of poonhill trekking.
Ulleri is a small village with few tea houses where trekkers stay for night and has got like 200 people living there. When you start walking uphill from ulleri, poonhill trekking becomes easy all the way to ghorepani itself.
Trekking into the jungle, few trekkers in the chilling mood makes Poonhill trek, even better and you will forget all the pain you had in those uphill of ulleri.
Gateway to Poonhill
Talking about Ghorepani it is quite big villages, I prefer saying it as a mini town with few shops, bakery, and Snooker houses and yes many teahouses.
View from Ghoreapni is magnificent, you can see complete panorama of two huge mountain range of Nepal Himalaya. Annapurna is on the right side and the huge mountain Dhaulagiri is on the other side.
If you have good guide and if he is able to find you perfect place to sleep, you will be able to see all those towering mountains from your room itself. Scenery from your bed is really pretty which I cannot explain right now. By the time I am writing this article I can see those blinking stars and shining mountains. It is always hard to explain this beauty in words.
Ghorepani is a destination and Poonhill is a hill station, so this poonhill is another great place. Entire trekking is done for this hill top where you can have unexpected scenery. Hiking early in the morning to the poonhill worth your short of breath to the top of the scenic hill, we started hiking at 5 am in the morning which was not that cold as we were expecting.
I would say the temperature was below 10 degree Celsius. Wearing jacket, gloves, head lamp on each and every trekkers head was nice looking in the early morning.
The crowd on the way I saw was more than expected, many children running to the hilltop of another interesting thing in this morning hike.
No tea, No breakfast and get to the top of the hill station is interesting. Once you get to the top of this scenic hill you will forget all the pain involved climbing to this point.
Poonhill trek view
Two different mountain range called Dhaulagiri Mountain Range and Annapurna Mountain Range were more than just awesome. 180 degree of mountain view and the rest of the green hills were just wow !
There is a tower at the top from where you can see all the mountains but to be precise, top of the tower has not that different picture than the hill top. So if you don’t get the space on the tower, ground is fine enough.
People in October when I was there were like crazy mass. Sunrise was one of the main goals getting on that top so everybody was waiting for sun to expose on them.
Hot tea at the cold place worth paying bit more than normal rate in the tea houses at Ghorepani. And once the sun comes out the crowd of trekkers go loud and the platform seems like great place to be in once again.
People’s queue to take picture with the sign post and crazy photographers taking tones of picture is interesting to witness.
Behind Poonhill trek & this view point
By the name poonhill, this hill station was founded by one of the local man called Tek Bahadur Pun, He was Ex-Gurkha and served many year as army in British command.
He being as British soldier did not forget his country and birth land; he started looking at the tourism potentiality for the up-gration of local people’s life standard.
He took many people to show this hill station as an advertisement. Worked out a lot for the preparation of trekking trail and hence trekkers can be source of business to the local home stays at that time.
By his grace now there are many people happily involving in this trekking business and making good life standard.
But irony is that, he did not make all infrastructural things which were built later by his followers let’s say his family. And now this hill station is worldwide re-known destination. Many have plan to be here and tones of them just see pictures and relax.
Overall being at the top of this hill was more than nice in scenery wise and satisfaction wise. Whatever this man has thought is so far accomplished coming to this day, most of the local people are working in the tourism field indirectly or directly.
Visit to this place worth walking uphill and the down and thousands of stairs too.
If you going to poonhoill, let me suggest you some of the points;
- go slow while you are walking uphill to poonhill for the sunrise.
- Make sure you start in time to catch the sunrise; it is so far good experience with me and many others.
- Make sure where the sun is coming from before you shoot film in this cold morning.
- Best thing you can do is take a guide who can take care of you and all these timing.
Wish you all the best!!
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