Kayaking in Nepal

Since my arrival in Nepal on September 12, I have had the opportunity to paddle a number of great rivers. In fact, I think I may have spent more time in my kayak in the past 2 months than I have in the past 2 years combined. Prior to the end of the guide course in October, my itinerary was pretty much handed to me. It has been one adventure after another and the time has absolutely flown by. Although it was nice being told which trips I would be going on and when, it has also been fun being on my own to meet people to go boating with.
The Holy Lodge is full of kayakers this time of year and it didn't take long for me to find a crew to go paddling with when I returned to Kathmandu. On the morning of November 4, I left with 7 other boaters to catch the "local bus" out to the Bhote Kosi river. It is only about 80 km from the city but takes about 3 hours. Although I had paddled the lower section of the river quite a few times, the Upper was a new river for me. Until a couple weeks ago, it has been too high to run and rafting trips still aren't going on it. The upper section of the Bhote Kosi is 20 km of continuous class IV whitewater. There are few, if any, flat sections and it demanded every bit of my attention as a swim here would be long a brutal. After a long and uncomfortable ride on the local bus, we arrived at the put-in at the Borderlands resort on the road to Tibet. It was solid whitewater from the minute we put on and I knew that I needed to stay as focused as I could. Fortunately, I was able to follow others with much more kayaking experience who had paddled the river during previous trips to Nepal.
We scouted a 2 or 3 of the rapids but were able to stay in our boats for most of the trip. The horizon lines around pretty much every corner of the river could be pretty intimidating, but fortunately it was a solid run for everyone in the crew. This was certainly the most challenging stretch of river that I paddled during my time in the Himalayas. The Upper Bhote Kosi is tons of fun and I would highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys paddling solid class IV whitewater. That evening on the local bus back to Kathmandu, we were treated to some live tunes by some fellow passengers...
The Belephi River runs into the Bhote Kosi a few miles down from the takeout of the Upper section. A couple days after running the upper section, a group of us headed back out to paddle the Belephi, one of the most beautiful rivers I've paddled to date. Instead of taking the local bus, this time we treated ourselves to a private bus and all payed about $15 for the entire day. The Belephi is about 15km of crystal clear class III-IV read and run whitewater. Not only is the water amazing, but there are also incredible views of some of the high peaks of the Langtang region. It is such a cool experience to be paddling in relatively warm water on a sunny day and then turn around to see giant snow-covered peaks. The Upper Bhote Kosi and the Belephi are great rivers and we were treated to some amazing weather for both trips.
Although I went paddling a couple days during this time, I was still dealing with an infected ingrown toenail that was not only painful, but was going to prevent me from hiking in the Khumbu as planned. After more than a week of soaking my foot and taking antibiotics, I spoke to a friend that had taken care of a similar condition in his toe on a Canadian expedition. He told me how he did it and I decided to get after it. I gave it one last soak in steaming hot water and went for it. The pain was excruciating but there was instant relief when the nail popped out and I was finally able to clip the piece that was growing into the side of my toe. Having never had one of these, I'm pretty sure it was caused from my big hike it September that caused the other nail to die completely. Fortunately, I'm all healed up and good to go...
On the morning of November 9, I took a bus out to Pokhara to meet a couple of friends who were kayaking in that area. We met up with some other kayakers, including a girl who lives in Utah and happens to work for Second Nature, the same wilderness program I was working with for the last year...small world! A crew of five of us went out to the Upper Seti, only 20 minutes from Lakeside Pokhara, and did a couple laps. The Upper Seti makes for a great day trip. It only takes about an hour and a half. It is continuous and has lots of fun rapids and tons of great boof lines. I knew part the culture here is to burn the dead on the side of the river, this was the first time I actually saw this dramatic event taking place. We were right at the top of a rapid when I looked over and saw the cremation taking place on the river bank with a ceremony taking place next to the enormous fire. Pretty shocking at first and then I quickly realized it is just part of the cycle of life and that is how it is done in this part of the world.
The next day, nobody was paddling so I just went for a spin around Fewa lake in Pokhara which is beautiful. It was a pretty clear day and was relaxing to go for a cruise. It was fun to watch the dozens of paragliders soaring above the lake and surrounding hills. Paragliding looks amazing but not sure if I have room for another activity at this point in my life. However, the idea of flying off the side of mountains is quite appealing... maybe one day.
The Modi Kola is the river I hiked along for a few days when I went out to Annapurna Base Camp in September. Although the water was too high during my trek, I remember really liking what I saw and hoped to paddle it while I was here. It is possible to paddle the upper sections of the Modi but requires some planning, porters, and lots of skill. My friend Mo and I left with a couple folks from the Yukon, Theresa and J.F., to do one of the lower sections of the Modi Kola on Friday the 12th. We somehow managed to pile 4 creek boats and 5 people in and on a tiny little taxi and drove 2 hours to the put-in. We couldn't put in at Nayapul, where I had originally planned to, since they have damned up this section of river leaving a few kilometers of dry riverbed in the middle. Although short, the section we did get to paddle was great. It was cold water and felt like it had recently left a glacier...it had. This was more of a pool-drop river with some calm sections between the rapids. It was quite a technical class III-IV stretch of river. We did very little, if any, scouting. Toward the end of the run, we found and great wave to surf and had a nice session there before piling back into our taxi for the 2 hour ride back to Pokhara.
I tagged along with a rafting trip the next day for another trip on the Upper Seti since it would most likely be my last day of kayaking in Nepal...this year. One of the Nepali guides expressed strong interest in buying my boat. We met up that evening and I said goodbye to my Liquidlogic Jefe and gave thanks for lots of great river trips. I got a fair price and decided to throw in a helmet a spray deck since gear is hard to come by in this part of the world.
So, the kayaking portion of this trip has ended and it is time to get into some big mountains. I got back to Kathmandu yesterday by bus. Since the only backpack I brought with me is only 35 liters, I had to get out on the streets of Thamel and do some bargaining for a new pack. After some ridiculous interactions with merchants of ripoff gear, I finally went home with a 60 liter North Face (better known as "North Fake") pack for $30. My hope is that this pack will hold up long enough for me to spend a few weeks exploring the Everest region...maybe even bring it home full of more ripoff gear. I woke up early this morning and went to the airport in hope of flying to Lukla, one of the sketchiest airports in the world. However, the airport in Lukla has been closed for 4 days now and my flight was canceled too. New plan. Another way of getting up to the Solukhumbu (Everest region), is to take a bus to a town called Jiri and walk for 5-7 days to Lukla. After reading about this trek and talking to some people who have done it, I decided to refund my outbound plane ticket to Lukla and walk in. The other option is to wake up each morning and go wait at the airport with tons of others in hopes of getting on a plane...the forecast is not encouraging and one day was painful enough.
I don't have a set plan for the Khumbu, but psyched to finally be going to this place that I have been reading about and seeing on television for so many years. Walking there will just make the journey that much more exciting. Having never been much higher than 14,000 feet, I am planning to be very careful not to get AMS(Acute Mountain Sickness), a condition quite common with trekkers and climbers in this area. Unlike my speed hike to Annapurna Base Camp in September, it is important that I go slowly and acclimatize properly on this trek.
It has been a pleasure documenting these adventures over the past couple months and I hope you have enjoyed reading.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all ('mericans) and Namaste....
Preston

Check out more pics from the Bhote Kosi and Belephi @: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=219409&id=1533910566&l=6260e15f41