In October 2018, a friend and I flew to Kathmandu, Nepal to hike the 220-kilometre Annapurna Circuit. It was my first time in Asia and first time at serious altitude. Instead of being out in the wilderness like I was used to in North America, the Circuit took us through high-altitude farming villages beneath the imposing and beautiful Annapurna massif. We stayed in rustic hotels along the way, eating local food and feeling welcomed by the world-famous Nepalese hospitality. It was on this hike that I discovered the joys of hiking through developed areas and immersing myself in local culture on foot. It was also the first time I started thinking about the ways that hiking tourism and local development can sometimes be in conflict with each other.
While I sometimes felt that my style of backpacking clashed with the developed and commercialized experience of Nepalese trekking, I felt that this was an important pilgrimage to make as a lover of mountains and the culture that surrounds them. I think that the humbling experience of standing at the base of the giant 8,000 metre-tall peaks and interacting with the people that have chosen to call these inhospitable landscapes home is an important one for all outdoors-people to have.
I came away from the trip in awe of the epic landscapes and an appreciation for the amount of trails in a country as small as Nepal.
