October 22 – November 6, 2013 took AdventureWomen on the Nepal Trekking in the Himalayas: Annapurna Lodge Trek to the “Gates of Heaven”. One of our favorite yearly adventures, this amazing journey in Asia is a unique combination of low altitude trekking, cultural interaction, white water rafting, and getting to know Nepal’s southern Terai country by elephant back in Chitwan National Park.
On this year’s Nepal adventure vacation, we also honored a special AdventureWomen repeat client, Janice Pearson, who was so excited to go on this trip that she was the first woman to register for it! Sadly, Janice passed away suddenly and unexpectedly prior to the trip’s departure date. Janice is survived by her family and husband, David Pearson. To recognize this wonderful woman and her adventurous spirit, David sent us his favorite photograph of Janice and a small amount of her ashes.
With our outfitter, our Nepali guide, Mani, and Stacey Bengtson, our AdventureWomen Associate, we organized three special ceremonies in honor of Janice that were held during the trip. In this photo gallery, you will see how and where Janice was honored. I want to also say a special thank you to this year’s adventure participants for the part they played in honoring Janice’s memory. ~ Susan L. Eckert
Photos by Stacey Bengtson
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- The busy city of Kathmandu, where we begin our trip.
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- Viewing Himalayan peaks on the airplane ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara, to start our trek.
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- On arrival in Pokhara, meeting our women porters for the trek.
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- Amazing footwear, ladies!
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- The Trail of Steps…
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- Crossing the Modi river on a footbridge.
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- Scenes along the trail…
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- It’s time to harvest the rice.
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- Walking through ricefields along the trail to Himalaya Lodge.
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- Past villages and ricefields.
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- On our way to Himalaya Lodge, we walk on old stone paths, past goats and cattle, along terraced ricefields.
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- One of our porters, approaching Himalaya Lodge.
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- Sunrise from Himalaya Lodge.
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- Breakfast with a view from Himalaya Lodge!
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- Breakfast is served.
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- Great shot with our AdventureWomen group with their porters at Himalaya Lodge.
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- Annapurna South and Hinchuli.
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- Walking to the shrine for Janice’s ceremony on the mountaintop.
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- The ceremony in the mountains, with Janice’s photo.
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- Shaman with prayer beads, preforming Janices’ ceremony on the mountaintop.
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- AdventureWomen group mountain top ceremony for Janice Pearson.
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- Janice’s photo during the mountaintop ceremony.
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- Porters wearing AdventureWomen T-shirts at the ceremony in the mountians.
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- Coming down from the shrine near the Himalaya Lodge.
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- Susan Baker shows a child his photo.
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- Wash day!
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- The kids loved Linda and Susan’s binoculars.
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- Leaving Himalaya Lodge to go back to Sanctuary Lodge.
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- Scenes on the way to Sanctuary Lodge.
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- Talking to the rice farmers on the way to Sanctuary Lodge.
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- Linda Wilmarth and Mani (our Nepali guide) harvesting lentils.
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- Rest stop.
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- Pack animals on the trail.
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- Machhapuchure (Fishtail Mountain) from the Sanctuary Lodge, early morning.
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- Our bird watchers! Linda Wilmarth and Susan Baker.
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- The school children dancing for us at Sanctuary Lodge.
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- We danced with them and also sang them a couple of songs.
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- Children dancing at Sanctuary Lodge.
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- Children singing to us for Diwali, the festival of lights.
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- Candles on the night of lights celebration.
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- Crossing the Modi River again on our way to Gurung Lodge.
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- Trekking to Gurung Lodge.
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- Our porters stop to rest along the trail.
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- Arriving at Gurung Lodge.
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- Gurung Lodge
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- Back in Pokhara and saying good- bye to our porters.
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- AdventureWomen heading off to shop in Pokhara!
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- The next leg of our trip is a two night rafting trip on the Seti River. Guides getting the rafts ready.
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- We have lunch at the river before pushing off.
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- All dressed for rafting!
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- Drying our gear and clothes at our first river camp
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- We had another ceremony for Janice Pearson, and released her ashes and marigolds on the Seti River.
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- On one of our rafting days, we hiked to a village above the river camp.
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- The third leg of our adventurous journey took us to Chitwan National Park by canoe.
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- Sunset canoe ride, Chitwan National Park.
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- In Chitwan, we ride elephants to find the elusive tiger, and rhino.
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- Rhino! We ended up seeing 8 of them the two days we were on elephants! But no tigers….
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- While in Chitwan, we learn more about our elephants…
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- …and get to wash them in the river! Wendy washing an elephant.
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- The elephant washing Wendy!
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- On our way back to Kathmandu, eating our delicious box lunches on the bus.
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- Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, the largest Buddhist temple outside Tibet.
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- AdventureWomen, Inc.and Janice’s husband, David Pearson, arranged a special prayer service for Janice to be held in temple.
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- AdventureWomen participants taking part in the prayer ceremony for Janice in the temple.
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- Monks at the prayer celemony for Janice.
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- Monks light candles and bless Janice’s photo during her special prayer ceremony.
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- Our service in the temple for Janice.
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- In Kathmandu, we enjoy a guided tour of the ancient city of Bhaktapur. The men’s club!
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- View of Bhaktapur.
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- We also visited a paper factory. On the roof giving the thumbs up!
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- All great adventures come to an end, and we celebrated our last night with a delicious farewell dinner at the Thamel House.
