Nov 9 - to Gokyo

Today we set off at 8:30 am for our main trek. For the first hour we followed a heavily travelled route that goes to Tengboche. All along the trail as we dodged yaks and tourists we had spectacular views of Everest and Ama Dablam (see photo). Then we veered left up a river valley toward Dole, our stop for the night. This was the most strenuous leg of the trip so far, starting at 11500 ft and ending at 13500 ft, but with a drop of 2000 ft in the middle. So our entire gain was about 4000 ft. We stopped for a pleasant lunch at the River Resort, a small teahouse midway along the route and arrived at the Yeti Inn in Dole around 3 pm. Barbara and I are both at the peak of our head colds, so we turned in early. Tomorrow we have a shorter trip with less altitude gain as we make our way to Goyko and acclimate along the way.