Karnali Hike(edit)

We had a huge problem here. The trail on the east side of the Thansan Khola was blocked. We backtracked and camped overnight at Norbulung. In the morning we made a very bad decision. I believe the best way would have been to continue towards Chharka Bhot on the west bank after crossing the Thansan Khola. I would recommend doing this, and have left the route going this way to Chharka Bhot even though we didn't go this way. We made the decision to hike up the Yalku Khola, heading towards one of the passes near Chharka Bhot. The upper parts of the Yalku Khola were not passable, and the pass we were aiming for didn't look safe at all. We changed plans several times, and ended up hiking for two days over mountainous terrain with no trails on the map or the ground. The route we took skipped Chharka Bhot entirely and continued directly west across the mountains to the Chap Chu East waypoint, camping overnight at Sipalun Kharka. This part of the route was relatively easy with no particularly dangerous terrain. However, the problem is that you arrive at Chap Chu on the east side of the Bharbun Khola. There is no bridge and when we were there (August 16th) the river was far too swollen to cross. After taking advice from some Yak herders, we followed a rough trail south to Sinjik expecting the water to be lower, however this was incorrect and in fact the water was higher. Sinjik was deserted with a few derelict buildings, and as far as we could see the path finished there and we couldn't go any further south. We were out of options and about to give up when a local man appeared and led us along the most perilous trails I've ever hiked in my life. Slippery rocks with certain death falls inches away. I would highly recommend not trying to repeat this route! After a couple of hours we arrived in Thinmer where we stayed overnight in a basic homestay. Thinmer has a bridge over the Bharbun Khola, and the trail north to Chap Chu on the west side of the river was safe and well maintained. If you would like our detailed GPS tracks for this route, you can find them in our raw GPX logs (days 123-126), however be warned that the section from Sinjik to Thinmer was exceedingly dangerous and I would absolutely not repeat it myself.