One Step Forward, One Step Back

September 28^th, 2026

Samar Village, Nepal

Woke with alarm at 7:00AM this morning.

No running water, no shower.

Went down for breakfast and talked with the guide.  He will take a bike up to the spot and see what things look like this morning.

It appears that a tractor has already been up to start clearing the slide area and leveling the road, so he will see what that looks like so we can time our departure.

I went outside and sat in the cool air, took photos of the mountains, talked to two small children with their grandmother I would guess, and watched the cows eat and the cats playing.

The two smaller cats would not let me get near them, though the one would stare at me and meow a lot, it never would come close.

The larger cat (the mother I think) came over for a few pets, but then she left the property and did not come back while I was there.

I eventually went inside and packed the few things I took out and changed into the riding gear, which was still slightly damp in spots, and were my socks, and the boots.

Noticed also that the zipper on my street pants was broken.  Only pair of pants I have for the 2 months of travel and now my fly is constantly open….sigh.

I was putting a few things on the bike when the guide returned.

The tractor was working on the road and would likely be ready in 30 minutes or so.

So, we paid the hotel bill, strapped the bags onto the bikes and left.

It is just 1 mile to the slide, and we arrived to see 4 other bikes waiting, and a few cars, plus the truck that tried to cross last night was working on changing tires. (Heard later that he blew out all 4 tires on the truck trying to get unstuck last night, and had to pull apart all the brake drums to clean them out.)

We stood around for maybe 20 minutes watching the loader push huge piles of sludge like mud over the side of the road and level out the area.

Finally reached a point where the mud was just sticky, but not sludge.  He pushed out the last of the soup mud in front of the slide as well.

When he pulled off to the side, all the bikes took off and we got across the section without too much issue.

We headed onward, going around another section the tractor had cleared as well, though it had not blocked the entire road.

The road heads up here, and in many spots, there was very visible damage to the road surface where water had been running down it.  Lots of exposed rock that would have been buried more before the rains, small ravines running along sections of the road, and quite a bit of loose rock laying around where it fell from higher up.

We found some sections just washed away, just a jumble of rocks and mud and had to pick our way through that mess.

Some muddy sections still as well.

We did stop for a few scenic views, but kept up a good pace to try and make up time.

We came upon a few more slide areas, but these were smaller, only about 10-15 feet across, and both had been driven over my a 4x4, so we at the tire tracks to follow.

Later we came to a spot where a large tree or shrub had been washed into the road, blocking half of it, the rest was split between a deep muddy hole and a narrow dry ridge on the edge, and it was quite an edge, dropping hundreds of feet down.

Guide slowly came up to the ridge and then edge down into the mud and powered out of that.

I pulled up and decided that the dry ridge looked easier, so slowly got up on top of it, stopped briefly to make sure I was straight and level, then just hit the throttle and passed the 20 feet without any issues. Just do not look down.

We then crossed the same two water crossing we had on the way up, both still full, but not running as heavy.

We arrived back in Samar Village for lunch, stopped at the same place we stayed a few days back.

We had a decent meal and sat around for a bit, and a few other groups were there too, trying to make it south.

The guide had been told the road was out farther down, but we wanted to see it for ourselves as sometimes the drivers of cars/trucks do not realize that bikes can sneak through some damaged areas.

We came down the big hill of switchback again, and it was slow going.

Lots of lose rock, lots of fallen rock to dodge, some mud and washed out sections, and even a large deep raving running down the middle of one section.

We came upon one long section where the mud had just piled up on the road, but gain it had been driving over, so we had some tire tracks to follow, but some times those tracks were the high points, with ruts beside them of washed out rock.

It was mostly dried mud, so not too slick, but very uneven and took quite a bit of effort to keep the bike going as the tire ruts were not in a straight line either.

I had a few close calls in getting stuck in the holes, but kept it out and kept going down.

We both made it out and then continued on the way.

We stopped to look over the bottom of the valley and immediately noticed that a good couple hundred feet of road going up to the bridge was mostly washed away, however, it did appear level enough we would probably be able to get over it.

Farther past the bridge were at least 2 slides that went over the road.

One already had tire tracks in it, and from the distance (probably a mile off) it looked easy enough to ride over.

The other which was bit farther was much larger, probably 10 feet above the road surface, but had very gradual slopes on both sides, so if it was not too soft, we could make it too.

However, there was still the wash out near the small village the guide had been told about, so we rode on down to see it.

Two bikes come up talked to the guide, and it appeared the were saying it was not possible.

We decided to go see it anyway.

We rode up where a few bikes were waiting as well, and soon saw the problem.

The water running along the drainage ditch along the inside curve of the road had cut a channel across the road and into the large ravine next to the road.  It then just dug a huge ravine across the road.

There was a gap of probably 15 feet, and the whole was 15-20 feet deep.

Absolutely no way to cross it with a vehicle of any kind.  You could not even walk it as the sides of the hole were straight up, no path down.

While there was an area off to the side where one might have been able to walk down a hill and back up, it was not possible for the bikes, too steep and too loose a surface.

We turned around and rode back up to the village and into the parking area for the local hotel.

The guide walked over to talk with them and when he returned, he said they were mostly full, with only basic room left that had no bathroom, having to walk outside to use the outhouse.

Some people working on a building near the track down to the hotel said they would be willing to help us haul the bikes down the hiking trail that would get us past the gap, but it would have taken at least 4 people and several hours to get the bikes down, and if we could not get past any of the next obstacles, we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere.

As that option had little be desired, and the local hotel was not a good setup, the guide called back to the place in Samar and they had rooms, so we rode back up to there.

This meant going through all that torn up sections again, only uphill this time.

We reached the hotel and got into our rooms.  I have same room as I had last time we stayed here.

Thankfully the last 2 days of sunshine has allowed them to have hot water, so was able to take a shower finally after 5 days.

Once cleaned up and rested, I went outside and the guide was washing the bikes to clean off the layers of mud caked on them.

I then went inside and sat in the room for a bit and did nothing.  The power is out here, so no WiFi again.  Turns out the main power transmission lines were also wiped out, so no power any where in the valley, except those with solar power.  The days of bad weather caused issues, and even now they have limited power as the solar cannot replace all the power needs, so lots of stuff is turned off.

Still no cell signal either.  I really bought the wrong cell SIM card; most the locals use a government owned cell service and have no issues making calls and using internet.  Not sure tourists can buy into it, but will try that if I ever come back here.

I went outside after a bit and found the guide talking with some of the other group guides here.

I sat in the dinning area and played games on the phone for a bit, and then went back out and found the guide was running the engine on a bike to charge his phone.  We stood around talking and then noticed a huge line of trucks making their way down the road toward us.

They all pulled up and parked along the road, and in front of them was the same tractor that had cleared the issues this morning.  Guess he had been working his way down the road clearing stuff as he went.

We kept talking while the phone charged.  I went inside to get a bottle of water from the hotel and then stood around as the truck drivers soon started to take over the hotel.

Besides the guide and myself, there are at least 3 other groups here with their guides and drivers.  One group had stopped at lunch, but they were hiking out and we saw them when we rode back to the hotel.

Two groups were same we had been seeing along the way, going the same route.

Another group was trying to head north, and had hiked up the hill today to get picked up in another vehicle too bring them to this hotel.

As it was getting busy, we put our food order in and I was sitting in the smaller dining area with all the drivers for 20 minutes or so playing on the phone, but then went to use toilet in my room and when I was coming back the hotel staff saw me and said my food was about ready and said I could sit in the other dining area, which another group was already sitting in as well.

I sat down and my food was brought.  Having Potato soup and a Fanta soda.  Guide found me there and we talked about plans.

With all the trucks here, they are slowing pushing onward and sounds like the local governments are sending crew up tomorrow to try and create a way past this road cut.

It is hopeful we can get past sometime after lunch, and figure they will also be clearing the slides on the way up at least enough to get traffic by them.

Our goal if we can leave will be to reach Jomsom.   This town has an airport, and since there is a large road washout farther down the way, and no way to get around it, and until the river level drops, no way they can even start fixing it, it may end our trip.

Guide is working with the tour company to see what options we have, but may be leaving the bikes in Jomsom, then taking the small plan flight into Pokhara, and then fly back to Kathmandu.

Not sure on the time frame yet, but we still have 2 more days of the original tour to go, and then I have 4 more nights before my flight out of Nepal, so things are not tight, but need to make some choices.

The guide has a tighter time scale as he is supposed to be leading another group starting the 1^st of October, where I have till the night of the 4^th to get back to Kathmandu (I fly out early on the 5^th).

I do need to get back to the Kathmandu hotel to get that night paid that they forgot to charge me last time, or find some way to pay it otherwise.

I am supposed to have 1 night stay there included in this trip, so may still end up back there.

With the possibility of flights and maybe extra nights, I may have to pay some more money as well, not sure how this works.

Guess we will see.

After dinner I returned to the room to use toilet (still having stomach issues) and then worked to type this up.

Now I think I will just read or something, bit early to go to bed, but not sure there is much to do out of the room either, place is full of truck drivers still.

Will wander out and maybe grab another soda.

Catch ya down the road.