Snow, Mud, Landslide

September 27^th, 2026

Ghami, Nepal

Woke with the alarm at 7:00AM.

Used the toilet and then looked out the window.

Took a few seconds to realize that the brightness I was seeing was a layer of snow covering everything!

Today is going to be interesting.

I went ahead and packed up everything, and set aside the gear I would need today, which is the full setup.

Went over to have breakfast and talked with the guide.

He is thinking we should be okay, the roads are already melting off and we will just need to take it slow.

After breakfast we decided to check at 9:00AM and see what things looked like.

I went back to the room and finished packing and got more of the gear on.

Went down a bit earlier and found the guide and moved the bikes over to the main door and cleared most of the snow off them.  He was letting them run to warm up and checking them over.

We decided that it was good enough and would just get geared and load the bikes now.

Went back to the room and put everything one, and then carried the bag down.

Dropped the key on the desk and then we strapped the bags onto the bikes and put on the final gear.

We pulled out of the hotel lot and rolled along the pavement in the village, which was partially covered in inch thick slush, but otherwise just wet.

We moved out onto the dirt roads which were a combination of hard packed wet dirt, rocky sections, and lots of puddles, and rivulets running down the roads.

Then things got muddy.

We had some slick sections and a few spots where we needed to push through a muddy rip in the dirt.

We came upon a small hill, not very steep, but was just torn to hell and covered with thick wet mud.  The top of the hill was a partially buried metal pipe, and beyond was a lake of muddy water.

The guide attempted first and got about 2/3 of the way and lost traction.

I had to find a level, harder surface to park and then walk up to assist, which was not easily done.

We attempted to push the bike, but just kept getting stuck, moved a few rocks, but nothing helped.

We backed it up a bit to get straight, and then he got off the bike.

I stood along side and ran the throttle while he pushed from the rear.

Took a few tries, but we got it up and over the pipe and onto a less wet section of dirt.

He got on and rode the bike out of the muddy section and parked up the road.

I had walked back to my bike while he was doing that, and picking a different path that I thought would be less difficult I attempted the hill.

I did make it to the top and up and over the pipe, and then had to slip and slide out of the muddy water to the drier dirt.

We were both exhausted and covered in mud now.

The road from here had a few muddy spots, but was mostly drier dirt, and eventually started to be good and dry where we could get some speed.

The slush was behind us for a bit, but as we headed uphill and into the snowed in areas again, we found the road full of large patches of slushy water, and the usual muddy sections and running water across and down the road.

A few muddy sections where we had to put feet down to keep bike upright kept us alert.

Then the guide rolled into what looked like a simple soft muddy road section and instead found the bike in 8 inches of thick mud soup.

He was committed at that point and made it quite a way into the mud hole which was probably 50 feet across at least.

I came in behind and was about 2/3 across when I stalled the engine.

Had to use feet to push the bike along as it kept stalling when pushing through the thick muck.

We both made it out after 2 minutes of work, and then rode down and through a few shallow puddles to wash off some of the muck.

The road then stayed okay, just the usual water running and having to cross from one side of the road to the other to avoid the really bad spots.

Once we reached the top of the hill, we then started the slow down hill on similar wet and muddy roads.

We passed through one village and headed onward.

Once we reached the village of Ghami we were warned that a mudslide had blocked the road just past the village.

It sounded like the road crews were on the way, so we stopped at one of the local tea house places and sat to wait and have something to drink.

The guide then decided to ride up the road and see how bad things were, and sometimes what stops a car is not a huge problem for a bike.

He returned a bit later and it was pretty bad.

While he was away, I just sat in the kitchen area and drank some water and played with the local kitty cat who wandered into the room.

A large soup mud lake like we had hit earlier, followed by the main section of mud and rock washed over the road.

The police said we could try it and they would help push, but guide thought that would still be a difficult thing to attempt as things were still quite muddy.

He went back up later and talked with the police and the local mayor of the region and now it sounds like the crews will not be there till the next day.

He decided we would stay here in this hotel tonight instead of getting to our original destination.

And since there was a bridge out near one of the towns we needed to pass through, it would require a small detour to get around that.

This hotel however was not really wanting guests and the heavy rains had caused severe leaking in the roof in most of the rooms and common areas.

Some were badly flooded, but enough only had a small section that was wet.

I ended up in a small room with an attached bath, something most rooms lacked.

The bath had a small leak over the toilet, which was a floor unit, so will make using it complicated if the need arises.

There was also a leak over the second bed and table in the room.  It had soaked the bath towel, which I would not need anyway, so used it to cover the table so any drips would not splatter, but it had also gotten the heavy blanket wet as well.  Will need to get another.

Thankfully the other bed was dry.

The first challenge was getting out of my gear which was coated with mud from the knees down.

Made a mess on the bathroom floor getting the rain pants off, and then the riding pants had some much mud, I could not get the legs to unzip.

I went out and the guide, who was having same issue, found the water source outside so we could wash off the legs and get the zippers to work.

Which brings me to the small fact that there is no running water in the place.

All the taps ran for a few seconds, draining the pipes basically, then nothing.

Even after washing could not get the zipper to move, so just went up and pulled things off the harder way.

Boots were just coated in mud, even the parts under the pants.

Once I had the gear off and changed into normal clothes, I carried the pants out to the same water source and washed them really good.  Then did same with the rain pants.

This will prevent the mud from drying and falling all over the room floor and be less messy to put them back on in the morning.

I then did the same with the boots.

We hung the pants over a clothes line in the front courtyard, and just sat boots on the walk to dry in the sun.

I had also put my wet socks in the window with it open, hoping the sun and breeze would dry them.

We then walked up the road a mile to the slide area to get a good look at it and see how things were going.

The mud was already starting to harden, at least on the edges, and much of the running water was done, though still some water running in the main channel of the slide.

The larger slide area was about 50 feet across, and had two large ridges running along it, where the channel of running water had moved.

Lots of large rocks and small boulders were scattered in the same area.

The hope is that in the morning things will have dried up enough in the muddy area up front to move the bikes along the edge at least.

Then the 2^nd hope is that the water will have stopped and the rest of the mud will be dry enough to move across it without sinking into it.

We will then need to walk a path and clear some rocks most likely, and probably just push the bikes, one at a time, across the slide area to the road on the other side.

Possible some 4x4s will move through earlier and make a path, though one already tried tonight and got stuck, and took a few hours to get it out using a tractor, which was having issues of its own.

Worst case, may need to wait for the crews to get here and clear it, but not sure how long that will take.

Of course, once we get past that, still need to go over the 4000 meter pass, then down a long way to the river valley below, and then in the village of Kagbeni, we will need to route around the bridge that is out.

At this point we will not go up the mountain to the originally planned stop, but we also cannot reach the next stop either as a large section of the road has been washed away.

Our hope is to reach Kalopani where we stayed on the way up and stop there tomorrow and then see what comes next.  Might be stuck here for a few days.

Thankfully I have 4 extra days left in Nepal, so have some wiggle room, but things could get ugly.

There is another bridge out past one town that might pose an issue, and landslides could still be in areas we have not heard about.

The road between Pokhara and Kathmandu was closed again last few days due to a landslide, but pretty sure it will be open again by time we get down there.  Otherwise, will have to take the longer way around, and that could create problems as well since there was a fair amount of flooding in the south parts outside the mountains, which is a small part of the route we might have to take, but there might be other options as well.

We returned to the hotel and I went up to the room to lay down for a bit as the hike up and back winded me in the thin air.

I must have fallen asleep, as I woke up about 2 hours later.

I went down and found the guide, and we went into have dinner.

I was still not hungry, though stomach was feeling a bit off, so decided to just have an omelet to put something in there, but nothing too crazy.

After dinner, we walked out to check out the clear skies and full moon reflecting on the snow covered peaks nearby, then spent some time sitting in the kitchen while others ate.

I then walked around outside a bit for some fresh air, and hoping to catch the kitty again, and found 3 cats out there, but while they would stare and meow at me, they would not approach this time.

Guide acquired another, dry, blanket for me, and I then came up to the room to upload footage, put phone on portable charger (power is flaky, was out earlier, and might not stay on long), and type up this blog entry.

With that done, I am going to go to bed.

Catch ya down the road.