We had to get to the proposed headworks location for the Lower Apsuwa hydropower project.
This project is a cross-basin setup, the water intake is at the Apsuwa river, driven through a 3.5 km long tunnel and the tailrace lets the water out into the Arun river.
So basically, to walk from the powerhouse site to the headworks, we couldn’t just follow the river. We had to go up and over the ridge separating the two.
Right now our camp is only set up at the powerhouse location, which sits at about 630 m elevation. The ridge we needed to cross is at 2,120 m and the headworks on the other side is at 1,200 m. So yeah, a lot of up before the down.
We started early. A few raindrops came down at the start, but we figured it wasn’t a big deal and kept going. By the time we were about halfway up, it started actually raining properly.
Honestly, walking in the monsoon season is rough. The trail is so overgrown that you’re basically pushing through plants the whole way. Slows you down a lot. But at the same time, everything is so green right now that it’s hard to complain. The hills look amazing, way better than in the dry season.
The one thing that wasn’t great: leeches, everywhere. This trail is the kingdom of the leeches. No one can escape. Seriously, there wasn’t a single part of our bodies that didn’t get bitten at least once. We just got used to checking and pulling them off every so often.
Also, we were wet from both sides. Soaked from the rain on the outside of the raincoat, and soaked from sweat on the inside because the climb was steep and humid. Not much you can do about that except keep walking.
Eventually we made it to the top of the ridge. Couldn’t see much because of the clouds, but it felt good to know we’d crossed over from one basin to the other.
Then it was downhill to the village where we planned to spend the night, at around 1,400 m. When we got there, though, it was weirdly quiet with a few houses, but no one around. Not sure if people were out working somewhere or had moved down for the season, but the place felt empty. We just found somewhere to stay for the night anyway.
Only on the next day we head down further to the headworks site itself at 1,200 m. For now, just glad to be out of the rain and off our feet.
Foot trail above the clouds
