I’m only two days away from reaching Base Camp and the elevation is no picnic.

As I wrote yesterday, early signs of mild altitude sickness have set in. A headache that won’t go away, restless nights of sleep, a lack of appetite — heck, even the sleeve of Oreos I picked up in Namche Bazaar fails to interest me. This is getting serious, folks.

But what can I do except pop Ibprofin and keep climbing? So we set out at 7:30am and hike for just over three hours until lunch break. Trail highlights include roaming yaks and stone cabins. There’s some mud and ice so I’m extra careful to avoid slipping. I’m starting to wish I’d sprung for walking poles.

Here is my guide / porter, the older Mingma (not to be confused with his younger brother of the same name, my original guide / porter). He’s wearing lots of sunscreen on his face, a smart thing to do when you’re this close to the sun.

This is the town where we grab lunch. I force down some Sherpa Stew (made with real Sherpas! Just kidding, it’s mushy veggies, potatoes, and pasta in a broth) and make friends with a guy and girl sitting at the next table. They’re part of a larger tour and I run into them a few more times on the way to Base Camp. I love seeing familiar faces on the trail — it gives me a boost every time.

After lunch there’s a tough uphill section. I put in my earbuds to distract me as I climb. Here’s a shot looking back on the area we stopped for lunch:

At the top of the uphill climb, there’s several monuments and strings of prayer flags. It’s a good spot to rest for a few minutes and snap photos.

There’s still another stretch before we get to our tea house in Lobuche.

2.5 hours after lunch, we arrive in Lobuche (4,940 meters // 16,210 feet in elevation). It’s a rather decrepit tea house — practically falling apart — but everything else is booked. It’ll do the job.

Side note: today is the day I realize my trusty Burt’s Bees lip balm isn’t doing its job in this weather. My lips are horribly chapped and the small jar of Vaseline I picked up at the grocery store in Kathmandu turns out to be a lifesaver — I apply it every few hours, and it still takes a full week for my lips to return to normal.

A sunset glow illuminates this peak:

After a HORRIBLE night’s sleep (capital letters lifted directly from my handwritten Everest journal), I rise and see my own breath in front of me. Despite the cold, I woke up sweating a few times during the night. I force down a quick breakfast and we depart by 7am.

A few words about today’s hike — this is the day I will actually reach Everest Base Camp. BIG DAY!! Our plan is to arrive at the next town, Gorek Shep, in 3.5 hours. We’ll drop off my stuff at the tea house and then trek 6 hours round-trip to Base Camp and back. For those doing the math, that’s nearly 10 hours of hiking today, climbing from 16,000 to 18,000 feet in elevation. Then tomorrow morning we’ll hike 4 hours round-trip from Gorek Shep to Kala Pattar, which is the look-out spot at 18,500 feet with views of Mt. Everest (because you can’t actually see the peak of Everest when you’re at Base Camp).

I’ll save Base Camp and Kala Pattar for tomorrow’s post, and wrap up today with our final push to Gorek Shep (5,160 meters // 17,000 feet elevation).

True story: when I see this peak for the first time, I assume it’s Everest and take a zillion photos. Then Mingma tells me it’s not Everest. Whoops?

It’s difficult to gauge perspective in this photo below, but those are giant fields of ice. I am blown away by how big everything is and how small we are by comparison.

That is Gorek Shep below. Ugh, not fun memories — this is the only village on the whole trek where my single bathroom option is a squat toilet. And it’s outside. Which means I drink way less water this evening than I should (not smart at a high altitude) because I don’t want to go outside to pee in the middle of the night. I chat with another female hiker at dinner and she’s doing the same thing.

But I am only a few hours from Base Camp. Full report coming tomorrow!