A Light Stroll That Turned Into a 5-Hour Mountain Hike: From Pokhara to Sarangkot (Nepal)

Around 2:30, after pondering where to go for a walk, I decided to explore an area over Sedi (a neighborhood where I have been staying since the end of March 2026). It was too late for a serious adventure, and I wanted only to spend some time with nature, observing plants and trees, maybe some cool birds... On my way, a local man started asking questions, including where I was heading, and I repeated: "I know, it is too late for going to Sarangkot, better to start in the morning."

Sarangkot is a village at the top of a mountain over Sedi and the entire Pokhara City. It's known to have a stunning vista of snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas, standing together like actors on the stage after a play, receiving applause. And as everyone says, these rocky actors do deserve that recognition - each glorious and resplendent in their snowy, heavenly beauty.

However, to reach them on foot, as I knew from Google, you need something between 2 and 3 hours, and, secondly, those celebrities - continuing the silly analogy, lol - normally disappear behind the curtain of clouds at noon or so... Moreover, it often starts raining around 4 p.m... Thus, 2:30 was obviously too late for anything except for visiting the nearest shrubs or stuff...

But I thought: nobody makes me walk all the way to Sarangkot viewpoint, I can just have a stroll up the slope, nothing serious...

The pathway, crossing the woody slope, was very steep but equipped with stairs made of rocks, so the ascent was tiring but not difficult. The sweat quickly paid off with a beautiful view through the gap between trees:

When the forest came to an end,

the panorama became even more breathtaking:

And even slightly dizzying.

The forest then gave way to a steep meadow with farm constructions, that was the very bottom of Sarangkot village:

I was celebrating the victory - I needed only 45 minutes of intense hiking to reach the village.

"Is that all?" I thought. "And where are the promised 2–3 hours of walking?"

I kept walking up the mountain, photographing views opening up behind me.

This is Phewa Lake and semi-rural Sedi, where I am staying.

And this is a lowland to the west of the lake.

The village turned out to be a quite developed touristy area, with decent houses (maybe many owned by outsiders from Pokhara?) and with locals living a simple life, carrying water in giant bottles on their shoulders and herding goats...

Locals...

Of course, a big camera was an attraction for kids.

The shot was taken by a lil boy with tiny monkey fingers, I was helping... That's his elder sista, watching him as a strict teacher.

I didn't mind except for the fact that it was 4 pm, and I was still far from Sarangkot's top. Yes, after I entered the lower part of the village, I thought, "That wasn't tough, I should reach the Sarangkot View tower with the famous view of the Himalayas."

That ambitious plan also meant I had to hurry up 'cause I didn't want to walk the forest rocky stairs at night, really didn't want... Especially because my phone's battery was low and I couldn't rely on it as a torch.

Higher and higher but the ascent didn't end.

Most of the way, I followed a pathway between houses and it wasn't easy to find where to go. I asked people, once lost the way and found myself at someone's garden...

The dramatic part was that my legs got very tired, and my initial fast pace turned into a hobble powered by the last of my strength.

This damned village didn't want to end... Higher, higher, and higher.

But eventually I reached the natural citadel of Sarangkot. It was like a small town with the dense development and paved/cobbled streets, full of tiny souvenir shops - "sale, sale, sale!!!"

I didn't expect to see those huge mountains as it was late afternoon, and a local on my way told there would be no mountains seen from the viewpoint. However:

I was truly blessed by this beauty, a Himalayan celebrity, called Annapurna South with an elevation 7,219 meters (23,684 ft). It was a stunning spectacle - high in the sky where, all my life, I could see only clouds... there was this miracle, a flying mountain, like if it was there all the time but opened to me only when I came to Nepal and made this hard walk...

...Despite pain in my legs, I was jogging down along the pathways and roads back to the forest trail, to be there before the dark. And I did it.

5:31 pm:

Since I was already safe, I let myself give in to exhaustion - I barely managed to hobble my way down through the shady forest, and had a rest every now and then.

When I finally got back to the guesthouse, I promised myself I'd never do it again. But the very next day, I thought, well, maybe I should make the climb to the lower part of Sarangkot my "gym" twice a week?..

We'll see.

The photos were taken with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on May 10, 2026, in Sarangkot, Nepal