In October 2011 I spent 4 weeks doing research in Nepal. After a 4 days in airports and airplanes, we arrived at a remote airstrip in Simikot, a village in Nepal's far northwest corner. Our party included myself, my advisor, a guide, and 9 porters/helpers hired from the local villages. We spent the next 21 days hiking all over northwest Nepal, making geologic observations and collecting rock samples.

The nearest roads to Simikot were a 2-week walk away, so we carried everything we needed (hence the porters). Most days were spent hiking along narrow, dusty trails perched on the walls of gorges that dwarf the Grand Canyon. These 'in transit' days were punctuated by 6 days of vertical transects -- essentially collecting samples at regular intervals over a range of ~2 km elevation, along the steepest path possible. These days were especially challenging due to the steep topography, lack of trails, and dense undergrowth.

Anyway, the trip was a success, and I came back to the U.S. with 130 kg of rocks and a whole new appreciation for things foreign and for things familiar. Over the next several months I'll be doing thermochronology on the samples -- which will allow me to calculate the rate at which the rocks have been brought to the surface. Just another chapter in the ol' Ph.D.

This is kinda fun -- I took a hi-resolution (~131 megapixel) panoramic image of the Kathmandu cityscape from the Monkey Temple -- download it, zoom around and explore the city with crazy detail here.