After they said their good-byes to Lotti, the team marched off single file through the village and down a rocky trail into the rhododendron and conifer forest that cradled the rushing blue-gray waters of the Dudh Kosi River. As Sarah poled along the winding trail at the rear of the column, she peered up at the towering Himalayan and chir pine and birch that flourished on the verdant hillside. The land beside her was not so different than the towering conifer forests of northern California. She dug her hiking pole into the ground, and for the next forty minutes she descended some six hundred feet in elevation before the trail finally leveled off. That probably meant a good slog upward was in the near future. But the skies were a brilliant blue and a pleasant cool breeze was tugging at her u
