A Comprehensive Guide on Hiking Everest Base Camp Independently

EVEREST BASE CAMP

Mt. Everest, standing tall at 29,032 feet, is the highest peak in the world. Located in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and China, this majestic mountain has captivated adventurers and explorers for decades. Scaling its treacherous slopes is a feat that many dream of, but only a few brave souls ever achieve. The summit offers breathtaking views and a sense of accomplishment like no other. However, Everest's unforgiving nature has also claimed the lives of many who dared to challenge its mighty presence. A true testament to nature's power and beauty, Mt. Everest remains a beacon for those seeking to push the limits of human achievement.

As an avid hiker and mountaineer, Mt. Everest is one of the natural wonders of this world that has fascinated me. When I was making plans for Nepal, my 169th country, people advised me that the Annapurna circuit is much more beautiful, but I couldn’t shake the thought of Everest Base Camp. Sure, I would need two weeks minimum, but I knew I had to make the pilgrimage to the highest mountain in the world.

Can you hike Everest Base Camp Independently?

Due to the increasing number of accidents and deaths, the Nepalese government introduced a new rule in 2023 that requires all foreign hikers to be accompanied by a local guide while hiking in Nepal. This rule confused me because I assumed that meant I needed a guide, but after looking into it I found that the regional government of the Everest region opted not to follow this new regulation.

I did end up hiring a guide through Iconic Holiday Nepal if you’re interested in having someone experienced show you the way, but I took careful notes throughout the trip so you can save money and hike to Everest Base Camp on your own without a guide.

10 DAY EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK ITINERARY

How long do you need for everest base Camp?

The recommended length of time to do Everest Base Camp is fourteen days. You need time to acclimatize and extra time set aside just in case anything happens with your flights. When I arrived at Ramechhap Airport, it was backed up because the previous three days there were no flights due to weather. My trek was supposed to be twelve days, but with the delays it ended up being ten days. Understand that the recommended length of time to plan is twelve days, but in a perfect case scenario (which is very unlikely) you can do it in ten.

DAY 1: Kathmandu - Ramechhap Airport - Lukla - Manjo

TREK TIME: 5 hours

DIFFICULTY: Easy with a few ups and downs

ELEVATION GAIN: Lukla (9334’ / 2845 m) to Manjo (9390’ / 2862 m) | 56’ / 17 m

DISTANCE: 7.8 miles / 12.63 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Panorama Lodge & Restaurant (200 NPR/night for a twin room)

If you’re lucky, you can fly directly to Lukla from Kathmandu, but if you’re hiking during peak trekking season chances are you’re going to have to make the dreaded four hour drive to Ramechhap Airport. Due to the demand to hike Everest Base Camp, they shift the flights to Lukla out of Ramechhap otherwise regular commercial flights wouldn’t be able to fly out of Kathmandu. This drive is so windy and you’re squished into a packed van.

Getting a flight to Lukla that departs on time is almost like winning the lottery because it’s so rare that it happens. Lukla is considered “the most dangerous airport in the world” due to it’s high altitude and short runway, so weather conditions must be perfect. Sometimes there are even cases where the flight is almost there and the pilots decide to turn around because the weather conditions changed drastically in a short amount of time. Anyways, don’t be surprised if your flight gets delayed and you end up spending a night in Ramechaap.

Most flights that arrive in Lukla happen in the morning, so when you arrive to Lukla use this day to your advantage and get a head start! Because of the mass amounts of people, it’s honestly pretty easy to follow the crowds towards the trail. On the outskirts of Lukla at the beginning of the trailhead, you’ll find the permit office. You need to purchase a TIMS card as it is a record of your trek kept for safety. Individuals pay $20 and get a green card and those in groups pay $10 and get a blue card. The permit costs 3000 NPR + a 13% tax of 3390 NPR (around $30).

Anyways, once you start your hike you’ll descend into a valley and takes about three hours before arriving in Phakding. Have lunch and continue to Manjo for about two hours, where the trail starts to climb. I recommend staying at Panorama Lodge & Restaurant since it’s right after the first permit-check office (you won’t have to wait around if you’re trying to get an early morning start the next day) and you finally enter Sagarmatha National Park.

How much to set aside for food?

The higher your climb, the more expensive food becomes. Up until Dingboche, I would set aside about 1000 NPR per meal (even though you could probably get away with paying 600 NPR, but just to be on the safe side). I also highly recommend buying a Lifestraw water bottle to save money and you don’t have to buy water, you can simply just fill up on tap water or local streams.

Is there wifi and power?

It was quite the shock to learn that everything costs extra, including taking a shower. At each of the tea houses, there is wifi but you have to pay for it. I would recommend getting a sim card or e-sim which will work up until Dingboche. Wifi up until Dingboche costs around 300 NPR on average.

Power is another issue I realized gets more expensive the higher you go. Up until Dingboche you can charge anything you like for on-average 300 NPR. You won’t find outlets in your rooms, but in common areas you’ll see a power strip where the owners can manage everything. Bring a minimum of two power banks, and a mini solar panel that you can hang on your backpack would also be handy.

DAY 2: Manjo - Namche Bazaar

TREK TIME: 3.5 hours

DIFFICULTY: Easy start and then uphill for two hours

ELEVATION GAIN: Manjo (9390’ / 2862 m) to Namche Bazaar (11286’ / 3440 m) | 2436’ / 578 m

DISTANCE: 5 miles / 8 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Comfort Inn (300 NPR/night for a twin room)

After Manjo it’s pretty easy until you see a double suspension bridge, where the trail starts climbing towards Namche Bazaar. You’ll climb for about two hours until you reach the second checkpoint, which is your sign that you’re almost there! Get an early start so you can arrive late morning, have lunch, then do an afternoon acclimatization hike. Most people stay in Namche Bazaar for two nights so they can have a full day set aside for the acclimatization hike, but if you’re strapped for time this will condense your schedule.

Namche Bazaar is a fun town where you can get gear your forgot, maybe some last minute first-aid supplies (blister patches anyone?), cash from the ATMs, or fun souvenirs. It’s the perfect place to relax, so if you do have extra time set aside I recommend even saving this for your way back!

DAY 3: Namche Bazaar - Pangboche

TREK TIME: 7 hours

DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate. The first part goes downhill, then all uphill after lunch.

ELEVATION GAIN: Namche Bazaar (11286’ / 3440 m) to Pangboche (13110’ / 3996 m) | 1824’ / 556 m

DISTANCE: 11 miles / 18 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Holiday Inn Lodge & Restaurant (500 NPR/night for a twin room)

Most people stay in Tengboche for the night, but remember how I mentioned there were three days worth of flights on the day I was supposed to fly to Lukla? Well, now that I caught up to everyone all the tea houses are extremely packed, there was no availability whatsoever in Tengboche, and I had to continue an extra two hours to Pangboche. I recommend stopping for lunch either in Sanasa (it was also packed when I came through so I had to continue on) or the Lawi Schyasa area. I had lunch at Zambala Restaurant right before the Dudha Koshi Bridge, and it was a great stop before continuing on.

DAY 4: Pangboche - Dingboche

TREK TIME: 4 hours

DIFFICULTY: Easy, but this is where you will begin to feel the altitude.

ELEVATION GAIN: Pangboche (13110’ / 3996 m) to Dingboche (14470’ / 4410 m) | 1360’ / 415 m

DISTANCE: 4 miles / 6.4 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Hotel Grand Himalaya (500 NPR/night for twin room)

This is an easy stroll, especially if you stayed in Pangboche instead of Tengboche. Dingboche, however, is where you’ll start to see the prices increase in every aspect. From here, I would start to budget 1300 NPR per meal, 1500 NPR just to charge an external battery (which is why it’s important to make sure you charge everything prior or bring a mini solar panel/extra external batteries)! I also finally decided to shower since it’s the halfway point, and that cost 700 NPR. Bring wet wipes otherwise. You’ll also begin to feel the altitude, so it’s important the best medicine is to just take it slow. Don’t hike too fast. A headache in the front of your head is normal, but if you feel it in the back of your head towards your neck, that’s one of the symptoms of altitude sickness.

DAY 5: Dingboche

Use this day for an acclimatization hike! You’ll see most people doing the Nangkartshang Peak trail, which takes about 3 hours. Do it early in the morning since the winds start to pick up mid-morning, and then you can have the rest of the day to relax. Also note that you won’t have signal starting in Dingboche, and wifi is satellite.

DAY 6: Dingboche - Lobuche

TREK TIME: 4 hours

DIFFICULTY: Moderate to difficult due to the altitude and steep climb before Lobuche

ELEVATION GAIN: Dingboche (14470’ / 4410 m) to Lobuche (16142’ / 4920 m) | 1672’ / 510 m

DISTANCE: 5.2 miles / 8.4 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Hotel Peak XV (700 NPR/night for twin room)

Hopefully you used the previous day to acclimatize since today is a lot of elevation gain! The trail gradually climbs for about two hours out of Dingboche until you arrive in Dukla. Dukla is a great spot for lunch before you continue on a steeper climb. After an hour you’ll reach a plateau where you’ll find Memorial Park; shrines dedicated to those who lost their lives climbing the Himalayas. Fill up on extra water here in Lobuche, since there will be no water sources in Gorakshep and water is very expensive up there.

DAY 7: Lobuche - Gorakshep - Everest Base Camp

TREK TIME: 6 hours

DIFFICULTY: Moderate with a steep climb to Gorakship, easy to EBC

ELEVATION GAIN: Lobuche (16142’ / 4920 m) to EBC (17596’ / 5380 m) | 1454’ / 443 m

DISTANCE: 7.3 miles / 11.7 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Snowland Inn (700 NPR/night for twin room)

Today’s the big day to Everest Base Camp! First thing’s first: the trek from Lobuche to Gorakshep. The trail is flat for about the first hour, then is a constant climb for the next two hours until reaching Gorakshep. Once you arrive at your tea house, grab lunch then continue onto Everest Base Camp for the afternoon. It’ll take about an hour to reach EBC, and is a lot of ups and downs. When you arrive you’ll see a giant sign, signifying that you finally made it!

DAY 8: Gorakshep - Kala Patthar - Pangboche

TREK TIME: 7 hours

DIFFICULTY: Difficult to Kala Patthar, moderate but long on the way back

DISTANCE: 15.1 miles / 24.3 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Namaste Lodge & Restaurant (500 NPR/night for twin room)

Get ready to hike Kala Patthar for sunrise at 4:30 AM, the highest point of the trek. It’s a beautiful view of Mount Everest, and you’ll get to see the sun rise behind it. I honestly can’t say if it was worth it or not because I was wrecked after the week, but the scenery was pretty. I didn’t really feel like I missed out on anything though if you’re going back and forth on doing this extra hike or not.

Head back to Gorakshep for breakfast before making your way back down. We had lunch in Dukla, then continued on the path through Pheriche before stopping in Pangboche for the night. Oh, how amazing it was to be back in an area where it wasn’t so expensive for wifi or power! I prefer Namaste Lodge over the previous tea house we stayed at, Holiday Inn, because the signal was better. No need to even buy wifi!

DAY 9: Pangboche - Manjo

TREK TIME: 6.5 hours

DIFFICULTY: Moderate, mostly up and down but just a long day because it’s not a lot of downhill

DISTANCE: 16 miles / 25.8 kilometers

WHERE TO STAY: Panorama Lodge & Restaurant (200 NPR/night for a twin room)

We pushed until Manjo today because my guide said that Namche Bazaar (where most people would stop) wasn’t that far… I would disagree and say it was a decent trek because you don’t have a lot of downhill, unlike the previous day. Going all the way to Manjo for the night absolutely wrecked me, on top of Kala Patthar the previous day.

Again, remember how we were basically competing for rooms every night because it was three days of flights in one so there were 3X the amount of people doing the trek? My guide got word that the day we were supposed to fly out everything was overbooked and weather through the weekend didn’t look good… meaning we could be stuck in Lukla for some time. We made the decision to try and get a flight out the next morning, so staying in Manjo proved to be a good move.

DAY 10: Manjo - Lukla

TREK TIME: 4.5 hours

DIFFICULTY: Moderate, mostly up and down

DISTANCE: 7.8 miles / 12.63 kilometers

We left Manjo at around 5 AM, and the sun began to rise shortly after so it wasn’t dark for too long. We were racing to get back by 10 AM to try and get a flight. As I’m sure you know by now, the flights are very volatile and often don’t run after noon because the weather changes so drastically. Because of all the fumes from the tea houses, I was fighting phlegm and a kennel cough on top of trying to get back. Just as a warning, the tea houses are not well-insulated and you’ll be breathing in all sorts of fumes and chemicals like paint that never quite dried, smoke from the indoor fires, and mold. After coming down from higher altitudes, my lungs loosened up and I got a nasty cough. I noticed most people coming back from EBC also had this. There’s not much you can do about it but just a forewarning.

If you’re racing to get on a flight (just because you have a reservation doesn’t mean anything, it’s literally a free-for-all), go to the The Nest at Lukla Hotel. The owner has a hook-up with the airlines and can get you on a flight. We arrived, had some lemon ginger honey tea (which I recommend for that cough), and the owner got us on the next flight back to Lukla at 11 AM.

Upon arrival in Lukla, I was chatting with the pilot as he packed up his bag and said, “you’re lucky, you got the last flight of the day. The weather is bad now so no more scheduled flights,” And the following days the weather was terrible, as previously mentioned. You really have to be flexible around these flights, or have a guide who’s well-informed.

Everything you need to know to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

TANZANIA

Mt. Kilimanjaro is a bucket list destination for everyone, and because it’s not a technical hike it’s probably one of the most common mountains to summit. As an avid hiker with very little mountaineering experience, I didn’t know what would be the best route to take or what I would need since there are so many options out there.

DO YOU NEED A GUIDE FOR MT. KILIMANJARO?

The short answer is, yes, you need to be accompanied on the mountain at all times due to national park regulations and permits. Plus, for safety reasons, it’s always best going with someone who knows the route. Your guide and team are also important in a successful summit.

There are so many companies online that offer this tour, so as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer I referred to a Peace Corps travel facebook group to see what Tanzania Peace Corps Volunteers recommended. PCVs always know how to find the best deals from local companies so that’s always my go-to. Nearly everyone recommended Barafu Tours, so I reached out. Sure enough, they were probably the most economically feasible out of everything I found online.

how did you pick which route for mt. kilimanjaro?

There are seven different routes you can take for Mt. Kilimanjaro:

1. RONGAI: Rongai is the true wilderness experience, but has a low success rate.

2. SHIRA: Shira is nearly identical to Lemosho, but Lemosho is usually recommended over Shira.

3. LEMOSHO: Lemosho is known to have the best views and is one of the longer routes, but it does have a high success rate due to having more time to acclimatize.

4. MACHAME: One of the more popular routes, Machame also has a high success rate.

5. UMBWE: Umbwe is a short, steep route with a low success rate. It’s also known to be the most difficult.

6. MWEKA: Mweka is only used for descents.

7. MARANGU: Marangu is another short route with a low success rate, but there is accommodation available.

I ended up doing the Marangu route because it offered 5-day treks (even though six days is recommended for acclimatization) since I couldn’t be away for that long. I felt that since I had a good amount of hiking experience along with a little bit of mountaineering sprinkled in, that I’d be able to handle it. Plus, I didn’t want to have to carry a lot of gear like a tent etc. It’s nice being able to pull up to little huts and have a toilet, even though it is pretty basic.

Favorite Summer Pacific Northwest Hikes

1. Mount Storm King, Olympic National Park, Washington

2. Cracker Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana

3. Painted Hills National Monument, Oregon

Best Fire Lookout Hikes in Washington

1. Mt. Fremont Fire Tower: This lookout probably has one of my favorite sunsets with all the mountain layers surrounding it, but it gets crazy crowded on the weekends.

2. Mt. Tolmie Fire Tower: This hike is incredible in late July / early August when all the wildflowers are blooming! Not to mention the alpine lake right below the lookout is gorgeous.

3. Park Butte: Another amazing fire lookout view, but this time of Mt. Baker! There’s only one bed available in the fire lookout, and it’s first come, first serve. There’s a sign that says you can’t claim it all for yourself, but there’s a little bit of an unspoken rule that the first ones have dibs. If you want it, you need to reach the lookout well before noon.