The Himalaya is incredible not just for how high the mountains get, but how low as well. Canyons cut through the mountainsides almost down to the level of the plains south of the range. In the first couple of weeks of the Manaslu trek, we walked from about 3000 feet to 15,600 . This makes for an astonishing variety of landscapes: a few days in the tropics, a few days in a sort of southern Californian zone, then northern Californian. At about 9000 feet it starts looking like home—Oregon—except with monkeys. From there, we climbed into a kind of Scottish highlands, then into the frigid arctic. Then back down to the tropics. This picture was taken in the last few days of the trek, in the tropical rice paddies of the Buri Gandaki valley.

All images ©2002-2003 by Dietrich Neuman