May 10, 2000
High altitude adventure
Frankfort man recalls Himalayan trek for East Junior High students
By Garret Leiva
Herald editor
Impressing a seventh-grader isn't easy, but neither is hiking through the Himalayas at 12,000 feet above sea level.
Frankfort resident Larry Miller impressed and made an indelible impression on seventh-graders at Traverse City East Junior High School Friday morning as he regaled them with tales of his 23 day trek in the Himalaya Mountains.
Retracing each step taken in his well-worn hiking boots, Miller shared his "once in a lifetime adventure" using a videotape of his travels, scrapbooks and a variety of artifacts. Over the course of 45 minutes, Miller took each student half way around the world - without jet lag.
"It was an incredible experience. A once in a lifetime opportunity," said Miller, who completed the trek with his wife, Joan in 1997.
Before setting foot in the Himalayan foothills, Miller first endured an adventure that would test most travelers. Getting to Nepal meant flying from Traverse City at 7 a.m. to arrive in Los Angeles around midnight. From the West Coast, Miller and his wife flew 12 1/2 hours to Seoul, Korea where their plane refueled before traveling another 9 1/2 hours to Bangkok, Taiwan.
After 23 hours strapped in a plane seat, the Millers jetted off to Katmandu at 4 a.m., since pilots will only travel through the surrounding mountain pass during the day. Catching their breath in Katmandu, the Millers boarded a small plane and touched down in the city of Pokhara. Thirteen time zones later, the couple had reached Nepal and the world's highest mountain range.
While reaching the Himalayas proved arduous, what awaited them was no stroll through the park. During the next 23 days the Millers would hike 12 to 14 miles a day over some of the roughest terrain in the world.
"I don't want to make it sound like work, because it was a lot of fun, but at 12,000 feet you just put one foot in front of the other and keep going," said Miller, who has also traveled to Patagonia and hiked 10 days at 10,000 feet elevation in the Andes Mountains.
Preparing for this high altitude adventure took advance training; as in walking six miles everyday. It also meant a trip to the Center for Disease Control for a series of shots that included cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, meningitis, diphtheria, tetanus and malaria. The Millers also made sure paperwork such as passports, visas and trekking permits were all in order.
Packing for their trip proved equally perplexing since each hiker was only allowed to carry 33 pounds of gear. "There was no room to worry about color coordinated outfits," Miller noted. Good hiking boots, however, were essential for the approaching adventure.
After arriving in Nepal, Miller's tour group spent a week hiking in the Annapurna Mountain range acclimating to the altitude. Following their trek down the mountain, group members took a 45 mile river raft ride along with a jaunt through the jungle atop elephants. At this point, the group took a "primitive" plane back to Katmandu and later hopped aboard a Russian helicopter that transported them to the Everest trailhead.
Constantly climbing, the ensemble of 12 trekkers, six Sherpas and three yaks crossed 16 suspension bridges and ran into a storm with golf ball size hail. Along the way they had no heat, no electricity and no running water. Joan Miller even discovered a "giant" rat running underneath her wooden cot at 3 in the morning.
Despite these perceived hardships, the real difficulty was saying good-bye as the helicopter lifted off from the ancient city of Namche Bazar and the adventure ended.
"Early in life you should set goals and if plan A doesn't work go to plan B and work harder," noted Miller, who completed his quest despite major cancer surgery that left him with 20 percent less breathing capacity in either lung.
"I didn't do anything each of you couldn't do if you decide that's what you want."