The Everest Base Camp Trek in Photos

One of the most beautiful places I have ever been is the Himalayas. Throughout my trek to Everest Base Camp, I was stopping every few minutes to take endless photos. Nepal is very photogenic!

On my trek, I had my iPhone, which is the 12 Pro Max, and my Canon EOS Rebel T7. I will admit that I was one of those people that took the same photo on both my phone and camera, but I don't regret it. It's nice to have easy access to them in my photo library, as well as more professional shots on my hard drive.

The only downside to bringing my camera was having to hike with my camera bag on my shoulder, along with my daypack on my back. There were a lot of times where I wished that I hadn't brought it with me, especially as I got closer to Base Camp and the altitude started to get to me. My guide, Tikka, was very sweet and offered to carry it a lot for me when I was getting tired.

Here is a collection of photos I took on my trek that I think show off the beauty of the Himalayas, as well as what it is like hiking to Everest Base Camp.

This is where we flew in to begin the trek. Lukla Airport is the most dangerous airport in the world! The runway is very steep and very short, making it challenging to land and take off. The airplane that I flew in on was the one further back.

This is the first tea house that I visited on the trek, where I had the most delicious vegetable noodles. This ended up being the last tea house I stayed in as well, my final night before flying back to Kathmandu.

The porters who carry cargo throughout the mountains are so impressive. They are the unsung heroes of Everest. My porter is in the foreground, carrying my duffle, as well as his own backpack and coat. The box was full of snacks for the trek, with some biscuits, apples, and oranges. He just seemed to skip along like a mountain goat, despite the 30 lbs on his back. He would leave me and my guide in the dust, waiting for us at different points to catch up.

Here are some donkeys crossing a swinging bridge. We'd often have to wait for donkeys, horses, or yaks to cross, as it would be too dangerous to walk over while they were still on the bridge.

Yak cheese! This was something that I discovered on my trek. Here is a vegetable pizza from dinner on my first night of the trek, covered in yak cheese. I ate this while falling asleep sitting up; I was so exhausted from my first day. I went to sleep at about 6PM that night.

The first few days of the trek, you will have to cross many swinging bridges. The upper bridge in this photo is the highest bridge that you'll have to cross, and you'll go over it on the way to Namche. The lower bridge is no longer in use.

I arrived at Namche Bazaar the second day of my trek. This is the biggest town that you'll visit, where you can pick up anything and everything you'll need. My guide bought some Diamox to help with altitude sickness, which came in very handy after Pangboche. On the way back down, I bought some presents for my family and some souvenirs for myself.

This was my bedroom in Hotel Tibet at Namche Bazaar. This was a nicer bedroom, as it had my own personal bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. A standard bedroom has just two beds with a comforter and a pillow. It was very basic, but has everything that you will need.

I saw this picturesque view of the mountains and a stupa in the clouds when I was passing through Khumjung.

There were wild dogs everywhere along the trek. These two sat with me while I had a tea in the afternoon and were very sweet, demanding that I give them lots of pets. Dogs would walk with me for lengths of the trek and always wanted to come say hi.

There are large stupas all along the trail. The Eyes of Buddha are painted on the stupa to symbolize the all-seeing wisdom of Buddha.

This was my first view of Everest! I was sitting in the dining room of my tea house in Pangboche having lunch, and the clouds finally cleared. It was such an exciting moment.

I took this photo inside the oldest monastery in Nepal, located in Pangboche. It was beautiful inside, vibrant in colour and history. They also had the scalp and hand of a 'yeti'! The monks claim that Lama Sangwa Dorje, the founder of the monastery, befriended the yeti and upon its death, kept these parts of him to remember their friendship.

Prayer flags are everywhere in the Himalayas. They are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom, and have mantras and prayers printed on them. It is said that the prayer flags carry these blessings into the wind.

This is the view when leaving Pangboche. I thought this photo really captured the Base Camp trek, with Mount Everest between the clouds, a porter carrying his load, and the Mani stones that are carved with prayers.

This mountain is called Pumori. It is on the border between Nepal and China, and is 23,494 feet tall.

Ama Dablam is my favorite mountain in the Himalayas. I hiked to Ama Dablam Base Camp from Pangboche, which took a few hours round trip. I'd love to be able to summit it one day! It stands at 22,349 feet tall.

This is Dingboche, which was my stop on day six of my trek. It is a rather small village, but I stayed at a lovely tea house and had great conversations with my fellow trekkers in the dining room. We were all from different parts of the world, with Austria, Singapore, Australia, and myself from the US.

Views like this are commonplace on the second half of the trek. Here, we are looking into a valley on the way to Thukla, which I would inevitably walk through on the way back down, and experience my first and only snow in Nepal.

The mountain views are always stunning. Being constantly surrounded by such beautiful scenery is so peaceful and makes you feel really connected to the nature around you.

One of the really sweet pups that I met, being very photogenic with the mountains and clouds in the distance.

You can find this view at the top of Thukla Pass. Hiking up the pass was my own, personal Everest, and was the hardest part of the trek for me. It is a steep, rocky climb up, with lots of switchbacks. I was resting every couple of minutes, and had a long sit down at the top, looking out at this view.

This was the view outside of my tea house in Lobuche, one day away from Everest Base Camp. This is one of my favorite photos that I took on the trek. The sunset and sunrise reflected beautifully off of this mountain.

As we got closer to Base Camp, it got colder and colder at night, and the tea houses became less and less insulated. This was how I was going to bed. I would have a long sleeve shirt, then my sweatshirt, and then my coat zipped all the way up. I would have my pajama sweatpants on and long socks, as well as my beanie covering my ears, my buff over my nose and mouth, and my mittens on my hands. I would have to completely wrap myself in my duvet, and I would still be cold.

Walking from Lobuche to Gorakshep felt like I was on the Moon. It was as if I was in another world, and the pass was so quiet. The sun rose from behind the mountains, and made beautiful patterns of light in the sky.

The excitement really started to build the moment I saw this sign. In Gorakshep, this sign marks the beginning of the walk and from here, it took me less than two hours to get to Everest Base Camp.

The infamous yaks carrying empty oil drums back down from Everest Base Camp. They were such sweet creatures, and they are so hard working, carrying immensely heavy loads across the Himalayas. You can always hear them coming from the bells on their necks. I was even lucky enough to see a number of baby yaks, only a few weeks old according to my guide.

Here is Mount Everest from Base Camp. I was able to see the mountain for the first few minutes I was at camp, and then the clouds rolled in. This was a trend throughout my trek, waiting for the clouds to part to be able to see what hid behind.

This is a classic shot of Everest Base Camp, with groups of expedition tents next to the Khumbu Glacier. You can even see Mount Everest peaking through the clouds in the upper right hand corner of the photo.

Here is my guide, porter, and I on the Base Camp rock! I felt like I was on top of the world, having finally reached Base Camp and achieving a lifelong dream. Everyone gets their chance of a photo-op on the rock.

This was the best view that I had of Mount Everest. This view is from Kala Patthar, which I hiked up to in the early hours of the morning from Gorakshep. Kala Patthar is the highest point that hikers will reach on their trek to Everest Base Camp.

The clouds rolled in while I was up Kala Patthar and covered Gorakshep. You can faintly see the tea houses in the valley, surrounded by the clouds.

This is the view over Namche Bazaar at sunrise from the Everest Viewpoint, next to the Sagarmatha National Park Museum.

Here I am crossing back over the highest swinging bridge after leaving Namche. I had to get my photo at this iconic stop.

This was such a bittersweet moment. I took this photo before crossing back over my last swinging bridge of the trek. Eleven days prior, I was super nervous crossing this bridge, and slowly I got more and more confident until crossing them felt like nothing. These swinging bridges actually cured my fear of heights!

My last friendly dog of the trek. Flights out of Lukla are never easy because of the ever-changing weather. My flight was delayed about six hours, so there was lots of sitting around. This dog came into the airport and sat with me for an hour or so, falling asleep at my feet. I wish I could have brought all of the dogs home with me!