As we left base camp it looked like a military operation breaking down camps for transport. Almost everywhere you looked there were yaks being loaded up or waiting to be loaded. It is amazing how quickly our small city at base camp goes away. The trail to Gorak Shep was crowded with yaks and folks hiking out of base camp. There were also many folks coming up to base camp for the marathon on May 29th. It is the highest marathon in the world. We must have passed between 100 and 200 contestants coming up to base camp to finish their acclimatization prior to the race start.

Below Gorak Shep the traffic on the trail thinned out a bit, but there were will climbers and yaks loaded with expedition gear heading home. We stopped at Pheriche for lunch and than continued on to our lodge at Debouche. Anna, Steve and I got our rooms and waited for the Sherpa's to arrive with our porters. The Sherpa's did not finish packing up and leave base camp until noon so they did not arrive in Debouche until 6:30 PM. Our porters arrived between 7:30 and 8:30 PM.

We had dinner and a few beers to celebrate our departure from base camp.