Daylight comes early to this part of the world. I woke up well before usual alarm time. However the quilt was very cozy and I just couldn't get myself to leave the bed :) Around 7 am Aditya came to our room accompanied by Buddha Singh. Buddha Singh is a trek guide from Yuksom and Amogh had been in touch with him to arrange our trek as well. He suggested that we start trekking from that day iteself, instead of the next day as initially planned. He reckoned trekking to Tsokha over 2 days would make for better acclimatization. So it was decided - we would leave in another couple of hours! Lokendra, a cheerful local guide was to be our guide on the trek.
Quickly we got ready. The skies were cloudy. It had been so for the past few days. If such conditions persisted all our efforts would be in vain - the mountain peaks would stay covered by a veil of clouds. Fingers crossed!
In some time Lokendra came back. We needed to go to the local police station to get their permission to trek. The policeman had a stern look and loved to flaunt his authority! His looks reminded me of Danny and his villainous posturing of Kancha Cheena :P He gave us a long lecture on the perils of high altitude trekking. 'Snow dekh ke tum bahut khush hota hai' 'Trek easy nahi hai - kuch bhi ho sakta hai''Last month aap jaisa hi ek ladka upar marr gaya' Finally he was done and we were all set to leave!
The gang - all set to leave
After brief stop at the Kanchenjunga National Park office for some more permits we hit the trekking trail. Initially, the trail had many ups and downs, not very steep. Unlike Ladakh and Spiti, there was a lot of greenery around.
Within an hour we came to the site of a big landslide. This was one of the few remaining signs of the earthquake that shook Sikkim in September. Luckily West Sikkim was not very badly affected.
We could now hear faint sounds of running water. Soon we were at the first bridge of this trail. The waterfall beside it made for a great setting.
The clouds still remained a cause of concern...
Soon it started drizzling. We hadn't carried raincoats. So had to make good with the jugaad raincoat made from the plastic sheets which we picked up at the last minute in Yuksom
We crossed the second bridge and reached our first camping site, Sanchen by 2.30 pm. It had been 3-3.5 hours of trekking for Day 1. The weather was worsening
By 5 pm, it was pitch dark. By 7 we were fast asleep... at about 2200 meters above sea level !
Quickly we got ready. The skies were cloudy. It had been so for the past few days. If such conditions persisted all our efforts would be in vain - the mountain peaks would stay covered by a veil of clouds. Fingers crossed!
In some time Lokendra came back. We needed to go to the local police station to get their permission to trek. The policeman had a stern look and loved to flaunt his authority! His looks reminded me of Danny and his villainous posturing of Kancha Cheena :P He gave us a long lecture on the perils of high altitude trekking. 'Snow dekh ke tum bahut khush hota hai' 'Trek easy nahi hai - kuch bhi ho sakta hai''Last month aap jaisa hi ek ladka upar marr gaya' Finally he was done and we were all set to leave!
The gang - all set to leave
After brief stop at the Kanchenjunga National Park office for some more permits we hit the trekking trail. Initially, the trail had many ups and downs, not very steep. Unlike Ladakh and Spiti, there was a lot of greenery around.
Within an hour we came to the site of a big landslide. This was one of the few remaining signs of the earthquake that shook Sikkim in September. Luckily West Sikkim was not very badly affected.
We could now hear faint sounds of running water. Soon we were at the first bridge of this trail. The waterfall beside it made for a great setting.
The clouds still remained a cause of concern...
Soon it started drizzling. We hadn't carried raincoats. So had to make good with the jugaad raincoat made from the plastic sheets which we picked up at the last minute in Yuksom
We crossed the second bridge and reached our first camping site, Sanchen by 2.30 pm. It had been 3-3.5 hours of trekking for Day 1. The weather was worsening
By 5 pm, it was pitch dark. By 7 we were fast asleep... at about 2200 meters above sea level !
