Tumlingtar to Gokyo - Trekking in Nepal
Tumlingtar is a good starting point for a trek to Gokyo. Most people fly in to Lukla but starting in Tumlingtar allows you to experience trekking at a lower altitude in completely different surroundings, there are a lot less trekkers too.
I started this trip on the 22nd of September 2011 with my guide Pemba. The times listed here do not include our lunch stops.
Getting to Tumlingtar
I had recently finished a 7 day rafting trip down the Sun Koshi, so I travelled by "bus" to Tumlingtar. You can also fly directly to Tumlingtar from Kathmandu, it would be a very long trip by bus.
The rafting trip finished in Chatara so I needed to get a land rover to Dharan. We started out with about a dozen people in the vehicle but we kept picking up more and more people ending up with about 28 people on it many sitting on the roof. The suspension was stuffed to so it would only take a small bump on the road to upset it. There were bumps aplenty as we travelled over the rough road and river beds. At one point we were very close to tipping but the driver seemed well drilled and calmly steered in the direction we were tipping to right the vehicle. Often he seemed to be steering more for the purpose of keeping us upright rather than just controlling the direction we were travelling.
After a little confusion I found Pemba in Dharan I got a mini van from Dharan to Hile. Again the driver wanted to fit as many people in as possible, Pemba and I ended up squashed in the backseat with 3 others. The guy next to me was a sound sleeper and didn't even wake up when his head was bouncing off my shoulder or the window. We ascended with many switchbacks in the road all the way up to Hile. It was a lot cooler in Hile which made for a much more pleasant nights sleep.
Tumlingtar to Gothe Bazaar
We set off up the true left of the Arun river to a swing bridge at Seti Ghat were we stopped for lunch.
After lunch we went up over a hill into the Irkhu Khola valley walking through rice paddies and across a swingbridge to Gothe Bazaar.
When we arrived at the lodge a teenage boy went straight out with a net to get some fish. He returned a while later with a good haul of fish around 15-20cm long. These were gutted and cut into chunks then fried, beautiful! Tahr curry with mustard greens.
Gothe Bazaar to Chyaksila
7 hours
It was raining fairly hard in the morning making conditions a bit cooler than the previous day. The Irkhu Khola was now very narrow but with a raging torrent of water coming down. We crossed it a few times on sketchy bamboo bridges.
When we stopped for lunch I noticed my leg was bleeding rather a lot ... my first encounter with leeches! Amazing how such a small wound could bleed for so long.
After Salpa Phedi the trail became steep as we ascended a rough rocky staircase. So much effort has gone into making these trails. Even though it's still monsoon season we don't have much mud to contend with.
A boy walking home from school joined us, his house is the lodge we were planning to stay at. It took us about 2 hours steadily walking up hill to get there. It was fairly apparent he would normally do the walk a lot faster as he was constantly getting ahead then stopping to wait for us, even so it's still a long way to walk to get to school.
We arrived in Chyaksila having gained about 1200m over the course of the day. The temperature was much cooler at around 15°C. I tried Umba (guava) for the first time, my new favourite fruit.
Chyaksila to Gudel
It was quite warm starting out. The rain and wind picked up as we ascended, by the time we had ascended to the pass at 3400m I was very cold. We stopped for tea and one of the homes near the pass and warmed ourselves around their fire.
Awesome thunderstorm on the descent to Gudel. Fortunately there was good tree cover so I wasn't too worried about the lightning. I love walking during thunderstorms, they just seem so much more impressive when you're outside in it.
My knees were starting to feel a little sore as we arrived in Gudel having descended around 1800m from the pass. We stayed at Namaste lodge. When I took my shoes off I noticed a lot of blood in my socks, leeches again about a dozen bites this time, on seeing this Pemba is suprised and remarks "Oh some damage". He explains that you can feel them biting but it's more like an itchy feeling rather than pain. It's then that I remember how he kept stopping and bending down as we were walking, I just thought there was something wrong with his shoes but he was pulling leeches off.
There was fresh snow around Mera peak in the evening and I was looking forward to getting into the mountains.
Gudel to Kiraunie
I become exceedingly paranoid about itchy sensations on my feet, it pays off too as I remove the leeches before they have a chance to do too much damage.
Fairly steep descent to Hongu Khola
Lunch in Bung.
There were a bunch of young kittens and their mother huddling around the fire at the lodge. They were actually up on the clay top surrounding the fire which was very hot.
A few of the locals gathered there in the evening to drink Chaang. The ladies were just ploughing through it although with every round of topup the would start with the man of the house who would reluctantly take a sip to make a little room in his mug.
I had Tsampa with milktea and butter in the morning. Very tasty although I think most of the flavour came from the butter.
Kiraunie to Najing Dingma
Gorge in Inkhu Khola. Steep walls and thundering rapids below. I was pleased the swingbridge appeared to be well made. It was very hot and humid as we made our way up the switchbacks heading for Surkie La.
We arrive at Najing Dingma as it's starting to rain. Even though it's not even lunch time we decide to stop there for the night anyway.
Had some very tasty smoked buffallo that they had drying over the fire. They also cooked it a lot in a frying pan, otherwise there was no way I would have eaten it.
Najing Dingma to Pangum
5 hours
I had tibetan bread for lunch it was fried, puffy, oily ... brilliant! It seems halfway between naan and chapati. Also tried tibetan tea tea for the first time. Which is made with butter coming out as a rich, slightly salty tea, very nice. Not every one likes the tibetan tea but it's definitely worth trying.
Saw other trekkers for the first time. There was a bunch of them heading up to attempt Mera peak with lot's of porters.
Pangum to Puiyan
4 hours
A few ups and downs throughout the day.
Puiyan to Phakding
We hit the main tourist trail near Lukla with many planes flying back and forth throughout the day. It was just getting into the October-November trekking season and a was quite amazed at the number of trekkers. The lodges were bigger, more numerous and more modern.
Beautiful views of the Dudhkoshi river. Pemba bought some terrible looking apples that turned out to be some of the nicest I've had.
Phakding to Namche Bazaar
Kumjung side trip from Namche
3 hours
This was an acclimitisation day so we could get used to the Altitude before heading up the valley. We went up to Khumjung via Everest View hotel. There were good views of Thamserku and Ama Dablam but Everest remained hidden behind clouds.
Namche Bazaar to Dole
5.5h
We branched off from the trail to Everest base camp. The trail size and number of trekkers was reduced greatly. We stopped for lunch in the sun at Phortse Thanga.
The weather deteriorated throughout the day and by the time we reached Dole (4000m asl) it was only 6°C at two in the afternoon. Had a good evening talking to a couple from Israel and a larger group from Montreal.
Dole to Marchermo
I attended an altitude sickness seminar in Marchermo. There was some interesting information and they also gave us oxygen saturation tests, which are an indicator of how well acclimatised you are. My reading was 91% which is good, probably due to the longer walk in from Tumlingtar spending a lot of nights at around 2500m.
Marchermo to Gokyo
Sidetrip to 5th lake from Gokyo
I followed the poorly defined trail up the valley from Gokyo. There was a lot of very bumpy terrain were the glacier has recently retreated from. The isolation was good with only a couple of other trekkers around. By the time I got to 5th lake I was feel quite light headed, I wondered whether it was to do with not eating enough at altitude. This theory was confirmed on another trip up Cherko Ri in the Langtang valley. Back at the lodge in Gokyo I had some lunch and soon felt better.
Gokyo Ri Sidetrip and back down the valley to Phortse Thanga
We got up well before dawn at 4am hoping to catch the sunrise from Gokyo Ri. The sky was clear and there were several other groups of trekkers setting off in the dark. Pemba didn't have a torch but with clear skies there was enough light for him to follow the trail. It's an ascent of about 600m to get to Gokyo Ri (5400m). The climb isn't especially steep but the altitude enforced a fairly slow pace. I think this is the first time I've ever been cold walking up a hill like this. It was about -3°C at Gokyo, normally I would expect walking up hill to keep me warm but I think the lack of oxygen means your muscles can't work hard enough to generate much heat.
We had tea and a bit of a snack back at the lodge in Gokyo before setting off back down the valley. It was a glorious day allowing us to see a lot of what we missed in the clouds on the way up. Pemba seemed very happy to be heading downhill.
Phortse Thanga to Namche Bazaar
Still retracing our steps back down the valley. Beautiful weather again giving us more views that we had missed on the way up the valley.
Namche Bazaar to Lukla
We headed back down the valley stopping for lunch in Chaunrikharka before. It's really hitting the peak of the trekking season now and there are a lot more people than we saw on the way up a week earlier. The last uphill of the trip into Lukla isn't too difficult. Lukla is quite big and not as clean as Namche Bazaar.
Lukla to Kathmandu
We flew out from Lukla to Kathmandu, definitely the scariest part of the trip since the dodgy land rover at the start. Fortunately I only have to take off from here as it's the landing that looks really scary with a very short runway. As the planes come in it doesn't look like there is enough room to slow down but they come to a stop in plenty of time. The turnaround time is also very short, probably only about 5 minutes from landing to the next take off.
I board the 20 seater plane, as soon as we're all seated the plane is off with none of the seatbelt checks or safety briefings one might expect. The plane accelerates down the runway and we drop slightly off the cliff at the end before banking left down the valley. The plane flies quite close to the mountains as there is enough time to gain the height required to fly over them. The GPS on the dashboard frequently flashes red "severe terrain warning". It's only a short flight of about 35 minutes before we're back in Kathmandu.
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